God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen (ChordPro) - Sand, software and sound

“God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen” by Jon Batiste, Judith Hill, and Stay Human really grooves and I wanted to get in on the fun(k). So, I started with Yamaha Chord Tracker and worked out a similar chord progression.

Wanting to hear the progression and jam on it, I wrote the progression and lyrics in Extended ChordPro:

{title: God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen} 
{Artist: Jon Batiste} 
{Key: Cm} 
{Time: 4/4} 
# Style: JazzGuitarClub 
{stylecode: 3878} 
{Tempo: 120} 

{start_accomp} 

# Intro [Cm][*IA] 

# Verse 1 
God [Cm:2][*MA] rest ye [Bb/D:2] merry, [Eb5:2] gentle [Fm:2] men, 
Let [Gm:2] nothing [Ab:2] you dis- [Gm:2] may. [G7:2][*FA]  
Re- [Cm:2][*MA] member, [Bb/D:2] Christ our [Eb5:2] Sa- [Fm:2] vior was 
[Gm:2] Born on [Ab:2] Christmas [Gm:2][*FA] day. [C7:2]  
To [Fm:2][*MA] save us [Bb:2] all from [Eb5:2] Satan's [AbMaj7:2] pow'r when
 
[Eb5:2] We were [Dm:2] gone a- [Bb/D:2] stray. [Bb:2] 
O [Eb5:2] Ti- [Ab:2] dings of [Dm:2] com- [Gaug:2] fort and  
[Cm:2] Joy, [Fm7:2] Comfort and [Bb7][*FA] joy. 
O [Eb5:2][*MA] Ti- [Ab:2] dings of [Dm:2] com- [Gaug:2][*FA] fort and 

# Funky interlude 

[Cm7:2][*MB] joy. [F:2] ---- [Cm7:2] ---- [F:2] ---- 
[Cm7:2] ---- [F:2] ---- [Cm7:2] ---- [F:2][*FB] ----  

# Ending 
[Cm7-9][*EA] --------

Extended ChordPro adds auto-accompaniment features to the well-known and widely used ChordPro song format. I translated the ChordPro to a Yamaha-compatible auto-accompaniment file and played it on Genos™.

In “God Rest Ye,” you’ll notice the new extensions right away. There are a few more directives like: {stylecode: 3878} and {start_accomp}. Chord symbols are enhanced with a beat count, e.g., “[Cm:2]“, placing chord changes on beats within a measure. Annotations indicate auto-accompaniment section changes. For example, “[*MA]” and “[*FA]” mean “Main section A” and “Fill in A”, respectively.

Getting to hear the progression — not just play it by hand — was a huge help. I found a few places where a minor chord was required instead of a major. Play-back encouraged me to listen critically and to find a few hipper voicings.

If you would like a copy of the Java program (cp2mid) which translates Extended ChordPro to a Yamaha auto-accompaniment Standard MIDI File, here is a pointer to the ZIP file page. If you would like more information, please see the ChordPro auto-accompaniment example and demo and my article with ideas and uses for Extended ChordPro auto-accompaniment.