Silent Night (Stille Nacht) — open D
Franz Xaver Gruber · Level 2 (Beginner) · traditional · Guitar, sheet music and tablature
Franz Xaver Gruber’s Christmas carol (1818) in open D tuning (D-A-D-F♯-A-D): the tune on the treble strings, the thumb alternating open bass strings on every beat. John Fahey recorded it as a guitar solo on his Christmas album The New Possibility (Takoma, 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.
- Tune to open D first: strings 6, 1 and 5 down a whole step, string 3 down a half step. Almost everything is open or within the first 4 frets; the last chord is the tuning itself, all strings open. Keep the dotted rhythm (dotted eighth-sixteenth) relaxed, like a lullaby; let the basses ring.