White Christmas Key of Bb

Key SignatureThe key signature tells you which notes

are sharp or flat in a specific key.

The key of Bb has two flats, Bb and Eb.

Bb Major Scale: When we say ‘key’ we are referring to which scale the song is based

upon. The key of Bb refers to the Bb major scale.

Bb C D Eb F G A Bb

The Roman numerals represent the degree of the scale, or the place where that note falls in ascending order.

Chords can be built on each note of the scale. The upper case Roman numerals represent major chords and the

lower case numbers represent minor or diminished chords.

In this version of White Christmas we use four chords Bb, Cm, Eb and F or I, ii, IV and V.

Bb Eb and F are all major chords while Cm is a minor chord. The lower case ‘m’ means minor.

I IV V ii

I IV & V are major in all major keys while ii iii and vi are minor and vii is diminished.

I = Bb = Bb D F IV = Eb = Eb G Bb V = F = F A C ii = Cm = C Eb G

I, IV and V are very common. Most of the songs we play and sing will include some variation of either I, IV and

V, just I and IV or I and V.

In this version of White Christmas the guitar uses all power chords. Power chords are only two tones, the first

note of the chord or the root and the 5th or root, 5th and octave. Power chords are popular in Rock music.

Because the power chord contain no third it is neither major nor minor.

Power Chords: I = Bb = B F ii = C = C G IV = Eb = Eb Bb V = F = F C

In the version of White Christmas the bass plays the root note, tonic or the I of each chord while the

guitar plays the power chord.

The bells follow the vocal melody with the exception of two measures. Next are the bell and vocal melody parts

arranged in the form of the song.