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SongsWe Wish You a Merry Christmas
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  1. 5
  2. 1'
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  5. 1'
  6. 7
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  9. 6
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  16. 5
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  24. 6
  25. 5
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  27. 6
  28. 2'
  29. 7
  30. 1'
  31. 5
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  35. 7
  36. 7
  37. 1'
  38. 7
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  40. 5
  41. 2'
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  44. 1'
  45. 5'
  46. 5
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  51. 7
  52. 1'

Traditional English carol from the West Country. Public domain. Verse and refrain.

4 strings · G3–E5 open · E6 at the octave · Perfect fifths all the way up. What every violin in the world is tuned to unless somebody has decided otherwise.

Tap a string, or slide along a string and the pitch follows your finger, under a bow that never stops. On a keyboard the letters on the strings are the ones to press — they run down the strings, 1 at the top — hold a key and the note holds.

ViolinFree · printable · plays in your browser

We Wish You a Merry Christmas — Violin Notes

We Wish You a Merry Christmas, written out for the violin as every note with its string and how far up it and set up above on the Standard. Press Play to hear it, Practice to learn it one note at a time — the violin waits for you — or Play along to keep time with it.

  • Notes52, 8 pitches
  • RangeG4–G5
  • Key hereC major
  • Tempo150 bpm · about 19 s
  • LevelEasy

Can a violin play We Wish You a Merry Christmas?

Yes — every one on this page plays it. The check is made note by note against what each one can actually sound. Where the tune does not fit as the library writes it, another key or octave is tried, and the table says which; where nothing fits, it names the notes that are missing.

  • Standard✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, G4–G5 · loaded above
  • AEAE✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, G4–G5 · load it
  • ADAE✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, G4–G5 · load it
  • GDGD✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, G4–G5 · load it

We Wish You a Merry Christmas: violin notes

The large line is the note; the small line under it is the string, and how many semitones above its open note to stop it. A dash holds the note another beat, an underline is half a beat, and a dot beside a note makes it half as long again. Each line is one phrase.

▶ Play it above

We Wish You a Merry Christmas — violin notes (Standard) · tonalics.com

The 8 notes it uses

Lowest to highest, with how many times each is played. Learn these 8 and you can play the whole tune.

  • GD·5×10
  • AA·0×7
  • BA·2×7
  • CA·3×12
  • DA·5×9
  • EE·0×5
  • FE·1×1
  • GE·3×1

What to expect on a violin

  • It runs from G4 to G5, an octave, using 8 different notes. That leaves 12 semitones unused below and 9 above.
  • 73% of its moves are a step or a repeated note. The widest is an octave, G5 to G4, at note 46.
  • It is played on 3 strings (D, A and E), crossing between strings 17 times.
  • 12 notes are an open string, and the highest stop is 5 semitones above the open string — it never leaves the bottom of the neck.

About the tune

An English carol from the West Country, sung by wassailers going door to door at Christmas and asking for something in return. Nobody knows who wrote it or when; it reached most of the world through a 1935 choral arrangement by the Bristol conductor Arthur Warrell, but the tune itself is traditional.

Traditional English carol from the West Country. Public domain. Verse and refrain. The notes follow Sudbury Ancient Fyfe & Drum Companie carol book, transcribed by John Chambers, cross-checked against 2 other transcriptions. More about We Wish You a Merry Christmas →

We Wish You a Merry Christmas on other instruments

The same melody, in each instrument’s own notation. It is not offered for the guzheng, handpan or ocarina, which do not have the notes.

More songs for the violin

All 36 violin songs · Christmas songs for violin · The online violin on its own

Playing it on a real violin?

If it sounds wrong, check the instrument before the notes. The violin tuner listens through your microphone and names what each note is actually sounding.

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