By Betty Wagner 

Many beautiful beginner piano songs and Christmas carols can be played with just a handful of piano chords. Our previous article in the Piano Chords for Beginners series gave easy piano chords for Silent Night. The beginner piano chords for Away in a Manger are also simple -- we only need three Major chords.<

Away in a Manger: Three Major Chords

Major chords are just three notes played together with the fifth finger, the third finger and the first finger (thumb) of the left hand. For this Christmas carol we only need the following three Major chords:

-- G Major: G B D

-- C Major: C E G

-- D Major: D F# A

Practice playing these three chords in the two octaves below Middle C on your keyboard and get used to the finger positions used in these common chords.

Away in a Manger Melody

The melody of Away in the Manger starts on the D note that is nine notes above Middle C. Begin with the fifth finger of your right hand on the D.

In the following section, the ][ symbols represent bar lines separating the bars in this melody. There are three quarter-note or crotchet beats in every bar.

A- ][ way in a ][ Manger no ][ crib for a ][ bed;

D ][ D C B ][ B A G ][ G F# E ][ D

The ][ little Lord ][ Jesus laid ][ down his sweet ][ head;

D ][ D E D ][ D A F# ][ E D G ][ B

The ][ stars in the ][ bright sky looked ][ down where he ][ lay;

D ][ D C B ][ B A G ][ G F# E ][ D

The ][ little Lord ][ Jesus a- ][ sleep on the ][ hay.

D ][ C B A ][ B A G ][ A E F# ][ G

Practice playing this melody with your right hand until you can play it from memory. Or, if you prefer, you can copy the tune notes out onto your printout of the Away in a Manger Chord Accompaniment below.

Away in a Manger Chord Accompaniment

Now here are the piano chords to play with the tune of Away in a Manger. Play the chords with your left hand on the first beat of each bar, while you play the melody with your right hand. (In the second last bar, play the extra D Major chord on the third beat of this bar.)

A- ][ way in a ][ Manger no ][ crib for a ][ bed;

-----][G----------][G----------][C----------][G-----

The ][ little Lord ][ Jesus laid ][ down his sweet ][ head;

-----][D----------][D----------][G----------][G------

The ][ stars in the ][ bright sky looked ][ down where he ][ lay;

-----][G----------][G----------][C----------][G-----

The ][ little Lord ][ Jesus a- ][ sleep on the ][ hay.

-----][D----------][G---------][C--------D--][G-----

This Away in a Manger arrangement is a very simple piano chord accompaniment. However, there is so much more that you can learn to do!

So Many More Beautiful ChordsThere are many different types of piano chords, such as Major, Minor, Seventh, Sixth, Augmented and Diminished chords. There are simple relationships between these various chord types and it is possible to create all these chords without learning dozens of chords off by heart or counting up endless half-steps or semitones! And if you learn to read your music notes too, you can access an amazing array of simple popular piano books and learn to play your favorite music easily with your own unique accompaniments!