Chord Melody Jazz Guitar

Master the art of playing melody, chords, and basslines at the same time with our chord melody lessons.

Smile (Charlie Chaplin)

Smile (Charlie Chaplin)

Charlie Chaplin, famous for making people laugh, was also good at making music. He composed “Smile” for his last silent movie “Modern Times” in 1936 with the help of composer David Raksin. The first phrase of the melody is identical to a phrase (Cavaradossi singing “Quale occhio al mondo può star di paro”) in the […]

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What a Wonderful World

What a Wonderful World

What a Wonderful World was written by Bob Thiele/George David Weiss and recorded by Louis Armstrong in 1967. It was a hit in the UK, but not in the US because Larry Newton (the president of ABC Records) didn’t promote the song on the grounds that he didn’t like it. In this lesson, you will

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Moon River jazz guitar arrangement

Moon River

Moon River was composed by Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer for the movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961). The song was written for Audrey Hepburn to sing (real) while she accompanies herself on the guitar (not real). In this lesson, you will learn an easy chord melody arrangement of Moon River. Mancini won the Grammy Awards

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Georgia on my Mind jazz guitar version

Georgia on my Mind

Georgia on my Mind was composed in 1930 by Hoagy Carmichael, who also made the first recording of the song with his orchestra featuring Hoagy on vocals, Eddie Lang on guitar, and Bix Beiderbecke on cornet (his last recording session). In 1960, Ray Charles recorded his famous version, which was a number one hit all

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Lullaby of Birdland

Lullaby of Birdland

Lullaby Of Birdland was composed by George Shearing in 1952 and was intended as the theme song for the legendary jazz club Birdland (NY). It became one of the most popular jazz standards of all time. Lullaby of Birdland is one of my favorite jazz melodies, making it a perfect candidate for a chord melody

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How to build and play walking bass lines

Walking Bass Lines

In this lesson, you will learn how to combine chords with a walking bass line, a concept that is becoming more and more in demand these days. As club and restaurant owners are cutting budgets, one way to keep our gig as a guitar player is to slim down the ensemble to a duo or

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