Christmas is around the corner, and I can't help but sing Christmas Carols all day long nowadays. If you're like me and love Christmas Carols or if you want to surprise you family and friends on Christmas or at a Christmas Party, you could try and twang a Christmas Carol on shamisen!

Although these songs are not originally "made for shamisen", there's a handful of songs that are fun to play on the shamisen. I transcribed a couple of my favorites over the past years and I am sure you're gonna like at least one of them 🙂

I ordered the songs according to difficulty level, from easy to harder. The "harder" ones can be learned by beginners, too - you just need to spend a little more time on them and be patient with yourself.

A general note on Playing: You can always switch out techniques (left and right hand) with normal bachi downstrokes. The techniques are there to reduce the number of bachi movements. But if they make you feel stuck and you prefer just hitting the string with your bachi, please go ahead and change as much as you want 🙂 In the end, the way that's easiest to you is the right way! 

       Advent, Advent 

       Schneeflöckchen, Weißröckchen

       O Du Fröhliche

       Stille Nacht

       Jingle Bells

       Am Weihnachtsbaume die Lichter brennen

       Morgen, Kinder, wird’s was geben

       Kling, Glöckchen, Klingelingeling

       Lasst Uns Froh und Munter Sein

       Fröhliche Weihnacht überall!

       Joy to the World / Freue Dich Welt

      Tochter Zion, Freue Dich