Master the art of playing melody, chords, and basslines at the same time with our chord melody lessons.
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
Learning how to play chord melody is one of the most sought after skills by jazz guitarists of all levels and musical tastes. It’s one of those concepts that’s both alluring and intimidating in its design. In this video, jazz guitarist Greg O’Rourke demonstrates the possibilities that studying chord melody produces on the guitar. He …
In this lesson, you will learn 4 easy tips to create a chord melody arrangement of your favorite jazz standard.
Joe Pass, Lenny Breau, and George Benson concepts are covered.
Satin Doll is a classic jazz standard composed by Duke Ellington.
In this lesson, you will learn an easy Satin Doll chord melody arrangement for guitar. This chord melody is suitable for beginner Jazz guitarists up to intermediate level.
In the next section, you will learn a chord study that brings some variation in your comping over Satin Doll.
Amazing Grace is a famous Christian hymn, written in 1779, and became the spiritual national hymn of America.
Here, you will learn to play a jazz guitar chord/melody arrangement of this classic hymn.
