Cicha Noc on guitar: with the F chord or with a capo

You probably know “Cicha Noc” by heart, so you want to pick up the guitar and sing the whole thing at once. In our version three chords are enough: C, G and F. We have already practised the first two, and now we will deal with F.

You do not have to put the carol aside, though, if that grip still does not sound. You can choose the version with a capo at the fifth fret and play G, D and C. In both cases we play in the same key, so you can pick the more comfortable grips.

The catalogue also has Silent Night next to this Polish setting. Here we stay with Cicha Noc, because the table and the capo mapping belong to that card.

Let’s see where F appears

Open Cicha Noc in the catalogue and listen to the start. We count “one, two, three”, as in the previous lesson. To begin you can play one downstroke on each number, so you can focus on the chord changes.

Through most of the verse one chord lasts two bars. So you count to three twice before you change grip. Towards the end there are also shorter changes, so do not play the whole carol automatically with two bars on each chord.

The table has the whole first verse. Pick one column of grips and read it from the top. F appears at the words “A u żłóbka” and “Czuwa sama”. In the capo version you play C in those places.

Bars	Without a capo	Capo at V	Words
1 and 2	C	G	Cicha noc
3 and 4	C	G	święta noc
5 and 6	G	D	Pokój niesie
7 and 8	C	G	ludziom wszem
9 and 10	F	C	A u żłóbka
11 and 12	C	G	Matka święta
13 and 14	F	C	Czuwa sama
15 and 16	C	G	uśmiechnięta
17 and 18	G	D	Nad Dzieciątka
19 and 20	C	G	snem
21	C	G	Nad Dzie-
22	G	D	-ciątka
23 and 24	C	G	snem

If you want to play with F

First practise the move from C to F and back on its own. Play C, form F and check the strings one by one. When one of them does not sound, it is easier to find the cause that way than by striking them all at once.

You can use the full barre grip from the drawing at the top, or a smaller F on four strings. In that smaller version the index bars the two thinnest strings at the first fret, the middle the third string at the second, and the ring the fourth at the third. You play only those four strings.

We show that more carefully in the lesson about the F chord. If it still does not work today, you can try Fmaj7. Just remember that it is a different chord and will sound a little different. Listen whether that simplification suits you.

When C and F themselves start to sound, try playing the fragment from “A u żłóbka” to “Matka święta”. Then join the previous line, so you also practise entering that fragment. You do not have to play the whole verse from the start every time.

The capo version

Put the capo at the fifth fret. It should clamp the strings close to the metal fretwire, on the headstock side. Check that every string sounds, and that you do not drag the strings sideways as you put it on.

From now on you form familiar grips relative to the capo, just as you did relative to the nut. Read the column “Capo at V”: where without it we play C, now take G. Instead of G take D, and instead of F take C.

The capo itself raises the pitch, but here we also change the grips. That is why the two versions fit the same backing. The guitar sounds a little different, because you play higher on the neck, but the key of the carol stays the same.

Try the start: “Cicha noc, święta noc” you play on G, and at “Pokój niesie” you move to D. Then you return to G. When that fragment works, play on according to the table.

We add the waltz and the singing

For both versions you can play the waltz from the previous lesson: down, down-up, down-up. In the catalogue “Cicha Noc” has a more built-up sixteenth-note strum. You do not have to copy it at once; our simple waltz also fits the time signature.

When you have joined the strum to the chord changes, try singing. If you get lost at F or D, go back in that place to simple downstrokes and practise that line on its own. You can also lower the backing tempo.

And if everything works under the fingers, but it is too high or too low to sing, you need a different key. Choosing between the two columns in the table will not change that. We will come back to choosing a key in the last lesson.