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O Little Town of Bethlehem | acoustic
Here's my lesson on this years Christmas song, "O Little Town of Bethlehem."
I started working this one out in drop D. It sounded OK, but it really came alive when I also dropped the high E string down to D, so double drop D. This made all the difference in the chords, they just opened up and sounded really good. It's not a very complicated piece, but because I like to have a lot of ringing strings, sound technique is a must. I spent a good deal of time practicing this one as my technique isn't exactly perfect! If you're lacking in solid chord formation and clean picking, you'll wind up muting strings and that will kill the airy vibe of the arrangement. Like some of my other Christmas recordings, I used a reverb plugin called Valhalla Room, and specifically the "Abbey of Fossanova" profile. It's a very long and lush reverb based on the sound inside the actual Abbey. The Abbey of Fossanova is located in Latina, Italy. It dates back to 1135. I really enjoyed working this one out and just love the sound of the chords. I hope you get something from the lesson and that you enjoy playing this classic Christmas song. Cheers Andy |
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