Last Christmas | TAB
You may have thought this was going to be easy, isn’t Last Christmas a simple 4-chord song?
Well, it turns out that there are a lot of extensions and no guitar part so this became pretty complicated, almost impossible!
The impossible is to play that keyboard part on the guitar, here it is in TAB, try it, but know this is only the first step, it will get easier!
When I first started transcribing this I thought that maybe this could be played without a keyboard player, in case they get stuck in a snowstorm, the guitar could do it.
Having attempted to play it I have to say, we need that keyboard – it’s just so hard!
Let’s remove one string and see if by zooming in on the most important notes it gets easier. Here’s what it looks like in TAB.
This now became possible although it doesn’t sound great… I do however think you should practice this along with the original recording (tune your guitar at 434 hz when playing along).
OK, so let’s try working out a part that works alongside this keyboard part. We use the same chords and most importantly, the placement of the different extensions so it works with what the keyboard is playing.
Here’s idea 1.
You should try this part along with the original to see how it fits around the vocal.
Here’s idea 2.
If you practice both these ideas, you’ll soon be able to blend them, expand on them, and even improvise your rhythm part which is a great idea if you’ve landed a month-long Christmas gig!
Finally, since the keyboard is so busy playing that first part, we could play the instrumental melody, here it is in TAB.
I put down the intervals in relation to the chords/bass notes. This is important if you want to write hits or move it to another area of the fretboard.
Last Christmas TAB | Related Pages
Last Christmas | Chords + Lyrics
Learn to play Last Christmas by Wham using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, and the original recording.
| Dmaj9 D6 | Dmaj9 D6 |
Last Christmas, I gave you my heart…
Five similar tunes | Chords + Lyrics
- All I Want For Christmas Is You
- Driving Home For Christmas
- Fairytale of New York
- I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
- Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
George Michael tunes
As one of the most popular singers in Britain, George Michael‘s first success came with the duo Wham!
Following many hits with the duo, he set his sights on an even more lucrative solo career.
George Michael on the web
About me | Dan Lundholm
This guitar lesson by Dan Lundholm features TAB and covers Last Christmas. Discover more about him and how you can learn guitar with Spytunes.
Most importantly, find out why you should learn guitar through playing tunes, not practising scales, and studying theory in isolation.