Free easy piano · Christmas
God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen, easy piano
God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen for easy piano in five free versions: an easy and a simpler version in E minor with the melody note for note, two versions of the hymn for church pianists, and the 1916 hymnal setting. Play each one here, slow it down or loop a bar, then print the PDF or download the MIDI.
- Traditional English
- Easy to intermediate, plus the original
- 20 bars · 4/4
- Free: play, print, MIDI
Versions of God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen. Each version is a request typed into PlayableNotes. Pick one to hear and print it.
Typed into PlayableNotes“Make this easy for a second-year student. Keep E minor and the melody exactly as written, one or two notes per hand, nothing wider than a sixth, and give the left hand a simple bass line that keeps the hymn's chords on the same beats.”
What changed
The carol's melody note for note over the hymn's bass line, with a second note under the long melody notes.
- Right hand: the melody note for note, one note at a time, with a second note under the long notes: D-sharp under B in bars 5 and 9, F-sharp under A in bar 13, G under B in bar 14, D under A in bar 17, and C-sharp under the last E of bar 16.
- Left hand: the hymn's bass line, one note at a time, in bars 3 and 4, 7 and 8, 10 to 12, 15, and 17 to 19 (where the hymn repeats a bass note, it is held as a half note), so the chords change on the same beats as in the hymn.
- Bars 2 and 6: the left hand holds E–G, then D-sharp–F-sharp, the hymn's own bass and tenor notes under the B major chord.
- Bars 5, 9, 13 and 14: fifths in the left hand (B–F-sharp, D–A, G–D) in place of the four moving parts. Bar 16: E–B, then E–G under the C-sharp.
- Bar 13, beat 4, and bar 14, beat 3: D and E in the bass instead of the hymn's F-sharp and low C, so the left hand stays in one place.
- The alto and tenor parts are otherwise left out. No stretch is wider than a sixth in the right hand or a fifth in the left.
For teachers: For a second- or third-year student who can play a quarter-note bass line under a melody. Learn bars 2 to 5 hands separately first: they come back as bars 6 to 9. Bars 15 and 19 are the same G–A–B walk in the left hand.
Typed into PlayableNotes“Make a simpler version for my first-year student: keep E minor and the melody note for note, one note at a time in each hand, the left hand on the hymn's bass notes, and no sharps or flats beyond the key signature.”
What changed
The melody alone in the right hand over single bass notes, with no accidentals.
- Right hand: the melody alone, note for note, including the two eighth notes in bar 16. No sharps or flats beyond the F-sharp in the key signature.
- Left hand: one note at a time, on the roots of the hymn's chords (E, B, C, G, A, D) or on its bass notes. Half and whole notes where a chord lasts, quarter notes where the bass moves on, as in bars 3 and 4, 10 to 13, 15 and 17 to 19.
- Bars 14 and 16: one whole note each (G, then E) under the moving tune.
- Bars 1 and 5: the right hand plays the pickup E on its own.
- The left hand stays between the G and E near the bottom of the bass staff, ending on an open fifth, E–B.
- Some of the hymn's passing chords, such as the B minor chord on the second beat of bar 3, are left to the melody over a held bass note, and the hymn's D-sharps and C-sharps are left out.
For teachers: For a first-year student who reads in five-finger positions and is ready to move between them. The tune spans more than one position, so the right hand moves about every other bar: thumb on E for most of it, on D for bars 3 and 7, on A from the last B of bar 9 through bar 11, on G for bars 13 and 14, and on B for bar 18. Pencil in the thumb changes before the first play-through.
Typed into PlayableNotes“Keep the hymnal's right hand exactly as it is, soprano and alto, but make the left hand easier: just the bass line, one note at a time.”
What changed
The hymnal's soprano and alto in the right hand, the bass line alone in the left.
- Right hand: the hymnal's soprano and alto exactly as printed, as two-note chords, with the D-sharps, the F natural in bar 11 and the C-sharps in bars 12 and 16.
- Left hand: the bass line alone, one note at a time, as printed. The tenor part is left out, so the left hand never has to stretch (the hymnal's tenor sits a tenth or more above the bass in bars 12, 15 and 17 to 19).
- Bar 16: the bass's repeated Es become one whole note.
- Bar 11, beat 2: the right hand stretches an octave (E–E) once; every other right-hand chord is a sixth or less.
For teachers: For a church pianist or a student who reads two notes in the right hand but not yet four-part hymns. Every chord keeps its melody, alto and bass, so it carries singing well; add the tenor later from the hymnal setting.
Typed into PlayableNotes“This hymnal setting has tenor notes my left hand can't reach. Lay out all four parts so two hands can play them, nothing wider than an octave in either hand, and change as little as possible.”
What changed
All four parts of the 1916 setting, with the tenor notes the left hand can't reach moved to the right hand.
- Written as piano chords, one part per hand (soprano and alto in the right hand, tenor and bass in the left), instead of two voices per staff. Bar 13 keeps two voices in the left hand, where the bass holds D under the moving tenor.
- Bar 12, beat 4, and bar 17, beats 3 and 4: the tenor notes (D, then D and C) move to the right hand.
- Bars 15 and 19: the whole tenor line (D, C, B, B) moves to the right hand, which plays three-note chords while the left hand walks up G, A, B.
- Bar 18: the tenor's B and D, which only double the melody an octave lower, are left out so the right hand can hold G under the climbing tune.
- Otherwise the same notes and chords on the same beats as the hymnal. The widest stretch is an octave in either hand.
