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14,015 TRANSITIONS ANALYZED#1 at 23%: Which Transition?The 100 most repeated chord transitions extracted from thousands of songs. Even the first 10 will transform your guitar practice routine.

Frank Sinatra - Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas Chords

DATA-DRIVENWhich Chord Comes Next?Learn the most likely chord transitions on guitar and start playing songs with confidence.
ChordsC, Am, D7, G, Em, E7, A7, B7, D, Bm
Strumming↓-↓↑-↓↑-↓↑

Before you play, tune your guitar and use the tools below to set up your view and flow.

CAmD7G
GHave EmyourselfaAmmerrylittleD7Christmas
GLetyourEmheartbeAmlight,D7
GFromnowEmonyour
AmTroubleswillbeD7outofE7sight.A7D7
GHave EmyourselfaAmmerrylittleD7Christmas
GMaketheEmyuletideAmgay,D7
GFromnowEmonyour
AmTroubleswillbeB7milesEmawayG
EmOnceagainasinDoldendays
HappyAmgoldendaysD7ofGyore.
EmFaithfulfriendswhoareBmdeartous
ShallbeDneartousonceAmmoreD7
GSomedayEmsoonweAmallwillbeDtogether,
GIftheEmfatesAmallow,D7
GUntilEmthenwe’llAmhavetomuddleD7throughEmsomehow.
SoChaveyourselfaAmmerrylittleD7ChristmasGnow.
SONG DATA3 Chords, 200 Chains, 1 BookDiscover the most-used three-chord combinations in songs and build real command on guitar.
14,015 TRANSITIONS ANALYZED#1 at 23%: Which Transition?Master guitar today with the most repeated high-impact chord transitions.
ArtistFrank Sinatra
AlbumSingle
GenresChristmas
Year1957
KeyG
DifficultyAdvanced

How to play Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas on Guitar (Step-by-step)

Frank Sinatra - Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas on guitar requires 10 chords and 17 core chord transitions. You can find the full step-by-step guide below. Before you start, tune your instrument. The song uses the ↓-↓↑-↓↑-↓↑ pattern; practice it muted first, or simplify to downstrokes while you learn the changes.

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas uses these transitions most often: Am → D7 (11), G → Em (11), and D7 → G (10). These transitions may feel a little challenging at first, but with steady practice you can play this song quickly.When you are ready, begin with C - Am chord transition.

1. C → Am chord transition

Guitar C chord diagram Fingering: x-3-2-0-1-0Guitar C chord diagram
Guitar Am chord diagram Fingering: x-0-2-2-1-0Guitar Am chord diagram

Switching from C to Am:

  1. Keep index finger on B string fret 1.
  2. Keep middle finger on D string fret 2.
  3. Lift your ring finger from A string fret 3 and place it on G string fret 2.

This transition appears in the verse, played 2 times.

C to Am

2. Am → D7 chord transition

Guitar Am chord diagram Fingering: x-0-2-2-1-0Guitar Am chord diagram
Guitar D7 chord diagram Fingering: x-x-0-2-1-2Guitar D7 chord diagram

To move from Am to D7:

  1. Keep index finger on B string fret 1.
  2. Lift your middle finger from D string fret 2 and place it on G string fret 2.
  3. Slide your ring finger from G string fret 2 to E string fret 2.

This transition appears in the verse, played 11 times.

Am to D7

3. D7 → G chord transition

Guitar D7 chord diagram Fingering: x-x-0-2-1-2Guitar D7 chord diagram
Guitar G chord diagram Fingering: 3-2-0-0-0-3Guitar G chord diagram

Here's how to move from D7 to G:

  1. Lift your index finger from B string fret 1 and place it on A string fret 2.
  2. Slide your middle finger from G string fret 2 to E string fret 3.
  3. Slide your ring finger on E string from fret 2 to fret 3.

This transition appears in the verse, played 10 times.

D7 to G

4. G → Em chord transition

Guitar G chord diagram Fingering: 3-2-0-0-0-3Guitar G chord diagram
Guitar Em chord diagram Fingering: 0-2-2-0-0-0Guitar Em chord diagram

To move from G to Em:

  1. While playing G, lift your index finger from A string fret 2.
  2. Lift your middle finger from E string fret 3 and place it on A string fret 2.
  3. Slide your ring finger from E string fret 3 to D string fret 2.

This transition appears in the verse, played 11 times.

G to Em

5. Em → Am chord transition

Switching from Em to Am:

  1. Lift your middle finger from A string fret 2 and place it on D string fret 2.
  2. Slide your ring finger from D string fret 2 to G string fret 2.
  3. Place index finger on B string fret 1.

