Guitar for the Holidays

It's that time of year again - the holiday season. Here in Canada, it's been a rather green holiday so far, so I've been looking for various ways to boost my Christmas spirit. As is usually the case, I have found music to be the key. I found a web site, Feels Like Christmas, that offers numerous festive songs to download and listen to. If you are unfamiliar with MP3s, they are a computer file type that allows CD quality audio to be compressed into reasonably small file sizes, making them easy to download. For more info on MP3's, read the FAQ.

If gathering music files via computer isn't your cup of tea, then perhaps you'd be interested in the Merry Axemas: A Guitar Christmas CD. It is a recording featuring Christmas songs by guitarists Kenny Wayne Shepard, Jeff Beck, Steve Vai, and other noteworthy axe-slingers.

Many people prefer to indulge in a more hands-on approach to Christmas music - sitting with family and friends, playing guitar, and singing their way through their favorite carols. The Christmas Song Archive offers tons of tabs for all the popular Christmas, and holiday carols. If by chance that list doesn't have what you're looking for, the book The Best Christmas Guitar Fakebook Ever is sure to contain the holiday sheet music you're looking for.

It has been somewhat of a tradition for my parents, each Christmas, to order me a magazine subscription. It has always been a gift I have enjoyed, and I think it's a great gift idea for a son or daughter who plays guitar. Many of the online guitar magazine sites allow you to subscribe to their printed edition via the internet, including the Guitar Player and Guitar World sites.

Let me take this opportunity to wish all of you a happy holidays, and I look forward to providing more interesting and informative guitar links and articles in the coming year. Cheers!