Ukulele Tab: Learn To Play Jingle Bells

Free ukulele guitar tabs

by Peter Edvinsson

Many ukulele players use their ukulele for chord playing but you can actually play melodies on this nice little instrument. Let's learn to play Jingle Bells on your uke!

Jingle Bells is one of the most popular secular Christmas songs in the world. The most played part of the song is the refrain which we will concentrate on in this ukulele tab lesson.

Here is the first line of lyrics and the corresponding ukulele tab:

Jingle bells, jingle bells

1. --0--0--0--0--0--0--
2. --------------------
3. --------------------

The number 0 on line one means that you play the first string with your right hand thumb without pressing down any left hand finger. It is called to play on an open string.

The ukulele tab above means that you play six notes on the open first string. This type of ukulele tab doesn't indicate the length of the notes. I guess you hear that the third and sixth note ought to be a little longer than the rest.

Let's play some more of Jingle Bells:

Jingle all the way!

1. --0--3--------0--
2. --------1--3-----
3. -----------------

The number three on line one means that you press down a left hand finger on the third fret of the first string. I haven't told you anything about which left hand finger to press down on the frets on your ukulele guitar so far.

You can of course use your first finger for all the notes. A more professional approach is to play the notes on the first fret with your first finger and the notes on the third fret with your ring finger.

You might find this difficult at first but as your ring finger gets used to it it will actually be easier to find the right notes. You don't even have to look at your fingers to find the right fret if you get accustomed to this way of playing.

Let's play the next tab staff:

O what fun it is to ride

1. --1--1--1--1--1--0--0--
2. -----------------------
3. -----------------------

I don't need to explain the ukulele tablature notation above as you by now know what it's all about.

The last tablature staff comes here:

In a one-horse open sleigh

1. --0--0--0-----------0-----3--
2. -----------3--3--3-----3-----
3. -----------------------------

The refrain in sung twice so it's time to play the melody from the beginning again but the second time you'll play the last line a little bit different:

In a one-horse open sleigh

1. --0--0--3--3--1--------
2. -----------------3--1--
3. -----------------------

Now you can play a Christmas melody on your ukulele! The ukulele guitar tab notation I have used is good for finding the notes but I recommend you to learn the melody by heart so you can play it anywhere without the need to read on a piece of paper you will not find anyway!

Good luck with your ukulele playing and Merry Christmas! (Sooner or later it's here!

Ukulele Chords is an ukulele guitar chord book which shows, in C tuning, the chords in each key. A special section on moveable chords is also included. The chords are grouped by type, including major, minor, seventh, diminished, augmented, and more. A summary of where the chords lie on the fretboard is also included. This book can be used with either the soprano ukulele guitar or tenor ukulele in G-C-E-A tuning. 32 pages. Ukulele Chords