This transition appears in the verse, played 9 times.

6. D7 → E7 chord transition

Switching from D7 to E7:

  1. While playing D7, lift your ring finger from E string fret 2.
  2. Lift your index finger from B string fret 1 and place it on G string fret 1.
  3. Slide your middle finger from G string fret 2 to A string fret 2.

This transition appears in the verse.

7. E7 → A7 chord transition

Switching from E7 to A7:

  1. Lift your index finger from G string fret 1 and place it on D string fret 2.
  2. Slide your middle finger from A string fret 2 to B string fret 2.

This transition appears in the verse.

8. A7 → D7 chord transition

To move from A7 to D7:

  1. Lift your index finger from D string fret 2 and place it on B string fret 1.
  2. Slide your middle finger from B string fret 2 to G string fret 2.
  3. Place ring finger on E string fret 2.

This transition appears in the verse.

9. Am → B7 chord transition

Switching from Am to B7:

  1. Lift your index finger from B string fret 1 and place it on D string fret 1.
  2. Slide your middle finger from D string fret 2 to A string fret 2.
  3. Keep ring finger on G string fret 2.
  4. Place pinky on E string fret 2.

This transition appears in the verse.

10. B7 → Em chord transition

Here's how to move from B7 to Em:

  1. While playing B7, first lift your index finger and pinky.
  2. Keep middle finger on A string fret 2.
  3. Lift your ring finger from G string fret 2 and place it on D string fret 2.

This transition appears in the verse.

11. Em → D chord transition

To move from Em to D:

  1. Lift your middle finger from A string fret 2 and place it on E string fret 2.
  2. Slide your ring finger from D string fret 2 to B string fret 3.
  3. Place index finger on G string fret 2.

This transition appears in the verse.

12. D → Am chord transition

Here's how to move from D to Am:

  1. Lift your index finger from G string fret 2 and place it on B string fret 1.
  2. Slide your middle finger from E string fret 2 to D string fret 2.
  3. Lift your ring finger from B string fret 3 and place it on G string fret 2.

This transition appears in the verse, played 2 times.

13. Em → Bm chord transition

Here's how to move from Em to Bm:

  1. Lift your middle finger from A string fret 2 and place it on B string fret 3.
  2. Slide your ring finger on D string from fret 2 to fret 4.
  3. Place index finger on E string fret 2.
  4. Place pinky on G string fret 4.

This transition appears in the verse.

14. Bm → D chord transition

To move from Bm to D:

  1. While playing Bm, lift your pinky from G string fret 4.
  2. Lift your index finger from E string fret 2 and place it on G string fret 2.
  3. Slide your middle finger from B string fret 3 to E string fret 2.
  4. Lift your ring finger from D string fret 4 and place it on B string fret 3.

This transition appears in the verse.

15. D → G chord transition

Switching from D to G:

  1. Lift your index finger from G string fret 2 and place it on A string fret 2.
  2. Slide your middle finger from E string fret 2 to E string fret 3.
  3. Lift your ring finger from B string fret 3 and place it on E string fret 3.

This transition appears in the verse.

16. D7 → Em chord transition

Switching from D7 to Em:

  1. While playing D7, lift your index finger from B string fret 1.
  2. Lift your middle finger from G string fret 2 and place it on A string fret 2.
  3. Slide your ring finger from E string fret 2 to D string fret 2.

This transition appears in the verse.

17. Em → C chord transition

Here's how to move from Em to C:

  1. Lift your middle finger from A string fret 2 and place it on D string fret 2.
  2. Slide your ring finger from D string fret 2 to A string fret 3.
  3. Place index finger on B string fret 1.

This transition appears in the verse.

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas chord transition analysis

A short, data-driven summary of the chord flow in Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.

  • Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas includes 58 chord transitions, 17 of them unique.
  • These transitions represent 0.02% of all chord transitions in Chordier.
  • Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas contains 3 of the top 10 transitions across Chordier.
  • These transition patterns show how Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas connects to the rest of Chordier. Mastering them helps you move to similar songs faster.
    After Am, the most likely next chords across Chordier are F (26%), G (21%), and C (16%).
    • Am → D: 7%
    • Am → D7: 2%
    After G, the most likely next chords across Chordier are C (25%), D (24%), and Am (13%).
    • G → Em: 9%
SONG DATA3 Chords, 200 Chains, 1 BookThe 200 most popular three-chord chains from real songs. See which songs use each chain and expand your repertoire with patterns that actually matter.