EASY BEGINNER Christmas Song You Can Play Without Knowing Chords!

YouTube guitar lesson by Lauren Bateman teaching an easy beginner arrangement of the Christmas carol "Joy to the World." The tutorial uses simple guitar tab limited to the first three frets (numbers 3, 2, 1, 0) primarily on the low E, B, and G strings, demonstrates each phrase slowly, groups repeated phrases, and finishes with a slowed play-along while singing. The video also points viewers to downloadable tab on Patreon and other Christmas-song resources.
Chapters
Hey, guitar enthusiast. I've got my Christmas sweater on. Which means we are going to be doing a Christmas classic in this guitar lesson. We're going to be doing joy to the world, and we're going to be picking along to the melody line. So grab your favorite guitar pick and let's get started.
So for those of you that are new to the channel, my name is Lauren Bateman, and I make guitar simple and fun for beginners, which is why I love this song, because it's all very simple tab so that we can work through note by note and get you playing Christmas songs right away. So I'm going to put the tab up over here, and you guys can follow along with me note for note. I will do a play along at the end. And if you want to download the tab, I'll throw this up on my Patreon page for you guys that are members over there. So what we're going to be doing is we're going to be focusing on only the first three frets of the guitar. That's the great thing. Okay. And this is all going to be guitar tab. Hopefully you know how to read guitar tab. If not, I'll put a video up up here that explains how it works. But it's actually really simple. So you're just going to see the numbers 3, 2, 0, and 1. Those just refer to the fret numbers. And 0 is the open string. Now, the great thing about this is whenever you see the number three, we're going to use our third finger, which is going to be our ring finger. And then the number two is going to be our middle finger. And the number one is going to be our index finger. And then of course, the number zero, we don't use any fingers at all. And the majority of this song is taking place on the bottom three strings. So the E string, the B string, and the G string. All right? And we're going to start piece by piece, one note at a time. And I will do a complete playthrough for you guys at the end so that you can play along with me. But let's start off with the first few notes. So let me play the first phrase, and then we're going to go through it. So this is what the first phrase sounds like.
Okay, so how are we going to play that? We're going to start on the bot E string, and we're going to play frets three, two, open. Okay, that's the first three notes. Three, two, open on that bottom E string. Then we're going to Come up to the B string, and we're going to play three, one open, and then we're going to play two open on the G string. Okay? And that's what's so great about a song like this, is I don't have to get too much the rhythm because hopefully you already know the melody. This way we can keep things simple for you guys if you know how the melody goes.
Joy to the world, the Lord has come.
All right, so one more time going through that tab. Bottom E string, 3, 2, open on the bottom string. 3, 1 open on the B string, and then 2 open on the G string. So that is our first phrase. So the next phrase is mostly the E string, but it does start in the B string. It sounds like this.
Okay, so the first note is going to be the third fret on the B string, and then we're going to have a double open on the E string.
And then double 2 on the E string.
And then 3 on the E string. So we start third fret on the B string, double 0 on the E string, double 2, 3. And that's going to be.
Again, hopefully you know the melody. So the rhythm is going to be a little bit more instinctive for you. So the next rhythm, this is where the song really, really starts taking off. We get a lot more notes in this next phrase. So the next part is a little bit repetitive. So I'm going to show you two phrases at a time because they're very similar. Here's the first phrase.
And then the next phrase.
Okay, so what did you realize? They're actually the same exact thing. So that's why we can do two phrases at once. But this is what it's going to start. It's going to start on the bottom E string, and we're going to start on that third fret. We were just on the third fret, so we don't even have to move our fingers. It's going to be 3, 3, 2, open, all on the E string. Okay. Then we're coming up to the third fret on the B string.
Third fret on the B string. Again, first fret open. Okay.
And again we're going to just repe. Same thing.
3, 3, 2, 0, 3, 3, 1, open.
All right, so what I'm going to do is I'm going to play through what we've done so far, and then we're going to wrap up the rest of the song. Read.
Okay, that's what we've got so far on the melody. So the next part we've got a lot of zeros in a row here on this B string. So these are going to be the next two phrases. Rhythmically, they're very similar. And we're going to be starting on the open B string, and it's going to be.
Okay. So what we're doing is we're starting on the B string. We're playing three open B strings in a row.
So it's Let heaven and nature.
Sing. So on the end, we're going five opens on the B string.
And then we're going, first fret on the B string, third fret on the B string. Okay? And then right after that, we're coming back, back to the first fret on the B string. We've got one open real quick. Okay. Then we're jumping up to the G string, and we're going to play the second fret multiple times, four times in a row.
And then open B string, first finger on the B string. Let's do that again. All right, so let's start from the beginning of that section. We have the five open Bs.
Okay, so you hear that? So it's open, open, open, open, open.
1, 3, 1, open 2, 2, 2, 2, open, 1.
And then at this point, we're gonna wrap up the rest of the song. So we've got.
So let's work on that phrase. And then we're gonna do a whole playthrough. So with me. So we're starting on the open B string, coming up to the second fret on the G string. And then open G string. Okay, those are the first three notes. Then we're jumping down to the high E string on the third fret. Open E string. Okay, those are the first five notes. We have open B, G on the second fret. Okay? Open G string back down to that bottom string. Third finger, third fret, and then open. Okay, those are the first five notes. And then we've got B string. Three, one, open, one open. Okay, so three, one open, one open. And then second fret on the G string, and then open G string. All right, so again, just that last section.
Hey, guys, if you're enjoying this lesson so far, make sure to subscribe to the channel and turn on your notifications. This way. YouTube will let you know when I release more videos just like this one. So I'm going to start our player along from the very beginning, and I'm going to go to a slightly slower speed, and I will sing so that you can know where the melody is lining up with the guitar, all right? So we're going to start from the very top. Here we go. Ready?
And joy to the world the Lord has come Let ear receive a king Let every heart prepare him room Let heaven and nature sing Let heaven and nature sing and heaven and heaven and nature sing.
If you enjoyed that or.
Are looking to learn more Christmas tunes, I'll throw up a really great video of Silent Night up there. Or you can check out my entire Christmas song playlist down there. I'll see you guys in another lesson soon.










