Uploaded December 2017 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
Here is a tutorial showing how to play Jingle Bells / Dashing Through the Snow on the violin by ear! Below is a menu of links to help you navigate to different sections of the tutorial:
Menu:
Demonstration: 00:25
A Part (Dashing Through the Snow): 01:07
A Part run-through: 05:56
B Part (Jingle Bells): 06:43
B Part run-through: 11:45
Entire tune slowly (Tempo 1): 12:42
Tempo 2: 14:13
Tempo 3: 15:23
Ornamental ideas: 16:12
Jingle Bells / Dashing Through the Snow (original title: "One Horse Open Sleigh") is a very famous American tune played around the holidays. It's one of the best-known songs around the world, so it's definitely a good tune to learn! Many people love this song, and may even get up and start dancing to it -- even when it's played as a really simple song! I think it's a fun song for everyone, and we can all learn how to play it! =)
Initially, I believe Jingle Bells was written as a Thanksgiving song rather than a Christmas carol, but nowadays it's often associated with Christmas. The lyrics of the original song get kind of strange towards the last few versus, but most people don't sing those.
The song's original lyrics (beyond what is commonly sung) include a sleigh accident, and dangerously speeding along in the sleigh. I have heard that, back in the days when horse-drawn carriages and horse-drawn sleighs were heavily in use, people would attach jingling bells to the horses to try to prevent accidents when the sleighs would silently coast over snow. The bells would alert other drivers that there was a sleigh nearby. I wonder if that's where that "jingle bells" chorus phrase in this song came from?
I made this tutorial with no sheet music included in the video because I think it's an excellent song to try to learn by ear! Learning by ear is one of the most valuable skills you can learn as a musician, and it's one that many don't practice. Learning how to play by ear teaches musicians the power of listening to other players, and how to "pick up" what other's are playing without relying of sheet music and versioning issues. I really really encourage you to try to learn and practice playing by ear as much as you can! =)
That said, I have created a more advanced version of this song, and I wrote out the sheet music here:
katyadelson.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/JingleBellsDashingThroughSnow1.pdf
It's actually the sheet music that I wrote out from performing Jingle Bells:
youtube.com/watch?v=QC7PHKnYp0U
This sheet music uses a lot of the ornaments I mentioned at the end of the video, and it also includes a section with double-stops. The double-stops are difficult to play, but maybe it can be something to work towards! Feel free to use my sheet music as some inspiration to arrange your own version of this song, if you want! =)
Thank you for watching, and I hope you have a good rest of the week! Happy fiddling and caroling! =)
~ Katy
------------
Software and equipment used:
Software used (for Macintosh):
Final Cut Pro for video editing
PicMonkey.com for the ending cards and thumbnail
Camera:
Canon 70D
Here is a tutorial showing how to play Jingle Bells / Dashing Through the Snow on the violin by ear! Below is a menu of links to help you navigate to different sections of the tutorial:
Menu:
Demonstration: 00:25
A Part (Dashing Through the Snow): 01:07
A Part run-through: 05:56
B Part (Jingle Bells): 06:43
B Part run-through: 11:45
Entire tune slowly (Tempo 1): 12:42
Tempo 2: 14:13
Tempo 3: 15:23
Ornamental ideas: 16:12
Jingle Bells / Dashing Through the Snow (original title: "One Horse Open Sleigh") is a very famous American tune played around the holidays. It's one of the best-known songs around the world, so it's definitely a good tune to learn! Many people love this song, and may even get up and start dancing to it -- even when it's played as a really simple song! I think it's a fun song for everyone, and we can all learn how to play it! =)
Initially, I believe Jingle Bells was written as a Thanksgiving song rather than a Christmas carol, but nowadays it's often associated with Christmas. The lyrics of the original song get kind of strange towards the last few versus, but most people don't sing those.
The song's original lyrics (beyond what is commonly sung) include a sleigh accident, and dangerously speeding along in the sleigh. I have heard that, back in the days when horse-drawn carriages and horse-drawn sleighs were heavily in use, people would attach jingling bells to the horses to try to prevent accidents when the sleighs would silently coast over snow. The bells would alert other drivers that there was a sleigh nearby. I wonder if that's where that "jingle bells" chorus phrase in this song came from?
I made this tutorial with no sheet music included in the video because I think it's an excellent song to try to learn by ear! Learning by ear is one of the most valuable skills you can learn as a musician, and it's one that many don't practice. Learning how to play by ear teaches musicians the power of listening to other players, and how to "pick up" what other's are playing without relying of sheet music and versioning issues. I really really encourage you to try to learn and practice playing by ear as much as you can! =)
That said, I have created a more advanced version of this song, and I wrote out the sheet music here:
katyadelson.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/JingleBellsDashingThroughSnow1.pdf
It's actually the sheet music that I wrote out from performing Jingle Bells:
youtube.com/watch?v=QC7PHKnYp0U
This sheet music uses a lot of the ornaments I mentioned at the end of the video, and it also includes a section with double-stops. The double-stops are difficult to play, but maybe it can be something to work towards! Feel free to use my sheet music as some inspiration to arrange your own version of this song, if you want! =)
Thank you for watching, and I hope you have a good rest of the week! Happy fiddling and caroling! =)
~ Katy
------------
Software and equipment used:
Software used (for Macintosh):
Final Cut Pro for video editing
PicMonkey.com for the ending cards and thumbnail
Camera:
Canon 70D
