Hymnal 1982 has guitar chords on some pieces, if I recall correctly.

Really? — in the hymnal itself? — or perhaps in some accompaniment edition(s)?

Hymnal 1982 has guitar chords on some pieces, if I recall correctly.

Only in the accompaniment edition or the 'Hymnbook' edition (full accompaniments but no service music), and only for a very small handful of hymns (thankfully) with the indication that guitar and keyboard should not be sounding at the same time.

Many times...chords given are inferior...

This is self-evident and hardly surprising! Unless the organ accompaniment was unimaginably bad it would be a given. Besides, they are an eyesore. Besides, how did it ever come to pass that anyone barged into the church pretty as you please and strumming a guitar with a straight face?

https://www.e-chords.com

I always sigh and chuckle whenever I use our hymnal accompaniment books. At the bottom of every single page in bold it says something to the effect of, "When playing with a guitar, the keyboardist should in stead use the chords marked above the accompaniment." Go figure: a guitar kaChunkAChunkin' doesn't blend very well with traditional SATB accompaniment, so it's up to the "keyboardist" to solve the problem.

A guitar playing actual continuo might be passable - but not in metrical hymnody with a chord change on every beat.

There are traditional hymns on that site I posted

Never, it was still evolving to become the instrument for sacred music as the strummed instruments became the heart of easy to play secular music.

Pax,

Independent of whether "the bible says" is a Protestant attitude... so what?

...mentioned in the Bible?...

This is astonishing. Should we, by this thinking, be observing the Mosaic dietary laws or sacrificing turtle doves because they are 'in the Bible'. This sort of Protestant thought led people like Calvin and the multiplicity of Calvinist splinter groups to ban any song but the a capella singing of the psalter; it led some Protestant groups to ban altogether the use of any musical instruments because 'they weren't in the New Testament'. Then, of course, there was the Puritan tyranny of the English Interregnum. It just so happens that quite a number of the psalms enjoin us to praise God with 'the ten-stringed lute', with cymbals, loud crashing cymbals, and with tabret and harp. No, the organ wasn't around until its invention in Aegypt around 300 B.C. Like our Lord, it had humble origins. It was used in a variety of entertainments, but came by the Romans to be exalted as an instrument employed in ceremonies surrounding the emperor. It was used as early as the Vth century in certain Germanic dioceses, as is attested by bishops in those areas who on various occasions requested them. Finally, it was appointed for use in the Church in Rome by the VIIth century Pope Vitalian. That is a very long pedigree. The Catholic Church, unlike some (though not all) Protestant churches, has never been limited in its music, its doctrine, its literature and arts by what was in the Bible. I dare say that the esteemed author of this question sings much music and plays instruments which were not in the Bible. Catholic history has baptised the organ more than any other instrument, and, as is well known by the membership of this Forum, the recent Vatican council singled out the organ as most fitting for Catholic worship. It doesn't so much as mention, envision, or baptise a single other instrument, nay, not even guitars, much less the ten-stringed lutes, tabrets, and cymbals of the psalms - just the organ. No, it wasn't in the Bible, but, then, neither are the self-appointed guardians of what is and isn't 'in the Bible' in the Bible.

"Pax! I would like to know what hymnals have guitar chords in addition to the melody. "

Here is the problem. Hymns in four-part harmony move through subtle harmonies that makes them beautiful. Singing just the melody of a four-part hymn is like looking at a tree that has had its leaves and limbs burnt off in a fire.

Trying to accompany a hymn with guitar chords is silly like looking at a tree with its limbs and leaves burnt off in a fire.

It's like playing Scrabble with blank tiles. Or an ice-cream cone without the ice cream.

Publishing a hymnal with guitar chords is giving people what they want instead of giving them what they need. A lack of musical integrity.

I don't know of any hymnals that give guitar chords. However, the Lectionary Psalms and Gospel Acclamations published by WLP give guitar chords, so you might want to look at those.

I think when guitar chords are included in the music they are as simple as you can get so that those who don't practice finger exercises can strum along. The worst I have ever heard is a key board set to the guitar setting, 6 or 12 string and the musician playing the notes of the hymn as if playing on the organ or piano. It's really awful.

Tin whistles????

Cliquot?
Schnitger?
Cavaille-Coll?
Harris?
Aeolian-Skinner?
Pasi?
von Beckerat?
Marcussen? and.................
Tin whistles????????????

Those who would pronounce the organ to be no more than a collection of tin whistles are not unlike those who might see nothing in Michaelangelo or da Vinci but paint smeared on a canvass. There are people who pride themselves on such snide and very ill tutored pronouncements.
This is just plain stupid and unworthy of this Forum.

@ServiamScores you have conjured up for me a terrifying picture of a whole congregation armed with ukuleles.

[Asking out of ignorance]: Does a person who writes guitar chord assignments pay attention to the key signature of the original piece, or keep track of sensible harmonic movement, as if writing a figured bass, or does such a person just look at the note in the melody and write [that chord, as if the melody were the root of the chord].

If you really understand lead sheet notation, you should be able to write a chord symbol that doesn't lose any information from what was in the SATB score.

Except for NCT, of course.

I think it also worth noting that many of the larger publishers have dedicated guitar supplement books to go with the normal accompaniment books for a reason. It's difficult to always fit everyone's part on the same page. You can't provide transposed guitar chords in a keyboard accompaniment book, for instance, unless you add a guitar stave or expressly forbid the keyboardist from using the chords, at which point, why add the chord symbols to the keyboard book to begin with? So, if you have a particular hymnal in mind, I bet if you do some googling you'll find a dedicated guitar book. (This obviously does not apply to "traditional" hymnals, but a company like GIA is likely to produce them for their hymnals.)

I believe that The St. Michaels' hymnal has a version which has guitar chords

Oh really? I will buy that ASAP if this really exists.

Golleee geee the man just asked s simple question, he was not requiring a doctoral disssssssertation on the history of the Epesema.

This made me chuckle. You're right of course.

Adoremus,

Lemons... lemonade, I guess.