Days of Wine and Roses – Jazz Guitar Solo & Patterns

Days of Wine and Roses was written by Henry Mancini in 1962 for the movie of the same name. The tune quickly became a jazz standard and a favorite among jazz guitarists, with memorable recordings by Joe Pass, Barney Kessel, Bill Frisell, and many others. The most famous jazz guitar version is Wes Montgomery’s recording on his 1963 album Boss Guitar.

In this lesson, you’ll learn a jazz guitar solo study over the chord changes of Days of Wine and Roses.

The solo features 11 classic jazz guitar patterns, some built from single-note lines, others mixing chords and melody.

After playing the solo, we’ll take a closer look at these patterns to understand how they work and how to use them in your own improvisations.

If you’d like to explore more patterns like these, check out our course Jazz Guitar Patterns & Phrases Volume 1.

 

Recommended listening:

• Wes Montgomery – Boss Guitar (1963)
• Howard Roberts – Color Him Funky (1963)
• Barney Kessel – Just Friends (1975)
• Lenny Breau – Five O’Clock Bells (1979)
• Bill Evans – Consecration (1980)
• Joe Pass – Easy Living (1986)
• Jimmy Raney & Doug Raney – Duets (1989)
• Bireli Lagrene – Standards (1992)
• Keith Jarrett – Keith Jarrett at the Blue Note (1995)
• Bill Frisell – East/West (2005)

 

 

Days of Wine and Roses – Video

 

Days of Wine and Roses – Guitar Tabs/Notation

Backing Track

Listen & Play-Along

 

 

Days of Wine and Roses – Jazz Guitar Patterns

Let’s have a closer look at the jazz guitar patterns used in the Days of Wine and Roses solo.

Many of these patterns appear throughout the vocabulary of Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass, and Barney Kessel, and practicing them will instantly expand your phrasing toolkit.

 

Pattern 1 (bar 1)

This first jazz guitar pattern mixes chords with single-note lines.

You start with a chord voicing, then play the matching scale from the 5th to the 9th.

It works beautifully on major chords:

 

 

And also on minor chords, such as in this II-V-I progression:

 

 

Pattern 2 (bars 2, 8, 10, 16)

The most natural place to mix chords into your solos is on the 4th beat of a dominant chord and the 1st beat of the chord it resolves to.

Here, the chord voicings are played on the B, G, and D strings. These small voicings are easy to fret and don’t get in the way of the bass or the melody/solo.

Here is an example (bar 8):

 

 

Same idea, but the chord lands after the beat for rhythmic variety (bar 2):

 

 

Same idea (bar 10), but with a 7b9 voicing:

 

 

Bar 16 resolves with a 7♭13 chord to the tonic major:

 

 

Pattern 3 (bars 5-7)

Starting on bar 5, 6th intervals add a touch of harmony between single-note phrases.

Practice them through your scales on different strings:

 

On the E-string:

 

 

On the A-string:

 

 

On the D-string:

 

 

On the G-string:

 

 

Pattern 4 (bar 7)

Pattern 4 uses slides to move through the Bb Dorian mode.

 

 

You can apply the same concept to other scales, such as C major.

 

 

Pattern 5 (bar 11)

A Bbmaj9 arpeggio is a nice way to play over G minor chords, resulting in a Gm11 sound.

Playing a maj9 arpeggio from the 3rd of a minor chord brings out the 9 and 11 extensions

For example: Bbmaj9 over Gm7

 

Bbmaj9 arpeggio	Bb	D	F	A	C
Played over Gm7	b3	5	b7	9	11

 

 

Pattern 6 (bars 12 and 32)

This pattern begins with the same substitution as pattern 5.

Over the dominant chord in the second bar, I play the b9 and 13 extensions:

 

 

The scale of choice to play over 13b9 chords is the dominant diminished scale, also known as the half/whole diminished scale, because it switches between half and whole steps in its interval structure.

 

Dominant Diminished	1	b9	#9	3	#11	5	13	b7	1
		H	W	H	W	H	W	H	W

 

 

Here are two examples of how you can get this sound into your comping as well:

 

 

Pattern 7 (bar 16)

Pattern 7 uses a C augmented triad over C7b13.

The raised 5th gives tension and movement toward the resolution.

 

 

Pattern 8 (bar 17)

This pattern, inspired by Wes Montgomery’s solo on Days of Wine and Roses, uses an A minor triad over Fmaj7, a simplified version of the substitution from pattern 5.

Note how it outlines an Fmaj7 chord shape.

 

 

Here is the original version of this pattern in Wes Montgomery’s solo (0:06 in the Wes video below).

 

Note that he uses Ebmaj7 instead of Eb7 in bar 2 of the form.

 

 

Pattern 9 (bar 22)

A classic jazz-guitar cliché: an uprake applied to a maj7 arpeggio (same substitution as pattern 5). It’s a smooth, melodic way to accentuate chord tones.

 

 

Pattern 10 (bar 23)

This one starts with a D♭maj7 arpeggio over B♭m7 (as in pattern 5) and moves to an F minor triad (as in pattern 8).

 

Fm triad	F	Ab	C
Played over Bbm7	5	b7	9

 

 

Pattern 11 (bar 30)

This last pattern outlines a C13 chord.

 

 

Here is a variation of the same pattern: