Bobby Helms’ rockabilly classic Jingle Bell Rock perfectly captures the spirit of Christmas Americana. Twangy yet cheerful, it will have you up and dancing around your house within moments!
At home or when performing for family and friends, these Jingle Bells chords offer you the freedom to customize your arrangement as you see fit.
1. C Major Triad
In this lesson, we’re going to learn how to play the C Major Triad chord. It features three notes that can be played anywhere on the fretboard.
Each triad has distinct qualities that determine its overall sound: major triads are cheerful; minor ones are sadder; diminished ones sound frightening while augmented ones have more of a fantasy or magical quality.
On chord charts, triads can be identified using their root letter name; this signifies both its quality and pitch class of its bass voice (which forms its lowest note in the chord). Chord symbols also display a number that indicates its inversion.
Figured bass is an alternative way of labelling chords. Letters a and b indicate root position (C major scale chord viioa). Letter c denotes second inversion – C major scale chord viiob; while letter d denotes third inversion (C major scale chord ivdc).
2. D Major Triad
This D Major triad is often one of the first chords most guitarists learn, and can be heard in popular songs by Led Zeppelin such as “Over the Hills and Far Away” and John Denver such as “Leaving on a Jet Plane.” A triad is any three-note chord whose notes can be stacked into thirds; therefore this chapter primarily covers them.
Within each major and minor key, triads have specific qualities based on their scale degree; major triads tend to sound happy while minor ones sound sadder and diminished ones can even sound scary!
Each triad has a root note (or name note) indicated by roman numeral in its key signature, with chord symbols also including quality information (for instance C# minor chords are often shown with superscript circles indicating diminished quality) as well as bass voice class classing information if different from its root note – this information can be crucial when working out different chord names and ways of writing chords on a fretboard.
3. E Major Triad
No matter the genre of music being performed, E Major Triad chords are an indispensable tool in any guitarist’s toolkit. Their simplicity enables newcomers to explore its expressive potential while its versatility enables more experienced musicians to transcend genre boundaries.
Chord charts contain symbols for every chord that correspond to a certain amount of time when playing them, which corresponds with an equal number of beats in Jingle Bells – four measures are used here.
In this chord, the first inversion of a triad is employed, represented by its 6/9 notation in figured bass notation and representing note B from E-6th interval. This notation also represents triads in root position; each chord member known by their interval above root.
4. G Major Triad
G major features a strong and cheerful triad composed of the root note (G), third note (B), and fifth note (D). This major-tonic chord boasts strong harmonic qualities due to its major third interval and perfect fifth interval connections between root note (G) and third notes (B and D) – providing us with a striking melody!
This G major triad begins its form in root position by starting from its lowest note, the root. To invert it, move its position up one octave so it becomes the end note – see below. The G major triad in root inversion can then be seen.
Additionally, in addition to four major triads, there are also three minor and an augmented triad available for use in music of various kinds. Each type has its own quality that depends on whether it is diminished, major, perfect or augmented and these properties will be discussed below.