How to Play Silent Night on Guitar by Bryan Sutton

This online guitar lesson by Bryan Sutton introduces a clever crosspicking arrangement of the traditional Christmas classic, “Silent Night.” Crosspicking refers to flatpicking (playing with a pick instead of your fingers) across different strings. In the video you'll see Bryan introduce the arrangement by playing it through and then break it down into pieces. This is just one of the hundreds of flat pick acoustic guitar lessons that Bryan teaches at his online guitar school. 

The whole "Silent Night" arrangement is based around a crosspicking style and is played in the key of C,  one of the easier hand positions for beginners.

As Bryan points out, you can use crosspicking to play it more than one way.  He demonstrates an alternate picking style as well as a more traditional approach, encouraging students to also try their own approach. The most important thing is to leave enough room for the melody to come through. (For a tab version Bryan's arrangement of "Silent Night", click here.) 

This lesson is just one of the hundreds of online guitar lessons that can be found on at Bryan's online Bluegrass Guitar School. The best part about ArtistWorks' online music lessons is the interaction you get with teachers like Bryan.  Having played with legends like Ricky Skaggs and Doc Watson, Bryan is famous for his incredibly fast, precise, and clean bluegrass picking. Plus having been teaching all levels of students from all over the world how to play guitar online, Bryan's approach is finely-tuned and highly-disciplined. 

For more information about Bryan's extensive acoustic guitar lessons go to bryansuttonguitar.com. There are more free samples of available, so be sure to check them out!