Guitar Books Review #14: Christmas Repertoire for Solo Fingerstyle Guitar

Christmas repertoire books featuring solo fingerstyle guitar arrangements are great for the holiday season! Whether you simply want to get into the Christmas spirit or you need to perform Christmas tunes at your gigs, there are a number of great Christmas repertoire books. In this review I will look at three books that I really enjoy: Hal Leonard’s “Fingerpicking Yuletide,” Mark Phillips’ “Christmas Carols for Easy Classical Guitar” (Cherry Lane Music Company), and John Hill’s “Classical Guitar Christmas Sheet Music” (Hal Leonard).
To be clear, all books are suitable for either steel string guitar or nylon string classical guitar.
All three books feature a range of tunes suitable for late-beginner through intermediate fingerstyle guitarists. Hal Leonard’s “Fingerpicking Yuletide” features mid-twentieth century tunes like Frosty the Snowman, Jingle Bell Rock, and Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Phillips’ “Christmas Carols for Easy Classical Guitar” and Hill’s “Classical Guitar Christmas Sheet Music” both feature traditional Christmas carols like O Come, All Ye Faithful, The First Noel, Jingle Bells, and Silent Night.
Hal Leonard’s “Fingerpicking Yuletide” and Phillips’ “Christmas Carols for Easy Classical Guitar” provide both standard notation and tablature, but Hill’s “Classical Guitar Christmas Sheet Music” provides only standard notation (no TAB!!!).
The arrangements in Phillips’ “Christmas Carols for Easy Classical Guitar” flow really well with nice arpeggiation. The arrangements in Hill’s “Classical Guitar Christmas Sheet Music” are a mixed bag, but many of them have nice arpeggiation or feature an alternating bass line (Travis picking). Some of the arrangements are a bit clunky in comparison to the Phillips book. The arrangements in Hal Leonard’s “Fingerpicking Yuletide” are also a mixed bag, but tend to be a little stripped down/simplified to make them easier. While some are great as they are, some are a little uninspiring until you add some extra inner harmony, arpeggiation, or other pizzazz. The arrangements are great for late-beginner/intermediate players, and they are excellent skeletons/frameworks/starting points from which more advanced players can add extra spice. The arrangements utilize a variety of alternating bass lines and arpeggiation.
Hal Leonard’s “Fingerpicking Yuletide” has 16 tunes. Phillips’ “Christmas Carols for Easy Classical Guitar” has 22 tunes. Hill’s “Classical Guitar Christmas Sheet Music” has 30 tunes.
Hal Leonard’s “Fingerpicking Yuletide” is the only book out of the three that has the lyrics written into the music which is nice when playing with friends/family or for helping you to sing the melody out loud or in your head while you are playing solo.
Phillips’ “Christmas Carols for Easy Classical Guitar” is the only book out of the three that comes with recordings of the tunes (mine came with a CD).
All three books are worth buying - it just depends on what you’re looking for.
My eBook: Arranging for Fingerstyle Guitar: go to joemcmurray.com... to purchase a pdf of my eBook.
My music is available on all streaming platforms:
Pins on the Map: my third fingerstyle guitar album will be released in January 2024. The first single, "Open Road," was released 10/20/23. Watch it on UA-cam here: • Joe McMurray - Open Ro... . Three other singles have since been released: “Lost and Found,” “The Matador,” and “Pins on the Map.”
Riding the Wave and Acoustic Oasis: my first two fingerstyle guitar albums.

[@tomslaughter8660]

You're doing a great job. I played rock/ jazz professionally years ago. Life got in the way. Now I'm working on classical and finger style.

[@JoeMcMurrayMusic]

Sounds like we have had a very similar musical path. It is SO satisfying to play a solo classical or fingerstyle arrangement of a tune, and Christmas tunes often work especially well.

[@aliyousry6223]

I really enjoy your videos, Happy holidays and keep up the good work!

[@JoeMcMurrayMusic]

Thanks so much! Hope you had a great holiday season as well!

[@smandez2023]

I appreciate another great guitar books review! I love Christmas music and fingerstyle guitar both, to together it's like a burger and fries. I bought a fantastic book like 20 years ago called, "An Open Tunings Christmas for Guitar" by Steve Baughman. I started it but have been itching to get back to it. The conundrum, at least for me, is having to find the time to practice and adequately learn the songs- it would likely take me "out of season" to be practicing them. Since then I've had 2 kids; would very likely drive my family absolutely crazy 🤣

[@JoeMcMurrayMusic]

Thanks for watching and for your comment! I have a young child as well and time management is so important for me. Part of why I enjoy these three books so much (especially the Phillips and Yuletide) is that these arrangements shouldn't take months to master (depending on your skill level). I don't have the Boughman book, but if it is more difficult then I'd suggest grabbing one of these.