Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown? Music by John Barry, Lyrics by Hal David Sung by Nina Tablature by Petter Bengtsson This is my take on an arrangement of the song for a finger picked acoustic guitar. The primary problem -- besides the slippery chord progression -- is that the song fairly obviously was not written on a guitar and does not lend itself to be performed on one particularly well either. The original version starts off in C, but if played on a guitar I suggest it will benefit from being transposed to A, in order to make the most out of free, ringing strings. If nothing else it makes it pretty easy to work in a few melody lines or other embellishments during the verses without worrying too much about hitting full chords, for example along the lines of: A D A e|--------------------------| B|-----5----5--/7-5---------| G|--/6---6------------4-/6--| D|--------------0---7-------| A|---0-------------------0--| E|--------------------------| Of course, a capo will still allow you to play the song in its original key. Mind you, this does not aspire to capture the original arrangement and should be considered a free interpretation. On the other hand, you do not have to suffer through that hideous children's choir and that is something, is it not? At least, these chords generally are not too far from the truth. Apart from the choruses getting longer, the same chord pattern in repeated throughout the song. A / D / A / Em7 / [A]Do you know how [D]Christmas trees are [A]grown? [Em7]They need [Amaj7]sunshine[Em7] [A]Sunshine can't grow [D]Christmas trees a[A]lone [Em7]They need [Em7/B]raindrops[A7] [Dmaj7]Raindrops can't grow [C#m7]Christmas trees, [F#7]here's the reason [D]why [Gmaj7]In the winter [C]rain will freeze [Am]and the trees will [D]die [A]Do you know how [D]Christmas trees are [A]grown? [A]They [Amaj7]need [Bm7]Sunshi[E7]ne and [A]raindrops[F#m7] [Bm7]Friendshi[E7]p and [A]kindness[F#m7] and [D]Most of [F#m7/C#]all[Bm7] [E7]they need [A]love[D][A][Em7] If one would like to at least try to emulate the original airy arrangement, I think playing a few chords higher up on the fretboard than usual might be a good idea. For example, I would suggest: Em7 played as A as and Amaj7 as e|-3--------7--------5---------9--------4---------9-| B|-3--------8--------5--------10--------5---------9-| G|-4---or---7--------6---or----9--------6---or----9-| D|-x--------x--------x---------x--------x---------x-| A|-x--------x--------0---------0--------0---------0-| E|-0--------0--------x---------x--------x---------x-| And finally some chord suggestions I find helpful for keeping the flow of the finger picked arrangement during the latter part of the verses [D, C and Am played in their standard configurations]: Dmaj7 C#m7 F#7 Gmaj7 e|---2---------0---------0----------2---| B|---2---------0---------2----------3---| G|---2---------1---------3----------4---| D|---0---------x---------4----------5---| A|---x---------4---------x----------x---| E|---x---------x---------x----------x---| ----- Transposed to original key (chords only) and complete lyrics: C / F / C / Gm7 / [C]Do you know how [F]Christmas trees are [C]grown? [Gm7]They need [Cmaj7]sunshine[Gm7] [C]Sunshine can't grow [F]Christmas trees a[C]lone [Gm7]They need [Gm7/D]raindrops[C7] [Fmaj7]Raindrops can't grow [E#m7]Christmas trees, [A7]here's the reason [F]why [Bbmaj7]In the winter [Eb]rain will freeze [Cm]and the trees will [F]die [C]Do you know how [F]Christmas trees are [C]grown? [C]They [Cmaj7]need [Dm7]Sunshi[G7]ne and [C]raindrops[Am7] [Dm7]Friendshi[G7]p and [C]kindness[Am7] and [F]Most of [Am7/E]all[Dm7] [G7]they need [C]love[F][C][Gm7] Do you know how Santa gets around? He needs snowflakes. Snowflakes cannot do it all I found, They need reindeers. Reindeers even though they try, They need other things. Once a year they have to fly and they don't have wings. Do you know how Santa gets around? He needs snowflakes and reindeers Sunshine and raindrops Friendship and kindness And most of all he needs love. Do you know how Christmas cards are made? They need pictures. Pictures can't complete them I'm afraid, They need greetings. Greetings say what's in your heart, That's what they are for. But when loved ones are apart, Christmas can't mean more. Do you know how Christmas cards are made? They need pictures and greetings Sunshine and raindrops Snowflakes and reindeers Friendship and kindness And most of all they need love.