Feliz Navidad! No matter if you got your ukulele right in the start of the Christmas season, or if you’ve had your ukulele for a while: I have great news to share with you! Turns out you can play the easiest Christmas song on your Ukulele, say “Feliz Navidad” and have a fun time with your friends and family while celebrating the Holydays.
Whether you’re a beginner, intermediate or an advanced ukulele player, we can all play this famous Christmas song on our four-string instrument, and even teach it to a friend or two, because it only has 4 chords! But before we learn how to play “Feliz Navidad”, let’s talk a little bit about the history of this song and how a foreign language single became one of the most played and recorded Christmas songs not only in the United States, but in the entire world!
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The Story behind “Feliz Navidad”, the easiest ukulele song
“Feliz Navidad” -written in 1970 by the Puerto Rican singer/songwriter, José Feliciano- currently reaches the place number eight in the list of the Best-selling Christmas/Holiday singles in the United States (Nielsen SoundScan data), and it’s also recognized as one of the top 25 most played Christmas songs around the world by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).
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Although the song has a great and joyful rhythm, it has a dark beginning, since the composer, José Feliciano, wrote the lyrics while feeling lonely and homesick, wishing to celebrate Christmas with his family in his home country, Puerto Rico. According to Feliciano, he recorded the song in a lonely studio in Los Angeles while remembering his brothers:
“It was expressing the joy that I felt on Christmas and the fact that I felt very lonely. I missed my family, I missed Christmas carols with them. I missed the whole Christmas scene” he said in a 2020 radio interview on Morning Edition, where they were celebrating the “50 Years Later” of Feliz Navidad.
Besides feeling homesick, Feliciano actually wanted to send a bilingual message to the world, and that’s why he mixed both English and Spanish words into one song, “so that radio stations had no excuse but to play it. It covered everybody”, explained Feliciano in the interview. That’s how the lyrics “Feliz Navidad, próspero año y Felicidad” (in English: Merry Christmas, a prosperous year and happiness”) appear next to the rest of the song in actual English: “I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas from the bottom of my heart”.
Yes, the song was recorded in 1970, but it wasn’t until 1998 when Feliz Navidad actually took off on the charts and slowly reached the top 10 Best-sellers of the Christmas season. Today, 51 years later of its creation, we still listen to this song, dance along the beats, and even play it on the ukulele!
How to play Feliz Navidad on the Ukulele?
You’ll only need 4 chords to play Feliz Navidad on your ukulele: D – G – A – Bm. Don’t worry, I’m gonna show you the chord diagrams, along with the rhythm which is…… drumrolls…. THE ISLAND STRUM! And that’s why this song fits perfectly for everybody! Take a look to the image below and memorize the chord shapes and the rhythm:
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Now it’s time to play the complete song! I’m gonna show you the lyrics here, but I highly recommend you to see the video tutorial of this song. Terry Carter, from ukelikethepros.com recorded a great video where he not only teaches you the chords and rhythm, but he also gives you the chance to play the song with him in a cool play-along with an awesome backing track made by one of our star members, Per Kjeller.
Sing along! ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️
Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Próspero año y felicidad
Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Próspero año y felicidad
I wanna wish you a merry Christmas
I wanna wish you a merry Christmas
I wanna wish you a merry Christmas
From the bottom of my heart
I wanna wish you a merry Christmas
I wanna wish you a merry Christmas
I wanna wish you a merry Christmas
From the bottom of my heart
Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Próspero año y felicidad
Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Próspero año y felicidad
I wanna wish you a merry Christmas
I wanna wish you a merry Christmas
I wanna wish you a merry Christmas
From the bottom of my heart
I wanna wish you a merry Christmas
I wanna wish you a merry Christmas
I wanna wish you a merry Christmas
From the bottom of my heart
Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Próspero año y felicidad
Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Próspero año y felicidad
I wanna wish you a merry Christmas
I wanna wish you a merry Christmas
I wanna wish you a merry Christmas
From the bottom of my heart
I wanna wish you a merry Christmas
I wanna wish you a merry Christmas
I wanna wish you a merry Christmas
From the bottom of my heart
Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Próspero año y felicidad.
You can find this and more Ukulele Christmas Songs in our especial Uke Like The Pros Christmas songs Course, available for you at the #1 Ukulele site to learn Ukulele: ukelikethepros.com
