Joy to the World — open D

Lowell Mason · Level 3 (Late beginner) · traditional · Guitar, sheet music and tablature

The Christmas hymn in Lowell Mason’s 1839 setting (after motifs by Handel), to words by Isaac Watts. In open D the opening descending scale falls almost entirely on open strings. John Fahey recorded it on The New Possibility (1968).

▶ Play this piece with the interactive score

How to practise it

• Listen first: the site plays it while the score scrolls.
• Wait mode: the score waits for you at every note, at your own pace.
• Tempo challenge: play in time, with a score and a map of the bars you got right.
• Bars 1 to 4: D-C♯-B-A-G-F♯-E-D is played on the open 1st string, the 2nd string (frets 4, 2, 0), the 3rd string (frets 1, 0) and the 4th string (frets 2, 0). When the tune goes down to the 4th string, the thumb stays on strings 6 and 5. Keep the repeated notes in the middle (F♯ F♯ F♯…) light, like bells.