Happy Xmas (War is Over) is the 1971 Christmas song written by John Lennon. In this Happy Xmas (War is Over) piano tutorial you will learn the chords and the authentic . This one is super easy to play and a crowd favorite!
Lyrics and Chords printable for Happy Xmas (War is Over)
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Happy Xmas (War is Over) is the 1971 Christmas song written by John Lennon. It was released as a single with the Plastic Ono Band with special guests the Harlem Community Choir.
The song was written as a protest song to the Vietnam War and was part of Lennon and Ono’s longstanding commitment to peace activism.
In this Happy Xmas (War is Over) tutorial we are going to break it down into a few steps.
Step #1: The form of the song/time signature
Step #2: Basic Chord inversions
Step #3: Full accompaniment strategy
Let’s go!
Lyrics and Chords to Happy Xmas (War is Over)
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Step #1: Form and time signature of Happy Xmas (War is Over)
This song is a repeated 12 bar form with three distinct sections divided by key. I have labeled them A, B and C, but you could also consider the A/B to be the Verse and the C to be the chorus.
[A]: A - Bm - E - A
[B]: D - Em - A - D
[C]: G - A - Em - G - D - E
The song is in 12/8 time, but you could also think of it as being in 4/4 with a triplet grid.
Step #2: Basic Chord inversions of Happy Xmas (War is Over)
These are the chord inversions I use for this tutorial. You’ll notice that the voice leading isn’t perfectly “smooth”, but that is due to the accompaniment strategy that we will be replicating!
Step #3: Full accompaniment strategy of Happy Xmas (War is Over)
The focus of the accompaniment is adding movement to each of the simple triads by moving from A to Asus 2 to Asus4, etc.
Step #4: Put it all together
Remember that you can (and should!) customize this to fit your skill level. Try to avoid getting stuck in the little details! The goal is for you to learn to sing and play more songs - not drown in a pool of perfectionism. Have fun - it’s only music!
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