Traditional English carol · Key of E Minor · Public domain
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This chart is written in E Minor. Tap any key above the chart to see the whole song in that key, with every chord already worked out. To stay in E Minor with different chord shapes, play it capo 2 with the Dm shapes, or capo 7 with the Am shapes. Singing with a group? Pick the key where the highest note is comfortable for everyone, then print that page.
God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen is one of the oldest carols still in everyday use. A version of the words survives in a manuscript from the 1650s, it was circulating on printed broadsheets by the middle of the 1700s, and William Sandys included it in his 1833 collection of traditional carols. Charles Dickens gave it a walk-on part in A Christmas Carol in 1843: a caroler starts singing it at Scrooge's keyhole and is chased off with a ruler.
The title is misread more often than not. "Rest" here means "keep," and "merry" once meant something closer to strong or content, so the opening line is a blessing: may God keep you in good spirits, gentlemen. The comma belongs after "merry." The carol is also unusual for delivering joyful news in a minor key, which gives it the dark, striding sound that makes it such a good one on guitar. Words and melody are traditional and in the public domain.
Em, Am, C, D, G, and B7, all open chords, in a firm 4/4 that wants to march. The verse sets up a pattern you hear twice: Em, then C dropping to B7, which is the darkest and most satisfying move in the song. The third pair of lines climbs out through Am and G before pausing on D. Then the refrain turns to the relative major, G, for "O tidings," swings back through B7 to Em, and repeats. Keep the strum steady and a little heavy on the first beat; this carol likes momentum more than delicacy.
Tap any chord for its diagram, other voicings, and the notes inside it.
Another carol in E minor: What Child Is This chords and lyrics
All the Christmas carol chord sheets, each one in every key.
Further reading: God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen (Wikipedia)
