Chord Melody PDF's ONLY

[jazzjunky]

Thanks John for providing ALL these great chord melodies!!! Chord melodies, in my opinion, is the most hauntingly beautiful aspect of jazz guitar... I crave the little guy too much at times! hehe...
I've just noticed people asking you for chord melodies... Why don't people just work Chord Melodies out for themselves? I've started doing it myself recently, and it really is fantastic "music gym" as it forces you, to brush up on your rusty theory, improve your theory knowledge (and dexterity) & general understanding of how the tune "comes together", AND gets you to learn the tune "off by heart"... what a pleasure! ;P

Perhaps, in the latter half of this post, I could pick your brains about the construction of chord melodies. I'm aware that over a Cmaj7 chord (for argument's sake), your notes, C E G B, say your C E are your bass "clef" notes, G B are your treble "clef" notes - just to set the scene. (note: not literal clefs, I'm just trying to get you to visualize the voicing) your B would be your melody line. If there are four or five consecutive notes, how would you take these into consideration? I'm aware that you this depends entirely what the notes are.

I have read that a nice, jazzy thing to do, would be to "flatten" the chord, you could go Cmaj7 - Cmin7 - Cmin7(b5). This help hugely when playing something like "Autumn Leaves". In the first bar 'these autumn leaves...' or on the word 'leaves', which is a half-note (semi-breve), its great to use this as some great 'passing tones' to add more flavour! But what are some other tricks that you might have up your sleeve?

I'm also aware that when you are analyzing the harmony of a tune, you do have to pay close attention to & incorporate your "chord tones" (your 3rd and 7th note of the chord), as they tend to change the most (e.g. in a minor triad your third is flattened, whereas in a major triad your third remains unchanged).

So... are they any Chord-Melody Creator Enthusiasts out there, who have any precious pearls they'd love to share??! Please don't hesitate to post your opinion

May the Muse be with you all!

jazzjunky

[JohnW400]

I look for lines that move. Most of the CM's I do have either a bass line that moves in a scale like fashion or an inner voice the moves around and changes the harmony.

For example if the harmony is a measure of Cma7 to Ami7 one way I might think is to move the G to G# (Cma7#5) to A (Ami7) if those are the inner voice. Looking at the bass, I sometimes find reharmonizations by 'walking the bass' and seeing whats there.

Matt has a list of great subs and I use some of these concepts as well. One example is Tune Up by Miles the changes are Emi7 /A7/ Dma7 /Dma7. (Then it back cycles.) On the second measure of the Dma7 I sometimes sub Ebmi7 To Ab7 just to make it interesting (tritone sub, sort of).

Two other 'tricks' that sound ok are to Play the bIIma7 when the melody ends on the root of the tonic key, (ex Key of Bb, Bb ma chord, Bb melody note, play Bma7 with Bb in the melody. i also like to sub a lydian flavored Ma7 as the tritone sub (Bb7 use Ema7#11) Especially when the song is in a minor key.

There are tons of them. Once you start thinking like this the possibilies just start to pop up. Of course this is great for solo and duo stuff. When I'm in a setting with another chording instument my CM is as vanilla as Carvel soft serve Ice cream.


I'm writting out Come Rain or Come Shine for the forum and should have it posted by this weekend. Next I'll be doing the Pink Panther. It's a piece of cake. It's tougher to write out than to play. But should Derek see this, i posted the sheet music . it's in Emi but I think Aminor works better for guitar.

Thanks for the compliment. You should also see the stuff that Matt posts as well. (plus theres a piece by Mike Walker floating around somewhere and there's stuff here by Fernando and EWIT that you should check out plus stuff posted by people whose names I can't remember. Everything is worth a look just if only to see what everybodies doing.) To me anybody that posts a chart deserves a pat on the back.

[Sailor]

Hi John - I just read that you're doing a version of Come Rain or Come Shine!
That's the tune I've been working on! I hope it's a relatively easy one, and in Dminor.

I've loved your work so far and can't wait to see it!

Sailor

[JohnW400]

Yes. I'm doing it in D minor. I already play the tune so It's just a matter of putting a version down on paper

I'm debating the one section which I play as Dmi7b5 G7 Cmi Ab7 but is in the book as something else. I'm going to check another source tonight to see which changes they show.

Unfortunately the only copies of this that I have are BB with Eric and Harry Leahey doing a solo guitar version but I already borrowed enough ideas from Harry . I wish I had the original source to check. I should be done by Saturday or Sunday. I'm getting faster with Sibelius but it still is time consuming.

[Sailor]

John - I have the original 1946 Mercer & Arlen lead sheet in front of me for Come rain or shine. There are a few measures I don't particularly like/understand. Definitely in Dmin though.

