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God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen — piano notes with letters

Verse and refrain in E minor, one sharp. The two verse lines share the same melody, the refrain (“O tidings of comfort and joy”) climbs to the high E and comes back down to the tonic.

Traditional (English), 16th–17th century · E minor · 4/4 · public domain · arranged and labeled by Notalo

God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen easy piano sheet music with the letter name written under every note and chord symbols above each bar — Right-hand letters in red, left-hand letters in blue, chords in green. Download the image.

Hear it. A MIDI file of exactly these notes at 104 BPM — open it in any music app, or slow it down to practice.

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About the song

One of the oldest carols still sung, printed in England by the 1760s and probably older; Dickens quotes its first line in A Christmas Carol when Scrooge chases a singer away with a ruler. The tune is in the minor, which is unusual for a carol and gives it a serious, marching character. The comma belongs after “merry”: the words mean “God keep you merry”, not “merry gentlemen”.

How to play it, phrase by phrase

Verse: E then E B B A, G F♯ E, D E F♯ G, A B — up the scale and back down. The second line is the same. Refrain: “To save us all from Satan's power” is B C A B C D E, then B A; “when we were gone astray” is A G E F♯ G. “O tidings of comfort and joy” is G A B C B B A G F♯ E; the last “O tidings” rises G A B C D E and falls B A G F♯ E to finish on the key note. Left hand: E minor most of the way, G and B major chords where the melody leans on D and B.

Letter notes, bar by bar (right hand)

Read left to right; a | is a bar line. Chord symbols are for the left hand or a guitar.

Bar	Chord	Right-hand letters
1		E
2	Em	E B B A
3	Em	G F♯ E
4	Gmaj7	D E F♯ G
5	B7	A B E
6	Em	E B B A
7	Em	G F♯ E
8	Gmaj7	D E F♯ G
9	B7	A B B
10	Am	C A B C
11	Em7	D E B
12	Em	A G E F♯
13	Em	G G A
14	G	B C B B
15	Em	A G F♯ E
16	Em	G F♯ E
17	Cmaj7	G A B C
18	B7	D E B A
19	Em	G F♯ E

Three things to watch

The verse starts and ends on E, the key note, and the chorus does too — use it as your anchor.
Bars 3 and 7 are a plain scale from D up to G; the D is natural even though the key is E minor.
The D♯ in the left-hand B major chords (bars 4, 8, 17) is the leading note that makes the minor key sound right.

Have a different version, or a different song? Upload your own sheet music — a photo or PDF — and Notalo writes the letters under every note the same way, plus chords and a MIDI file.

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More songs with letters

Jingle Bells · Silent Night · We Wish You a Merry Christmas · Deck the Halls · Happy Birthday · Für Elise · Twinkle Twinkle Little Star · Canon in D · Ode to Joy · Amazing Grace · Moonlight Sonata (1st movement, easy) · Minuet in G · Greensleeves · Mary Had a Little Lamb · Old MacDonald Had a Farm · Chopsticks · Joy to the World · The First Noel · Auld Lang Syne · O Holy Night · The Twelve Days of Christmas · Ave Maria (Schubert, easy) · Eine kleine Nachtmusik (opening) · In the Hall of the Mountain King · Nocturne in E-flat, Op. 9 No. 2 (easy) · O Christmas Tree (O Tannenbaum) · The Star-Spangled Banner · Spring (The Four Seasons, opening) · Wedding March (Mendelssohn) · Hark! The Herald Angels Sing · London Bridge Is Falling Down · Yankee Doodle · Itsy Bitsy Spider · Scarborough Fair · The Blue Danube (waltz theme) · Symphony No. 5 (opening motif) · Prelude in C major, BWV 846 · Morning Mood (Peer Gynt)

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Frequently asked questions

Is this sheet music free to print and use?

Yes. God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen is in the public domain and this arrangement was written and rendered by Notalo. Print it, share it, use it in lessons.

What do the colors mean?

Red letters are the right hand (treble clef), blue letters are the left hand (bass clef), green is the chord for the bar. This is the same output Notalo gives for any sheet music you upload.

Can I get it with Do Re Mi or numbers instead of letters?

Yes — download the image above, upload it to Notalo, and pick solfège (Do Re Mi), German letters, or numbers (1 2 3) as the label style.