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Thread: Best Book for Christmas Song Chord Melodies

  1. #1
    Registered User Mandolin Deep Cuts's Avatar
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    Default Best Book for Christmas Song Chord Melodies

    Title says it all! I’ve purchased a few Christmas books and �� still can’t find what I’m looking for ��. Basically, somewhat difficult arrangements of Christmas songs for mandolin. I’ve taken to arranging some myself or trying to play arrangements from guitar. The ones I’ve found on guitar are moderately difficult and I’m sad to see nothing for mandolin seems to exist. Extra credit if you find arrangements for songs from this century! ��

    My fav book so far is Christmas Carols for Mandolin by Jim Schustedt. There are even a few double stops in it! I recently picked up Mandolin Picking Tunes - An Early American Christmas by Tommy Norris and it’s fun and exactly the type of arrangements I’m looking for. Except most folks don’t know most of the songs here (I certainly only knew a few). Mel Bay’s A Smokey Mountain Christmas for Mandolin by Steve Kaufman is quite fun as well yet I’m not a huge fan of bluegrass and many of the arrangements are so gussied up that I don’t hear the original songs shining through.

    What say you cafe? To whom shall I award an 8 string laden peppermint latte?!
    Last edited by Mandolin Deep Cuts; Nov-29-2020 at 9:49am. Reason: Emojis

  2. #2
    Administrator Mandolin Cafe's Avatar
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    Default Re: Best Book for Christmas Song Chord Melodies

    Unlikely anyone will recommend this one because it's not mandolin specific, but a personal pick, The Christmas Real Book. The arrangements and chords can be challenging but some real beauties, particularly the classics you might expect arranged as jazz standards. Standard notation, only. Obviously not everyone's cup of tea, but a fine one it is. And like all fake books, you might not agree with some of the changes and it's OK to write your own if you are able.

    The Christmas Real Book

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  4. #3
    Worlds ok-ist mando playr Zach Wilson's Avatar
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    Default Re: Best Book for Christmas Song Chord Melodies

    This book is not mandolin specific either but has most of the popular Christmas songs. Its always served me well for Church services to children's sing-alongs and more!

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    Worlds okay-ist mandolin player

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    https://youtube.com/@zachwilson54?si=iGum4xPlSj0pbcjj

  5. #4
    Registered User Mandolin Deep Cuts's Avatar
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    Default Re: Best Book for Christmas Song Chord Melodies

    Folks these are wonderful options that I had not considered! I’ve snagged the green book and will report back

  6. #5
    Registered User DavidKOS's Avatar
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    Default Re: Best Book for Christmas Song Chord Melodies

    Quote Originally Posted by Mandolin Cafe View Post
    Unlikely anyone will recommend this one because it's not mandolin specific, but a personal pick, The Christmas Real Book. The arrangements and chords can be challenging but some real beauties, particularly the classics you might expect arranged as jazz standards. Standard notation, only. Obviously not everyone's cup of tea, but a fine one it is. And like all fake books, you might not agree with some of the changes and it's OK to write your own if you are able.

    The Christmas Real Book
    Thanks for posting this, it's a great choice.

    http://gigbooks.freemusiced.org/uplo...asfakebook.pdf

    There's this book too if you are interested. Sometimes I use the included B flat versions to be in more mandolin-friendly keys.

    http://markrapp.com/wp-content/uploa...Tunes_2014.pdf

    https://sheets-piano.ru/wp-content/u...s-Songbook.pdf

    https://acollectionofchristmascarols.com/pdfs/ccc.pdf

    Other books

    https://www.christmasmusicsongs.com/

    individual songs

    And a commercial listing

    https://www.amazon.com/Easy-Christma.../dp/0634049119

    all in the key of C
    Last edited by DavidKOS; Nov-30-2020 at 11:12am.

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