Below is the lesson for “Angels We Have Heard On High”.

Helpful Tips

An angelic Christmas carol; this arrangement uses barre chords and stretch chords that gracefully move up and down the neck to create an elegant harmony. As you work through the piece, you’ll notice that the chords have been notated requiring a barre across all 4 strings. But if you look through the tab, you’ll notice that the majority of fingerpicking takes place on strings 1, 2, and 3.

This presents an opportunity to simplify our fretting approach. You can actually reduce every chord down from a 4 string barre to a partial 3 string barre (in other words, don’t play string 4), which will make it much easier to play.

Regardless of which way you decide to tackle the barre chords (4 vs. 3 string), it’s vital that you utilize proper left hand form. There are also a couple “stretch” chords which require greater dexterity from our left hand. Check out this lesson for exercises to help increase left hand reach.

Part 1 – Performance & Free Lesson

Tab Play Along