The Christmas Song

• Courses
• The Christmas Song

Course Lessons

• Resources
• Form
• Chord Substitutions

Learn this tricky jazz Christmas standard. You’ve probably heard it a million times between Halloween and Christmas—but the harmony is surprisingly sneaky.

In this mini-course, I walk you through the form, the harmonic logic that make this tune sound the way it does. I'll also go through the chord substitutions you hear in the classic Vince Guaraldi / Charlie Brown recording.

In this course, we spend our time making the chart make sense—especially those odd shifting ii–V–I movements.

And if you really want a challenge: once you understand the logic, try transposing it into a bunch of keys. It’s one of the best tests of whether you actually own the harmony.

Course Objectives #

• Understand the harmony and structure of the song
• Comfortably navigate the shifting ii–V–I progressions
• Recognize and understand the Vince Guaraldi–style chord substitutions for this tune

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