Georgia on My Mind is one of those timeless standards that works beautifully as a chord melody arrangement for guitar. The song was composed in 1930 by Hoagy Carmichael, who also made the first recording with his orchestra featuring Hoagy on vocals, Eddie Lang on guitar, and Bix Beiderbecke on cornet (his last recording session).
Over the decades, Georgia on My Mind has been recorded by countless artists, but it was Ray Charles’ soulful 1960 version that turned the song into the hit it is today. His recording topped the U.S. charts and became the official state song of Georgia in 1979.
Here’s a solo jazz guitar arrangement of Georgia on My Mind, written for intermediate players and above. My arrangement stays close to the original melody while adding harmonic textures that work well for solo guitar. I used a mix of drop 2 and drop 3 voicings, 6th intervals, and moving bass lines to support the melody.
The arrangement is built with the same ideas we cover in our course Complete Chord Melody. If you’re interested in learning how to build your own arrangements like this one, check out the full course…
Recommended listening:
- Hoagy Carmichael – single (1930)
- Django Reinhardt – single (1936)
- Billie Holiday – single (1941)
- Ray Charles – The Genius Hits the Road (1960)
- Wes Montgomery – Down Here on the Ground (1968)
- Lenny Breau – Guitar Sounds (1968)
- Joe Pass & Herb Ellis – Jazz/Concord (1972)
- Tal Farlow – A Sign of the Times (1977)
- Ella Fitzgerald & Joe Pass – Speak Love (1983)
- John Scofield – Pick Hits Live (1987)
Georgia on my Mind – Video & Guitar Tabs
Audio
What clean sound!! excellent job!!
Absolutely beautiful Dirk. Perfect as usual with a touch and tone to die for!
I’m a professional retiree that still plays but no studio stuff as a lot has dried up since streaming. I always get some nice ideas from your arrangements (I also orchestrate) as an arranger and rhythm player for Les Paul’s brother in law: Bob Summers. He played all the instruments on the hit: Suspicion by Terry Stafford plus scores for “Grizzly Adams and many movies. I think Local 47 got too expensive and they used the London Symphony Orchestra (they took extremely good care of him-had a driver etc). Sorry for the long post.
Which extracted zip file will guitar pro open? I cannot play any extracted files with guitar pro
Wonderful arrangement and totally accessible with some work. Thanks Dirk. You do a great service to jazz education. I’m excited every time I wake up to one of your lessons!
Lovely .
Stunning performance.
Amazing arrangement, tender playing and warm sound. Thanks a lot!
Splendid arrangement Maestro!!…fluid and full of a rich harmony, nice chords sequence. Thank you so much for shearing your knowledge. Saludos!!
This along with everything else her is fantastic. thanks so much for all of this. QQ why is the last chord in Bar 5 labeled C9. what am I missing?
Even though it looks like an Em7b5 in the context of the song it’s actually a rootless voicing of C9 – the notes of the chord are E, Bb, D and G – The 3, b7, 9 and 5 of C. With a bass player playing a C, this makes a complete C9 chord
Just a different voicing (no C root). It’s also an Em7b5 (half diminished). A great voicing for 9 chords in the blues!🙌
It’s a rootless C9. If you spell out the notes everything from the C9 chord is there except for the “C”. Of course an extended chord like this can be an inversion of several other things (for example it could be a variant of an Em7b5), what makes it a “C” is the root movement of the piece.
It’s a rootless C9. Bar 5 is a ii V in the key of F.
Thanks Dirk…… I finally know enough jazz to be able to play this song…. And have memorized enough of it to put feeling into it….. Great arrangement…. It had lots of challenges for me….. I’m only working off a tab…..
Do you have the Band in a Box file available for download?
hey, just wondering why you did not include Martin Taylor’s version of this in the recommended listening. great version. This is also a lovely and well played version. Thank you so much.
Hi, i’m a freshman to this guitar and also listened to the martin taylor’s version but i thought it was a completely different song haha so actually they are the same huh?
You guys sshould do a big series on Joe Pass Chord phrases and chord subs… i know its a huge undertaking but nobody online has done it yet..Great performance of Georgia
A lovely arrangement. Thank you Dirk!
Hi Dirk! Very beautiful arrangement, so well played, with the bass swinging. Really high level, and this song deserves… Perfect sound recording, not to mention the tone of your gorgeous Gibson ES-175. Congratulations, master. All the best from Brasilia, Pedro Noleto
Thanks Pedro!
Muy buena versión!!!
excelente, continue mandando chord melody, e agradeço sua generosidade. Grato
Fantastic, thank you. Love the chord diagrams.
Thanks… I’ll certainly have a look at this.
I love this song, very nice job. Deza.
Surprisingly very tender version. Excellent work/
Thanks Igor!
Love the chord inversions with the bass lines.
That was once again a scrumptious arrangement. Thanks Dirk.
Thanks Eric!
Simply wonderful.
Thanks Bob!
What, no Willie Nelson version?
https://youtu.be/aWC0kNtteI8
Great version!
Top demais música memorável.
Excellent, absolutely love it. Thank you!
The hours I will spend learning this song will be time well spent. Thank you, Dirk.
Geweldig arrangement. Mag ik vragen welke snaren je gebruikt op de ES-175? Klinkt erg goed.
Hey, ik gebruik Thomastik JS112 snaren.
Dank je. Zijn die ook geschikt voor een L5? Gebruik nu Thomastik JB 014 en overweeg om over te stappen op D’daddario Chromes ECG 24.
Thomastiks zijn zeker geschikt voor je L5, in onze survey van een aantal jaar geleden kwamen ze uit de bus als 2e meest gebruikte snaren: https://www.jazzguitar.be/blog/popular-jazz-guitar-strings/
Dank je Dirk
Tremendous
That’s what I looking for, thanks a lot!