I can't find the section you refer to, but I posted the whole set of changes in another thread. I can repost if you'd like to see it.

I love the last four measures Dm Bdim7 / Em7b5 A7b9 / Dm Ab13 /Gm11 C13.

Looking forward to your chart!!

Sailor

[javithompson]

Wow, lot of interesting stuff, thanks for posting.

[pierre richard]

Very nice job....well done.... beginners need these...and intermediates too...and old timers who for some reason have not the time to set down and work one out...pierre

[manu68]

Originally Posted by m78w

Here's Moonlight Serenade that Shel asked for.

MW

Just trying to play this one.
Easy for a lot of you , already complicated for me ! A big and interesting challenge.
It sounds just fabulous. I need to improve, but it is exactly what I like to ear and play. I will do it !!
Thank's a lot m78w

[m78w]

No problem man, if you have a tune in mind let me know and I can do an easy version of it for you to check out.

MW

[Sailor]

How about an "easy" Satin Doll??

Sailor

[m78w]

Sure thing, I'll have it up this afternoon.

MW

[Sailor]

Thanks for the excellent version of Satin Doll, Matt! Really appreciate it; I love stuff that I can actually play, (sight-read), at this point since I'm spending a lot of time reading, practicing ii-V-I,s classical, and resting my carpal tunnel.

Someday, please no rush, how about an equivalent version of Stardust??

I play your Autumn Leaves and Stella daily!!

SAILOR

[jazzalta]

Ted Greene's Hark the Herald Angels Sing:

RapidShare: Easy Filehosting

[JohnW400]

Thanks.

Did you also post this in the Xmas pdf's post?

[JazzMaverick]

You've got some bossa music on there, I was wondering how do you notate it using Sibelius? I'm guessing you guys are using it, if not, could you let me know what program you're using? I've been trying for ages to get the rest above the note but I don't know how to do it. Any help would be really appreciated.

[m78w]

I use sibelius to notate. To get the rest above the note its pretty easy which I like. Just click on the number 2 on the keypad and it will let you write a second voice on the staff. It will let you add up to 4 voices for each staff which is great when writing for guitar.

MW

[newfornow]

I have been unable to find a convincing chord melody for giant steps.. could somebody make one? thanks!

[JohnW400]

I don't know if this is convincing but here's the way I do it. CM and Comp. YOu should also check out Matt's lesson in the lesson section.

[newfornow]

I apologize it was quite rude the way I worded that. it appears I didn't search hard enough too. thanks a lot for the chord melody

[Ronnie Joseph]

Thank you so much, this makes it much easier. I have started on them and enjoy, please keep me posted with updates .

[manu68]

Fantastic job. Well done !

[JazzMaverick]

@ JohnW, was JUST about to ask if anyone had Pink Panther, thanks!

@ m78w, Thanks, that helps a lot! Still not really used to the program, but it's down to practice and just using it now I'd say. If I have anymore questions I'll ask.

[Sailor]

The site won't be the same without you. Happy travels!!

Sailor

[motutron]

Thank you everyone for your hard work creating these beautiful arrangements. I am just learning jazz guitar and these are going to be beyond valuable in my education. I am so excited to start tearing into some of these.

[trtjazz]

Kudos to you guys for your generous sharing of these.

[guitaroscar]

Please help. What program (s) do you use to create tab and notation? And is there one that uses notation only? I have Cakewalk 7 but it takes forever to input the notes, and then, if I need tab as well (as has been used on all these pdfs), Cakewalk doesn't offer this.
Cheers
Harry
PS I am not on skid row but I can see it from here. (freeware if possible)

[JohnW400]

Sibelius or Finale work fine but they are not free. Sibelius has G7 which is guitar oriented and some new less expensive verson of Sibelius.

Other people have used some othe programs that may be free. I think there's one that lets you write and post to the web . I forgot the name. Haven't used it though.

[LaVonne]

I'm pretty new to CM and I love the stuff you all are posting. I've been playing the chords to Django's Castle for some time but I have not found a good CM arrangement. Does anyone have an arrangement to share?

Thanks.

[JohnW400]

Yes, but I need time to write it out. It's really a Harry Leahey arrangement and it's from Phil Wood's "Live at The Showboat". He also does a smoking solo version on his solo CD. I hope you like stretches.

[pauljoey]

Originally Posted by m78w

Cool, sorry guys I'm swamped at work right now. Thanks for doing one up John!

MW

DO ANY OF YOU .PDF WIZARDS HAVE "ESTRELLITA". I HEARD IT ON freddym223 ON YOU TUBE. LOVED IT!