Baby I’m a Fool (Melody Gardot) – Jazz Guitar Chords

Baby I’m a Fool is a song by Melody Gardot, released in 2009 on her second album My One and Only Thrill. In this mini-lesson, we look at the chord progression played by Melody. The chords (except one), rhythm, and tempo are relatively easy, so this one is suitable for beginners.

The song is in the key of Ab major and opens with a 4-bar intro built on chromatic movement of the same major 6th voicing:

F#6 → G6 → Ab6

In bar 6, the harmony goes to a rather unusual voicing, a Dbm(maj9) with Ab in the bass.

This chord’s functionality is not uncommon, but it’s voiced in a way you don’t see often.

It is a borrowed chord from the parallel minor scale (Ab minor), called the iv minor, and comes back in bars 16 and 18 with a more common voicing (Dbm6).

The iv minor in a major key is a borrowed iv chord taken from the parallel minor scale and used in place of IV major. This is called modal interchange.

Other jazz standards with a iv minor include All The Things You Are, All of Me, There Will Never Be Another You, Stella By Starlight, among many others.

 

 

Here is Melody Gardot’s original recording:

 

 

In the video and notation/tabs below I walk through the core progression of Baby I’m a Fool. I focus on the main harmonic sections rather than playing the full form of the song.

 

 

Drum Track

Listen & Play-Along