How to play 9 great Christmas songs

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How to play nine great Christmas songs

It's a scenario as traditional as the turkey itself: 'Twas the night before Christmas: and you were hunched over a piano book trying to figure out how the hell you're meant to play that 15-chord-a-second-version of Good King Wenceslas.

Well, in the spirit of the season, and in an effort to save you drowning your sorrows in a sea of toffee pennies, we've scoured YouTube to come up with nine Christmas song guitar lessons that will help you deliver six-string seasonal cheer.

From Jingle Bell Rock to White Christmas, grab your guitar, settle down with a mug of mulled wine and get strumming...

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How to play Fairytale Of New York

The Pogue's seasonal barnstormer repeatedly tops polls as the best Christmas song of all time and no wonder: few other songwriters could have summed up the season of hope and dashed fortunes in such affecting fashion.

Kirsty MacColl's whiskey-soaked vocals perfectly complement Shane McGowan's, err, whiskey-soaked vocals and the traditional instrumentation helps ensure there's just enough dacorum involved to get grandma off the sofa when the fiddle drops...

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How to play Merry Christmas Everybody

Noddy and friends were clearly having a laugh when the put this together, and that's probably part of the reason for its success. It none the less played a big part in Wolverhampton wonders becoming - believe it or not - the best selling British rock act of the 1970s, in terms of singles.

Like many Christmas singles, Merry Xmas Everybody was recorded in the middle of an August heatwave in the summer of 1973. Unlike most Christmas singles it went on to sell over 2.5 million copies in the UK alone.

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How to play Happy Xmas (War Is Over)

In 1969 John and Yoko famously rented billboards in major cities across the globe to proclaim 'War is over - if you want it. Happy Christmas from John & Yoko'. It was a protest against the Vietnam war and a rather wonderful use of Lennon's rock 'n' roll millions.

Two years later and a year after the Beatles had disbanded, he went and made his anti-war statement into this instant Christmas classic, with a little help from uber-producer Phil Spector.

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How to play Jingle Bell Rock

Jingle Bell Rock was originally recorded and released by Bobby Helms in 1958, and the Indiana country singer's rendition is still considered to be the definitive version despite attempts by everyone from Alvin & The Chipmunks, to Kylie Minogue and Neil Diamond to better it.

One of those perennial Christmas classics, the song has proved enduring popular thanks in part to it's place in film soundtracks and has popped up in the likes of Lethal Weapon, Home Alone 2 and Mean Girls, to name a few.

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How to play We Wish You A Merry Christmas

This English carolling classic is based around the exchange of songs for seasonal treats, in a sort of friendlier, less threatening version of trick-or-treating.

It's traditionally placed last in a carollers' setlist, presumably in order to illicit that delicious and mysterious figgy pudding. No one really knows what that is, but it's become a nice doorstep talking point while people fish around in their pockets for coins.

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How to play Rudolf The Red Nosed Reindeer

According to your belief system, Rudolph was either a plucky young buck who would famously become Santa's ninth go-to sleigh puller, or the 1939 colouring book creation of Chicago department store Montgomery Ward.

The song was written by Rudolph-creator Robert L. May's brother-in-law Johnny Marks and has since been covered by everyone from Lynyrd Skynyrd to metalcore stalwarts August Burns Red.

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How to play White Christmas

The creation of genuine US songwriting legend, Irving Berlin, White Christmas counts the likes of Happy Holidays, There's No Business Like Show Business and Puttin' On The Ritz among its brethren.

All of the others pale in comparison though, frankly, as Bing Crosby's recording for 1942 film Holiday Inn - despite initially lax sales - has since gone on to be the most successful single of all time, shifting over 50 million copies.

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How to play Last Christmas

WHAM! That's the sound of a Christmas classic hitting you upside your head. In Germany, Last Christmas, is the most successful Christmas song of all time, yet it was held off the top of the UK charts by Live Aids' momentous Do They Know It's Christmas?

Other notable versions have been recorded by Crazy Frog, Billie, Hilary Duff, Cascada and Joe McElderry... Actually, scratch that last sentence.

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How to play All I Want For Christmas Is You

Given her reputation as a slightly-vacuous pop diva, you might be surprised to learn that Mariah co-wrote her gigantic Christmas hit, teaming up once again with Hero collaborator Walter Afanasieff.

The song has proven both a critical and commercial success, becoming a modern holiday standard, Carey's biggest hit and the cause of way too many office party embarrassments.