Hey there, friends! Today I’ll show you how to play Blue Christmas, the classic song we all know from Elvis Presley. Unlike Elvis, I’ll be teaching a Key of C arrangement of this song - which I transposed back in lesson #465 in order to play along with a friend. A year later, I returned to this song and polished it up – and am pumped to share this lesson with you.

As usual I’ll walk you through all the must-know aspects: the chords, strumming patterns, some licks & fills, and an instrumental riff that combines melodic bassline with filler strums. This all makes for something that is relatively easy to play (no barre chords!) and manages to capture a ton of the magic in Elvis’ 1957 recording. Let’s get into it!

• 0:00 Lesson Overview
• 0:37 Playthrough
• 1:57 Capo & Key
• 2:40 Verse
• 9:00 Chorus
• 11:37 Strumming
• 15:19 Instrumental Riff

Lesson Discussion

Print-Friendly Song Sheet 1 page

Extended Video Lessons

Play-Along Practice Track

Here’s a zoomed-in playthrough from start to finish, where you can see exactly how I play each section. This includes my arrangement of the instrumental melody riff, which I do a deep-dive on in the video just below.

Instrumental Melody Riff with Filler Strums

Here’s a closer look how I combine filler strums with melodic bass line, which I use during the 8 measure instrumental section before the final chorus. I touch on this in my main lesson (above) but wanted to go the extra mile and show you exactly what I’m playing.

Other Lessons to Help With This Song

If the F chord is tripping you up, here are some videos to help:

If you need some help with strumming (in particular the alternating bass note strumming technique I use), check these out:

Finally, if you’re interested in how (and why) I decided to change the Key from E major to C major, here’s an earlier video I made showing the process:

Famous Recordings of this Song

Elvis Presley (1957) - Remember, add capo 4 (using the chords I use) to play along with him.

Doye O’Dell (1948) - As I understand, this is the first ever recording of the song!

Want to Learn it in the Key of E?

Here’s a few lessons from other YouTube teachers, all of whom teach this in the Key of E (which matches the Elvis recording). Again, I teach things in Key of C which uses different chords entirely.