Play along
What Child Is This?: guitar chords and tab for beginners
England, 1865
What Child Is This?
by William Chatterton Dix (words), Greensleeves (tune)
- Tempo
- 84beats per minute
- Count
- 3beats in each bar
- Key
- A minorthe home note
- Level
- 1 of 3easiest
Level 1. Strum one chord per beat. Start here.
Chord names above, strum arrows below. Down arrow = strum down toward the floor, up arrow = back up.
Hold this chord
How to read it
- Red cross: don’t play that string. Skip it when you strum.
- Green circle: play that string open, with no finger on it.
- Number: press there with that finger. 1 index, 2 middle, 3 ring, 4 pinky.
- Letters: the strings, thickest (low E) on the left to thinnest (high e) on the right.
Space bar plays and pauses. Left and right arrows jump a bar.
The chords
The chords in What Child Is This?
5 chords, open shapes apart from F: Am, C, G, F, E7. 3 beats in each bar, 84 beats per minute, in A minor.
A minor
3 fingers
Fingers, notes, sound →C major
3 fingers
Fingers, notes, sound →G major
3 fingers
Fingers, notes, sound →F major
barre, 4 fingers
Fingers, notes, sound →E seven
2 fingers
Fingers, notes, sound →
In words: A minor is x 0 2 2 1 0. C major is x 3 2 0 1 0. G major is 3 2 0 0 0 3. F major is 1 3 3 2 1 1 (finger 1 flat across fret 1). E seven is 0 2 0 1 0 0. Numbers are frets, thick string to thin, and x means do not play that string.
About the song
William Chatterton Dix wrote these words in 1865 and set them to Greensleeves, which was already three hundred years old. If you can play Greensleeves on this site, you already know the verse. The refrain, "This, this is Christ the King", climbs to the highest note of the tune.
Questions people ask
- What chords are in What Child Is This??
- Five chords: Am, C, G, F and E7. F needs a finger laid flat across the neck, which is the hard part of this one.
- What key is What Child Is This? in?
- A minor. The key control on this page moves it up or down, and tells you where to put a capo so you can keep the same easy shapes.
- Is What Child Is This? easy to play on guitar?
- It is one of the harder songs here: five chords at 84 beats per minute. Slow it to 50 percent, and try Ode to Joy and Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star first if it fights back.
- What is the strumming pattern for What Child Is This??
- Three strums in each bar: down, down, up. There are 3 beats in every bar. The arrows above the chord boxes move with the sound, so you can see the pattern as you hear it.
- How do I play What Child Is This? on guitar?
- Three ways on this page, all from the same arrangement. Chords mode strums one chord at a time, Melody mode picks the tune from the tab, and Fingerstyle mode plays the bass with your thumb under the tune. Start in Chords mode at 60 percent speed.
- Who wrote What Child Is This??
- William Chatterton Dix (words), Greensleeves (tune). England, 1865. The music is old enough to be in the public domain, so it is free to learn, play and record.
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