Please Come Home for Christmas is a song that many folks think of as the “Eagles Christmas Song”. It was released as a single in 1978 and received loads of airplay every holiday season. In this video I'm excited to share this Please Come Home for Christmas piano tutorial.
When I was preparing this tutorial, I had no idea that it was actually a cover song. It was written by the American blues singer Charles Brown and originally released in 1960. (I highly recommend you check it out!)
Just for fun, the song was released by Bon Jovi in 1992 on “A Very Special Christmas Volume 2”, which raised funds for the Special Olympics.
For this tutorial we are going to use my usual three step process for learning songs: learn the chords, learn the accompaniment strategy and then put it all together!
Step #1: Learn the chords to Please Come Home for Christmas
You can play root position triads if you like, or you can use the inversions that I teach you in the tutorial - totally your choice!
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Step #2: Learn the groove to Please Come Home for Christmas
We are using a blues-inspired 12/8 groove for this one. It is the same groove that is played for Oh! Darling by the Beatles and Blueberry Hill by Fats Domino. I have added a repetitive LH bass line that works great.
Step #3: Put it all together.
Watch the video to see the entire process of this Please Come Home for Christmas piano tutorial. Remember that you can (and should!) customize this to fit your skill level. If the chord inversions are too challenging for you, then play them all root positiong. If you want to level it up, try altering the groove or adding some solo fills.
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!
Want to learn some more cool Holiday Songs? Check Out:
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