Feliz Navidad

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Feliz Navidad

Chords

Feliz Navidad is a Christmas song written in 1970 by the Puerto Rican singer-songwriter José Feliciano. With its simple Spanish chorus (the traditional Christmas/New Year greeting, "Feliz Navidad, próspero año y felicidad" meaning "Merry Christmas, a prosperous year and happiness") and equally simple English verse "I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas from the bottom of my heart", it has become a classic Christmas pop song in the United States, throughout the Spanish-speaking world and internationally.

A young really young José Feliciano

Feliciano's version of Feliz Navidad (in which he plays both an acoustic guitar and a Puerto Rican Cuatro) is one of the most downloaded and aired Christmas songs in the United States and Canada. The album drummer was Paulinho Magalhaes. The addition of the horns as a final touch was the idea of producer Rick Jarrard. It was also recognized by ASCAP as one of the top 25 most played and recorded Christmas songs around the world.

More Feliz Navidad content below, continue exploring...

Feliz Navidad…

Ukulele Chords for Feliz Navidad

The following voicings can be used for playing a background accompaniment to the songs will someone if either singing or playing the melody.

Here are some chords for Feliz Navidad to get you started and links to lessons for those chords.

This example of Feliz Navidad is in the key is D Major . And, pretty much all the chords come right out of the key of D.

Em/Em7

Em/Em7 is the II chord in the D Major and the first chord in the song. As Feliz Navidad uses a richer 4-part harmony. The Em7 is the original chord used by José Feliciano. José Feliciano is quite the accomplished guitarist and used these more contemporary 4-part chords.

• Em • Em was featured as the Chord a Day, January 6th - Em
• Em7 & Em7 is a 4-part chords and a m7 chord is one of the core chords from the The Big Six Core Chords - Level One .

A7

A7 is the V , the dominant chord in the D Major . As Feliz Navidad uses a richer 4-part harmony so Em7 is the original chord used by José Feliciano. José Feliciano is quite the accomplished guitarist and used these more contemporary chords.

• A7 was featured a couple of times . Once as the Chord a Day, January 14th - A7 and the Chord a Day, March 7th - A7 . In Feliz Navidad I use three different voicings of A7 in the melody and chord arrangement.
• A7 is a 4-part chords and a 7th chord is one of the core chords from the The Big Six Core Chords - Level One . In fact the 7th chord, the F7 is the foundation for building all the core 4-part chords. If all else fails and you can't remember a chord you can always go back to F7 create the chord and transpose it to the correct key.

Dmaj7

Dmaj7 is the I , the tonic chord in the D Major . As Feliz Navidad uses a richer 4-part harmony so Em7 is the original chord used by José Feliciano. José Feliciano is quite the accomplished guitarist and used these more contemporary chords.

• Dmaj7 is a 4-part chord, a maj7 chord and one of the core chords from the The Big Six Core Chords - Level One . In fact the 7th chord, the F7 is the foundation for building all the core 4-part chords on Ukulele. If all else fails and you can't remember a chord you can always go back to F7 to create the chord you need and transpose it to the correct key.

There are a few other chords that are used in this song and going through the lessons in the Related Series and Lessons below for the above chords will help in figuring out what chords and voicings are used in the arrangement.

Feliz Navidad is in the The Daily Ukulele — 365 Songs for Better Living book.

Strum a different song every day with easy arrangements of 365 of your favorite songs in one big songbook! The Daily Ukulele features ukulele arrangements with melody, lyrics and uke chord grids and are in ukulele-friendly keys that are particularly suited for groups of one to one hundred to play and sing.

The Daily Ukulele — 365 Songs for Better Living • INDEX of Songs

Video Performance

Feliz Navidad Lesson Video

Video recorded around 2013, and I tweak and play it different every ear. Some of what I change I get back into the PDF file. With every one of my arrangements, I say, use it as a starting point and make it your own.

Performance Notes

Feliz Navidad is pretty much a full diatonic song with the chords coming right out of the major scale of the song. The first three chords are a II, V, I in D major.

This is one of the songs I like playing the most. Too bad it's a Christmas song and I can only play it a few months at the end of the year - and I stretch it out a few weeks on either side.

Introduction

For the introduction in the video I simple took the ending and used it as an intro. Totally forgot I did that until I viewed the video again. Checkout the series on Create Introductions and Endings .

I play the second ending several different ways depending on where my ear is taking me at the time. Here are the various ways I do it.

Triads

Triads

Octaves

Octaves

Don't think of my arrangement as set in stone. I take rhythmic and melodic liberties as well while staying close to the original melody. Make it your own.

Additional Resources

Checkout the Downloads and Assets section of the this page for additional and resources for this song. I love working on and playing this song end of every year.