Wham! - Last Christmas - Guitar Lesson

About Last Christmas

At 128 BPM in D major on standard tuning, "Last Christmas" sits in a comfortable range for most guitarists, but nailing its feel is trickier than it first appears. The song lives on a bright, arpeggiated synth figure that, when transcribed to guitar, works well fingerpicked or played with a light pick attack across the higher strings. Keeping the rhythm buoyant rather than stiff is the real challenge: the groove needs to breathe slightly behind the beat, so resist the urge to lock in too mechanically. The chord progression cycles through familiar Pop territory, but voice leading the inner notes smoothly will separate a clean performance from a clunky one. Wham! built the arrangement around layered keyboards, so a guitarist covering this needs to make deliberate choices about which parts to prioritise. Use the Practice Toolbar to loop the main progression slowed down until your fretting hand transitions feel entirely automatic before bringing it back up to tempo.

• The main repeating figure translates naturally to fingerpicking on the higher strings, with the ring and middle fingers carrying the melodic movement.
• At 128 BPM the tempo is brisk enough that clean chord transitions in D major require deliberate slow practice before playing it up to speed.
• Because the original arrangement is keyboard-driven, guitarists benefit from focusing on a single arpeggiated guitar part rather than trying to replicate every layer.