Traditional German carol · Key of G · Public domain
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This chart is written in G. Tap any key above the chart to see the whole song in that key, with every chord already worked out. To stay in G with different chord shapes, play it capo 3 with the E shapes, or capo 5 with the D shapes, or capo 7 with the C shapes. Singing with a group? Pick the key where the highest note is comfortable for everyone, then print that page.
O Tannenbaum was not written about Christmas. Tannenbaum is German for fir tree, and the song praises the fir for staying green through the winter. Its roots are in an old folk song; in 1819 August Zarnack used the faithful evergreen in a sad love song, as a contrast to an unfaithful sweetheart, and in 1824 the Leipzig teacher and organist Ernst Anschutz kept the first verse and wrote two new ones about the tree itself. That is the version that survived.
It became a Christmas song only as the custom of the decorated Christmas tree spread through Germany and then the world in the 1800s. The melody has had a busy life outside the holiday too: it carries the labor anthem The Red Flag and has served as the tune of several American state songs, Maryland's among them. There are many English translations; this chart uses the traditional one. The melody and the old English words are in the public domain.
A waltz in G with five easy chords: G, D, D7, Am, and C. Every verse has the same shape: the opening pair of lines, a middle pair, then the opening pair again, so there are really only two short progressions to learn. The opening line rocks from G to D and back, and its answer moves Am, D7, G. In the middle the harmony steps up through C to D7 and then waits on D7 for a whole line, the one place the tune builds tension before the return. Bass note on one, two light strums after it, and keep it unhurried.
Tap any chord for its diagram, other voicings, and the notes inside it.
More greenery: Deck the Halls chords and lyrics
All the Christmas carol chord sheets, each one in every key.
Further reading: O Tannenbaum (Wikipedia)
