I don’t know how many Christmases have gone by where I’ve had some sort of conversation along the following lines:
Me (to another guitar-playing church worship leader): ‘How have your Christmas services been going?’
(Said worship leader): ‘Not too bad. It’s great to dust off the old carols. But I’m never quite sure how many chords to try and play. We even did the fourth verse of O Come All Ye Faithful on Christmas morning and I realised I didn’t even know how to play a B half diminished chord!’
Me: ‘Ah yes, those can be tricky.’
WL: ‘Too right. How do you do it?’
Me: ‘Well, I’ve just figured it out over a few years how to play most of them. I really should write them down.
WL: ‘Yes! We totally need that.’
Me: [Wastes time going and doing other things instead of writing down said carols.]
It’s finally here!
At last, I got around to it, and Carols for Congregations is born!
This is a collection of 17 of the most popular carols (and ‘Away in a Manger’ is included twice with two tunes) that are sung in our churches and, I’m sure, many similar-style churches where the sung worship is led by guitar-driven bands. For the longest time this has been, musically-speaking, the most challenging time of year. My hope is that with these simple arrangements, much of the stress of planning, preparing and playing these carols is removed, so their wonderful words can be enjoyed with full lungs and full hearts!
Each carol is supplied with a chord chart (sometimes two, if a capo is required) and lead sheet – with descant lines added where relevant. With my true Arranger’s hat on, I have selected the key for each carol that I believe best fits church congregations full of un-trained singers, but transpositions of these arrangements can be available upon request. Just get in touch!
At the time of writing (late August 2025), this product is available for immediate download via the product page. But in due course I will be producing some physical copies, helping ensure that these arrangements last for years to come and don’t get lost in the digital ether!
So, I look forward to hearing how your Christmas goes this year!
The complete list of carols:
OlivePress Music 