Deck The Halls
Words & Music:
Traditional English, American & Welsh
Per Wikipedia (which has an excellent entry on this
tune!), the tune is traditional (I'm betting English), but was used by Mozart
for a violin & piano duet. The
original words were Welsh (you will find them in Wikipedia) and the most
popular English words are 19th century American. This song is a classic "call &
response", but the response is always the "Fa-La..." bit. I've also included a nice guitar tab of
this by Mark Rogers. Enjoy!
D
Bm
A7 D D A7 D
Deck the halls with boughs of holly. Fa-la-la la-la, la-la-la, la!
D
Bm
A7 D D A7 D
'Tis the sea-son to be jolly. Fa-la-la la-la, la-la-la, la!
A7
D
Bm A7 E7 A7
Don we now our gay apparel. Fa-la-la, la-la la, la, la, la!
D
Bm
G D (G) D A7 D
Troll the ancient Yuletide carol. Fa-la-la la-la, la-la, la, la!
See the blazing Yule before us. Fa-la-la la-la, la-la-la, la!
Strike the harp and join the chorus. Fa-la-la la-la, la-la-la, la!
Follow me in merry measure. Fa-la-la, la-la la, la, la, la!
While I tell the Yuletide treasure. Fa-la-la la-la, la-la-la, la!
Fast away the old year passes. Fa-la-la la-la, la-la-la, la!
Hail the new, ye lads and lasses. Fa-la-la la-la, la-la-la, la!
Sing we joyous all together. Fa-la-la, la-la la, la, la, la!
Heedless of the wind and weather. Fa-la-la la-la, la-la-la, la!
Deck The Halls Tab by
Mark Rogers:
Since the holiday season is coming soon I thought I'd post a
TAB for
"Deck the Halls". It's an arrangement one of my teachers gave me last
year. It's easy
to play and it sounds good. The
long introduction
will mesmerize your audience (says so right here in the
small print
at the bottom of the page). Play as little or as much of the intro
as you want, and use pieces of the intro between verses as
you see
fit.
Capo on 5th fret, all positions listed are relative to capo. The "^"
symbols represent the beat.
INTRO:
(A)
4
3
3 1 3 2 2 1 2 3 4 2
++-------------------+------------------+------------------+
||---3-----1-0-------|--3-----1-0-------|----------0-------|
||.----0---------2---|----0---------2---|--0---0-2-----0---|
||.------0-----0---0-|------0-----0---0-|----4-------0---0-|
||-------------------|------------------|------------------|
++---3-------3-------+--2-------2-------+--0-------0-------+
^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
--------------------
--------------------
1. |
2. |
4 2
4 2 2 4
+-------------------++ +-------------------++
|----------0--------|| |----------0--------||
|--0---0-2-----0---.|| |--0---0-2---2-0----||
|----4-------0---0-.|| |----4-----------4--||
|-------------------|| |-------------------||
+--0-------0--------++
+--0-------0--------++
^ ^ ^ ^
^ ^ ^ ^
(B)
3
3
2 3 2 2 1 2 1
2 1 2 1
++------0-2-3-2-0----+------0-2-3-2-0----+------0-2-3-2-0----+
||----0-----------0--|----0-----------0--|----0-----------0--|
||.-----0-------0----|------0-------0----|------0-------0----|
||.------------------|-------------------|-------------------|
||-------------------|-------------------|-------------------|
++--0-------0--------+--2-------2--------+--3-------3--------+
^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
2 4 4 2
+-------------------++
|-------------------||
|----2~0---0-------.||
"~" is a trill (0-2-0)
|--------4---4-2-0-.||
|--0----------------||
+-------------------++
^ ^ ^ ^
REPEAT (A), THEN USE THE FOLLOWING LEAD-IN:
1
1
3 2 4 3 2 4
++-------------------+--------------3---++
||------0-1-----3----|------1-0---------||
||.---0-------0------|----0-------0----.||
||.-----0-2----------|------2-0--------.||
||-------------------|------------------||
++--3----------------+--3---------------++
^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
THEME:
4
1 1 4 4 1 4 1 4
3 2 4 3 2
1 2 3 2 3 2 4
1 2 3
++---3-----1-0-------+----------0-------+----0-1---0-------+
||---1-----3-----3---|--1---3-------1---|--3-----3---1---3-|
||.----0-------0---0-|----0---0---0---0-|----0-2---0-------|
||.------2-----------|--------------2---|--3-------------3-|
||---3-------3---2---|--0---2---3-------|------------------|
++-------------------+------------------+--------------3---+
^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
1 1
2 3 2
+---------------------++
|---1---0---1---------||
|-----0---0---0---0--.||
|---2---0-------2----.||
|-----------3---------||
+---------------------++
^ ^ ^ ^
4 1
4 4
3 1 4 4 3 2 1 3
2
2 1 3 1 3 4
+---------0-1-------+---0-----1-3-------+---0-2-3---5-7-8---+
|---3-----1-3---3---|---0-----------3---|-------------------|
|-----0-------0---0-|-----0-------0---0-|-------------------|
|-------0-----------|-------2-----------|-------------------|
|-------------------|---3-------3---2---|---3-------0-------|
+---3-------3-------+-------------------+-------------------+
^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
4 4
4 1 2
+---7---5---3-------+
|-------------------|
|-----------0-------|
|---0---------------|
|-------------------|
+-------2---3-------+
^ ^ ^ ^
4
1 1 4 4 1 4 4
3 2 4 3 2
1 2 3 2 1 3 1 1
+---3-----1-0-------+----------0-------+--5-5-5-5-3-----1-+
|---1-----3-----3---|--1---3-------1---|------------1-----|
|-----0-------0---0-|----0---0---0---0-|--------------0---|
|-------2-----------|--------------2---|------------------|
|---3-------3---2---|--0---2---3-------|----------3-------|
+-------------------+------------------+--1---------------+
^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
4 1
right-hand harmonic
3 2 3 2
at the very end
+---0-----------------++ +---(7)---++ (optional)
|-------3---1---------|| |---------||
|-----0---0---0---0--.|| |---------||
|---------------2----.|| |---------||
|-------2---3---------|| |---------||
+---3-----------------++ +---------++
^ ^ ^ ^
The provenance of the
attached easy arrangement
or
attached easy arrangement
is unknown. It is part of a
collection that people gave me over the years. Please inform me if correctly attribute it.