O Holy Night Passion Chords

Many people are familiar with at least one of the two main chords in most songs. These are usually referred to as the “Chord G” or, more commonly, the “Dominant Chord.”

The Dominant chord is typically built by placing the first note in the bass (lowest) string of your guitar next to the second highest strings then adding the third highest string and finally either stepping up or down on the root (or opening) string.

This creates a sound that can be described as powerful, strong, and stable. Because it contains the roots of both notes, it is considered an octave-level chord. By changing the position of the middle note, you change what part of the chord it makes contact with. This determines whether it rises, falls, or remains steady.

By using this concept, music writers have created many catchy melodies and chords. One example is the classic Christmas carol “O Come All Ye Faithful.” It uses the same three chords — Dominant, Minor, and Suspended Fifth — over and over again but never gets boring!

Another famous song with this tool is The Who's "Baba Boom (Let's do it!)." Both of these tunes are well known and loved for their catchy qualities.

Popular Chords

There are over 30 different chords that we refer to as popular or easy to play. These include some familiar songs such as The Angry Chicken, Let It Go, and Happy Birthday!

There are also many double harmonic rhythm patterns like Beat Drop, Triplet Kick, and Odd-Even-Down (OE). All of these can be found in most music books and online sites with piano chord charts.

By learning this type of harmony, you will learn how to make your own melodies and accompaniments for other songs!

This article will go into more detail about one of the chords in this category – the Major Scale Chord.

Learning Passion Chords

Choosing your chord type is like choosing your favorite food group. You know what tastes best and you can make it into a habit, but if you don’t use it every day, you will get tired of it and not enjoy it as much.

The same goes for chords! If you only use major or minor chords, you will become boring very quickly. There are so many other types of chords out there!

If you want to learn more about different chord types, how to play them, and why they matter, check out our article: Why Is It Important To Know About Modes?

This article was inspired by one of those “why is this important?!” articles. The writer mentioned that some songs contain modified dominant (or sometimes called harmonic) dominants which could be confusing for music beginners who may think the term refers to a power chord.

Luckily, we cleared that up! Now you know what a harmonic dominate actually is and how to play one if needed.

Tips for Playing O Holy Night

Let’s look at some easy to play chords that can be used in this song!

First, we will use our index or middle finger as a bass note to play these chord shapes. We will also add one more string to make three strings total.

To start, take your first position (the one where you would normally put your third finger) and instead place your second finger there. Your ring finger will remain stationary while your pinky moves up to create space for the fifth fret of the guitar.

These are called open positions. Once again, you have effectively removed the fourth string from the guitar so you don’t need it here!

Now let’s learn some simple music theory lessons about modes. The word mode is made using two parts; like A minor means “A with the key of B”. In other words, A minor is like A major but without the natural (or tonic) scale degree. You get rid of the A by putting the B in its place!

The next mode uses the same notes as A minor but adds an F above the A. This is called A harmonic minor and it creates a very dreamy sound. Use this tone color in songs such as Listen (no lyrics needed)!

Lastly, we have E mixolydian which starts with an Em (like the opening of this article).