A beginner-focused guitar lesson by Lauren Bateman teaching how to play 'I Want A Hippopotamus for Christmas' using primarily four open chords (G, D, A, C) with optional 7th chord variations (A7, D7, G7). The video explains an eighth-note strumming pattern and a swung-eighth feel, timing tips (muted strums, splitting a measure so each chord gets two beats on the lyric "hippopotamuses"), and includes a partial playthrough and a promo for Bateman's Christmas course.
Questions this video answers
G, D, A, C (open chords)
A7, D7, G7 (optional; regular chords may be used instead)
Eighth-note strumming counted '1 and 2 and 3 and 4' with a swung-eighth feel (first strum held slightly longer)
Each chord is two beats (split measure): down-up-down-up on the first chord, then down-up-down-up on the second (A7 to D7; A to D acceptable)
Chapters
Hey, guitar enthusiasts. I have a super fun Christmas song and it has seven chords. But if you're a beginner, you could use only four. Let's talk about those chords. So we have a G chord, we have a D chord, we have an A chord, and we have a C chord. Okay? So all open chords, no bar chords in this song. Again, so it's G, D, A and C. That's what we're going to be using. Also throughout this song, there are a number of what we call seven chords. They're just different variations of chords, more of those bluesy tones. So if you don't know those, don't worry. Whenever you see an A7 chord which sounds like this, you could just play an A chord totally fine. Whenever you see a D7 chord, you can just play the regular D chord. And when you play a G7 chord or see a G7 chord, the regular G chord will work just fine. So if you don't know those seven chords, just ignore them for now. You can always follow along on my website, laurenbateman.com I have my notes and stuff over there for you guys. I'll put a link in the description below. Now, again, going through this, if we have an A chord, the easiest way to get to A seven, lift up that middle finger. It's where I tell people it's the only time you can flip me the bird. Okay. Is on the A7 chord. Now to go from A7 into D7. It's. It's not that bad. You drop this third finger down. The second finger comes into place. Okay? So we're on the E string and the G string. And then your first finger ends up on that second string on the first fret. Okay? And then G7 looks like a C chord, but it's just a little bit wider. Okay? So each one of those fingers, if you know a C chord, drop the first finger down, bring the two top fingers up, and you have G7. But again, if you're not familiar with those, don't worry. Use the regular chords. You'll be just fine. Let's talk about the strumming.
So we're going to be using an eighth note strumming pattern. Okay? So we're going to have eight strums, and it's counted 1 and 2 and 3 and 4. And now we're going to be doing something special with this strum. But first, I just want you to work on the timing. Let's take a nice G chord because there's a lot of G chord in this song. Which is very, very nice. So it's going to be 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and play down, up, down, up. Down, up, down, up. Okay, so let's just start with that first. We got 1 and 2 and 3.
So that's the strumming we're going to be using, but this song has more of a swing feel to it. Okay, this is a super fun song. It's peppy, it's lively. I'm glad that someone in my private community was like, lauren, can you please do I want a hippopotamus for Christmas? And I said, yes, I'll do it. So here it is. Now we have what's called a swung eighth note feel. So it sounds more like this one.
A two, a three, a four, a one, a two, a three, a four.
Okay, so the first strum is just held out a little bit longer. So this is the first one. This is very like on the beat. Straight on the beat.
Now here's the swung one.
Down, up, down, up down, up down, up down, up, down, up, down, up, down. A one, a two, a three, a four. A one, a two, a three, a four.
Very, very common in, like blues music, you know, if you're gonn.
Okay, very, very common, swung, bluesy kind of feel. But we're using it here on a Christmas song. Very, very cool. So you might want to pause the video, practice with that, because what I'm going to do is show you another couple points in the song that are important before we do a play through. So there's one part. Oh, what a joy and a surprise When I open up my eyes to.
See a hippo hero standing there.
So what you can do on that part, we have an A chord and a D chord. You could strum through that. You could just go to see a.
Hippo hero standing there and I'll fix.
My voice by the time I do the playthrough. But what I would do is go hippo hero. And you'll hear it in the song when you listen. They kind of paused the chord on hippo and hero, which is nice because it falls right on the words. Okay, so if I did that, I.
Can see me now on Christmas morning Creeping down the stairs what a joy and a surprise As I open up my eyes to see a hippo hero.
Standing there so what did I do? You notice I played the A chord and then very quickly I Took my right hand, my strumming hand. So if you're a lefty, it'll be your left hand. And I just muted the strings really quick with my strumming hand.
And then I got right back in on the strumming on the D chord. So that would be 1, 2, 3, 4. Okay, just for the timing of that. And the final timing thing that you're going to want to be aware of is there's a part where she goes. And hippopotamus is like me too. So on the hippopotamuses, we're splitting a measure. So what does that mean? That means each chord is going to be two beats. So it's going to be down, up, down, up on the first chord and down, up, down, up on the seven chord on the second chord. Now this is an A7 to D7. And again, you could do A to D. Doesn't matter, it'll still work. Alright, so if I do the A7, it's going to be down, up, down, up and then again down, up, down, up. So together.
All right, so that's what we're going to do. And that's, you know, I only like hippopotamuses and hippopotamuses like me too. All right, let's see if I can fix my voice. Let's do a little bit of a play through here. We're going to go through all the different sections. I'll probably play about half of the song, but we're going to hit everything. Let's get started. Ready? One, two, one, a two, a three, a four.
I want a hippopotamus for Christmas Only a hippopotamus will do.
Don't want a doll now, Dinky, Take your time. I want hippopotamus to play with and enjoy. I want a hippopotamus for Christmas I don't think Santa Claus reminds you.
He won't have to use our dirty chimney blue to spring him through the front. So that's the easy thing to do. I can see me now on Christmas morning Creeping down the stairs what a joy and a surprise As I open up my eyes to see you hippopotero standing there I want a hippopotamus for Christmas Only a hippopotamus would do. You know crocodiles there are enough so russes. I only like hippopotamuses and hippopotamuses like me too.
And just so you know, I do have a full Christmas classic set. Course it's classic Christmas songs where I show you how to play along to the melodies if you're an absolute beginner. And I do have a few songs where I strum along so that you can play for family and friends this holiday season. Scroll down to the link in the description below to buy your Christmas chorus today.
