Jingle Bells piano notes and sheet music

The sheet music and letter notes for Jingle Bells are shown above, and the keyboard with them can play the tune in Listen mode or lead you through it one lit key at a time in Practice mode. The notes are the chorus, the part that begins with the words of the title, and they use exactly five keys: C, D, E, F and G. Put one finger on each and your hand never has to move.

About the song

James Lord Pierpont published the song in 1857 as "The One Horse Open Sleigh," and it was republished in 1859 as "Jingle Bells, or The One Horse Open Sleigh." Its words describe a sleigh ride in the snow and never mention Christmas; the song became tied to winter and Christmas in the 1860s and 1870s. Medford, Massachusetts, and Savannah, Georgia, have both claimed to be where Pierpont wrote it, but where and when he composed it is not known. In December 1965 it was even played in space: during the Gemini 6 mission, astronauts Wally Schirra and Tom Stafford performed it on a tiny harmonica and a set of bells.

How to play it

Rest your right thumb on middle C and your other fingers on the next four white keys, so finger 2 is on D, 3 on E, 4 on F and 5 on G. Finger 3 does most of the work, because E is the note this song repeats most: in the first line, eight of the eleven notes are Es. Group them in threes as you play. After the two groups of three, the tune reaches up to G with finger 5, drops to C with your thumb and climbs back through D to a long E.

That C is dotted: it lasts a beat and a half, and the D after it lasts half a beat. Play C on beat 3, hold it through beat 4, and play D on the "and" just before the next bar. The E that follows is held for all four beats of its bar.

The second line starts with five Fs on finger 4, the third of them dotted, then moves down to a run of Es and ends on two long notes, a D and a G, that lead back to the start of the chorus. The third line repeats the first exactly. The fourth line starts like the second, with even Fs this time, and ends by coming down to a long C.

Practice tips

• Count every E out loud. Most slips in this song are one E too many or too few. Say "1, 2, 3-4" for each group of three, with the third E held.
• Learn the two endings side by side. The second and fourth lines differ mainly at the end: one rises to G, the other comes home to C. Once you can tell them apart, you know the whole chorus.
• Play the Es from the finger, not the arm. Keep your wrist loose and let finger 3 do the repeating, so the notes stay light and even.
• Use Practice for the dotted notes. Practice waits for each key, so you can check exactly where the quick D and the quick fourth F fall before you play the chorus straight through.

For the left hand, the answers below use C, F and G, the three main chords of C major covered in basic chords. For a winter pair, try Silent Night next, and if you want another tune that sits in the same hand position for all but one note, try Ode to Joy.

Printable sheet music

Here is the same arrangement on a single page, with the letter name under every note. Open the image to print it or save it; the Print sheet music button above the keyboard prints it too.