Bóg się rodzi: we play a carol on six chords

For “Wśród nocnej ciszy” two grips were enough. Now we will play “Bóg się rodzi”, and in our version there are six: Am, D7, G, E7, C and D. That is a little more to remember, but you can still play the whole carol without barre chords.

If you know the melody, try humming it first. It is in three, though it sounds different from the calm “Cicha Noc”. “Bóg się rodzi” has the character of a polonaise. To start, though, you do not need a special strum in order to begin playing.

Let’s check these six grips

Form Am, D7, G, E7, C and D in turn. For now this is a list of grips to check, not the playing order of the whole carol. On each one, play the strings one by one and listen whether anything buzzes or stays silent.

C, G and D have already appeared. If D7 or E7 are new to you, look at the drawings below and place the fingers without rushing. The seven in the name does not mean you have to reach the seventh fret. It is part of the chord name.

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On D7 do not strike the two thickest strings. You start from the fourth, which is D. On the E7 shown here you can play all six. When the grip sounds clean, lift the hand and try forming it again, without hurry.

You do not first have to master seventh-chord theory. For this lesson it is enough to recognise their names and know how to place the fingers. You will hear the difference in sound when we play them in the carol.

Start from “Bóg się rodzi, moc truchleje”

Open Bóg się rodzi in the app and listen to the start of the verse. Notice where the chords change above the words. Do not assume that each line has its own single grip.

Now try playing that same fragment. Count “one, two, three” and strike down on every number. You can mark “one” a little stronger, and play the other two strokes quieter. At this stage that is enough.

If you cannot keep up, lower the tempo. You do not have to return to the recording tempo before adding the singing. First try to play and sing as slowly as you need, so you can join one with the other.

Do you keep stopping in the same place?

Check between which two chords you leave a gap. Practise that change on its own a few times, then play it with a short fragment of text. That way you will not spend the whole try repeating a start that already works.

You can also mark the harder bars in the app and turn on a loop. Choose a little more than the change itself, so you have time to enter the pulse before you reach the awkward grip.

When you practise placing the fingers on their own, you can stop and correct the grip. Then check it again in time. If there is still not enough time, slow the backing. What matters is that a pause before the change does not become a fixed part of the playing.

Add the singing, then the rest of the carol

Try humming the melody over simple downstrokes. If the hand at once starts striking on every syllable, go back to a short fragment and practise it more slowly. The words do not have to land exactly on every guitar stroke.

When the start begins to work, move on to the rest of the verse and the fragment “A Słowo Ciałem się stało”. In the app it is marked as the refrain. You can practise it on its own, then join it to the verse.

Watch the join of those parts. Sometimes both work separately, and at the join you have to think for a moment what came next 😄. Then play the end of the verse and the start of the refrain a few times together.

You do not have to add the more built-up strum from the catalogue at once. First try going through the whole thing with this simple accompaniment. In the last lesson we will already look after singing together, and how to choose a key for your family.