Best Book for Christmas Song Chord Melodies

Title says it all! I’ve purchased a few Christmas books and �� still can’t find what I’m looking for ��. Basically, somewhat difficult arrangements of Christmas songs for mandolin. I’ve taken to arranging some myself or trying to play arrangements from guitar. The ones I’ve found on guitar are moderately difficult and I’m sad to see nothing for mandolin seems to exist. Extra credit if you find arrangements for songs from this century! ��

My fav book so far is Christmas Carols for Mandolin by Jim Schustedt. There are even a few double stops in it! I recently picked up Mandolin Picking Tunes - An Early American Christmas by Tommy Norris and it’s fun and exactly the type of arrangements I’m looking for. Except most folks don’t know most of the songs here (I certainly only knew a few). Mel Bay’s A Smokey Mountain Christmas for Mandolin by Steve Kaufman is quite fun as well yet I’m not a huge fan of bluegrass and many of the arrangements are so gussied up that I don’t hear the original songs shining through.

What say you cafe? To whom shall I award an 8 string laden peppermint latte?!

Unlikely anyone will recommend this one because it's not mandolin specific, but a personal pick, The Christmas Real Book. The arrangements and chords can be challenging but some real beauties, particularly the classics you might expect arranged as jazz standards. Standard notation, only. Obviously not everyone's cup of tea, but a fine one it is. And like all fake books, you might not agree with some of the changes and it's OK to write your own if you are able.

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This book is not mandolin specific either but has most of the popular Christmas songs. Its always served me well for Church services to children's sing-alongs and more!

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Folks these are wonderful options that I had not considered! I’ve snagged the green book and will report back :)

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Originally Posted by Mandolin Cafe

Unlikely anyone will recommend this one because it's not mandolin specific, but a personal pick, The Christmas Real Book. The arrangements and chords can be challenging but some real beauties, particularly the classics you might expect arranged as jazz standards. Standard notation, only. Obviously not everyone's cup of tea, but a fine one it is. And like all fake books, you might not agree with some of the changes and it's OK to write your own if you are able.

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Thanks for posting this, it's a great choice.

http://gigbooks.freemusiced.org/uplo...asfakebook.pdf

There's this book too if you are interested. Sometimes I use the included B flat versions to be in more mandolin-friendly keys.

http://markrapp.com/wp-content/uploa...Tunes_2014.pdf

https://sheets-piano.ru/wp-content/u...s-Songbook.pdf

https://acollectionofchristmascarols.com/pdfs/ccc.pdf

Other books

https://www.christmasmusicsongs.com/

individual songs

And a commercial listing

https://www.amazon.com/Easy-Christma.../dp/0634049119

all in the key of C