James Pierpont wrote Jingle Bells in 1857 for a Thanksgiving program at his Boston church. The song was liked so much that it was repeated at Christmas. The rest is as they say Christmas song history. I have been fascinated with jazzing up simple songs such as this since James Taylor did it for his take on Oh, Susanna. I prefer the "AcNylon" sound setting at a fast "180" tempo. The chord fingerings I use (in a Standard tuning) are as follows: Emaj7 = 0x6444; D9 = x54555; C#m7 = x46454; F#m7 = 242222; B9 = x21222; E6 = 02x120; Emaj9 = 0x4444; Bm7 = 7x7777; E7b9 = 07676x; Amaj7 = 5x665x; G#m7 = 4x4444, and F#13 = 2x2344.

The 16-bar verse to Jingle Bells is shown below. I play the verse strait the first time around. So, grab your guitar and groove to this Holiday classic.