For teachers: For playing the carol for singing at church or school. Practice bars 15 and 19 first: the right-hand chords step down while the left hand walks up, and the same bar returns at the end.
The piece as published: Carols Old and Carols New, compiled by Charles L. Hutchins (Boston: The Parish Choir, 1916), carol 722, transcribed by the Open Hymnal Project.
Original
What changed
What changed
The four-part setting from Carols Old and Carols New (1916), as printed.
- Nothing: this is the 1916 setting as printed, four voices on two staves, checked bar by bar against a scan of the book.
For teachers: The lower staff is written for tenor and bass singers, not for one hand: in bars 12, 15 and 17 to 19 the tenor sits a tenth or more above the bass. Take those notes in the right hand, leave them out, or use the "Fit the hymn to my hands" version, which does this for you.
Want it different? Just ask.
Open this version in PlayableNotes and ask for a change in words: simpler, another key, shorter, bigger notes. The result is a new version you can play, print and share with your student.
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Watch how to ask for your own version · 1 min video
Make your own version
A real request in PlayableNotes, on Für Elise from the free library: say who it’s for and what to keep, and the AI writes a new version beside the original. It shows how to ask for a version of your own; its result is not one of the versions on this page.
About God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen is a traditional English carol, old enough that Dickens quotes a version of its opening line in A Christmas Carol (1843), where a young caroler starts to sing it at Scrooge's keyhole. It is short: a one-note pickup (bar 1 on this page) and 19 bars in E minor. The opening phrase is played twice (bars 2 to 9), the next line climbs to the high E in bar 11, and the chorus, "O tidings of comfort and joy", starts on the third beat of bar 13.
The tune itself is not hard: mostly quarter notes, with one pair of eighths, and a range of just over an octave. The four-part hymnal setting is another matter. Its chords change on almost every beat, the D-sharps, C-sharps and F natural all belong to the harmony rather than the tune, and in bars 12, 15 and 17 to 19 the lower staff puts the tenor a tenth or more above the bass, further than most left hands can reach.
The easy and simpler versions keep every note of the melody: over the hymn's bass line in quarter notes in the easy version, so its chords change where the hymn's do, and over single bass notes, on the roots of the hymn's chords or on its bass, with no extra sharps, in the simpler one. For church pianists there are two steps toward the hymnal: its right hand over the bass line alone, and all four parts laid out so two hands can reach them. The 1916 setting is here too, as printed.
Practice tips
- Count "1, 2, 3" and come in on 4: the carol starts with a single E on the last beat, and the last bar has only three beats to make up for it.
- Bars 2 to 5 and 6 to 9 are the same phrase twice (only the end of bar 9 differs), so learn bars 2 to 5 well and half the carol is done.
- Start the right hand with the thumb on E and the little finger on B. In bar 3 the tune steps down to D, below the thumb: play the bar with fingers 4, 3, 2, 1, then put the thumb back on E for bar 4.
- Bar 18 climbs B, C, D, E to the top note and drops straight back to B in bar 19. Start bar 18 with the thumb on B, then let the hand fall back so the little finger takes the B of bar 19. Loop bars 18 to 20 until the drop feels easy.
- Practice each hand with the Right and Left buttons at about 70, then hands together. In the easy version, find the D-sharps in bars 2, 5, 6 and 9 and the C-sharp in bar 16 before the first play-through; the hymn versions have one in almost every bar with a B major chord.
Questions about God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
Is God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen easy to play on piano?
The tune is. It moves mostly in quarter notes with one pair of eighths, covers just over an octave (D to E), and uses no sharps or flats beyond the F-sharp in the key signature. Hymnal versions are harder because the harmony changes on almost every beat. The simpler version here gives each hand one note at a time and no extra sharps; the easy version puts the hymn's bass line under the tune.
What key is God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen in?
This setting is in E minor, one of the usual keys for the carol, with one sharp (F-sharp). The tune never uses D-sharp, but the harmony does, in the B major chords that lead back to E minor. If you need another key for singing, open the piece in PlayableNotes with a free account and ask for it.
What are the chords to God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen?
In E minor the verse is built on E minor, B major (often B7), C and G, with A minor before each half-close. The line after it moves through A minor, D and G, and the chorus, "O tidings of comfort and joy", goes through D, G and C before a B major chord brings each phrase home to E minor.
What does "God rest ye merry, gentlemen" mean?
Roughly "God keep you merry, gentlemen". "Rest" is used in the old sense of keep or remain, and "merry" goes with it, which is why the comma comes after "merry" and not before it.
Who wrote God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen?
Nobody knows: the words and the tune are traditional English, and the carol was familiar enough by 1843 for Dickens to quote its opening line in A Christmas Carol. The four-part harmony on this page is from Carols Old and Carols New, published in Boston in 1916.
Can I download God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen as a PDF or MIDI file?
Yes, free and without an account. Every version has a Letter-size PDF to print and a MIDI file with the right and left hands on separate tracks.
Source and credits
- Composer
- Traditional English
- License
- Public domain
- Arranger
- PlayableNotes
The Open Hymnal transcription (which dates the book 1918) was compared note for note with a scan of the 1916 printing (Internet Archive, carolsoldcarolsn00hutc, page 594) and with Open Hymnal's MIDI file; no notes needed correcting. Bar 9 keeps the quarter rest printed in all four parts. The words, the lyric slurs, and Open Hymnal's tempo and introduction marks are left out.
Arrangements and facts checked
