What a Wonderful World was written by Bob Thiele/George David Weiss and first recorded by Louis Armstrong in 1967. It became a hit in the UK, but initially failed to gain traction in the US. ABC Records president Larry Newton refused to promote the release simply because he disliked the song’s slow tempo.
That changed years later. After being featured in the 1988 film Good Morning, Vietnam, the song reached a wide American audience and became the timeless standard as it is known today.
In this lesson, you’ll learn an easy fingerstyle chord-melody arrangement of What a Wonderful World.
Recommended Listening:
- Louis Armstrong – Single (1967)
- Toots Thielemans & Kenny Werner – Toots Thielemans & Kenny Werner (2001)
- Eva Cassidy – Wonderful World (2004)
- Israel Kamawiwo’ole – Wonderful World (2007)
- Kenny Burrell – Tenderly – Solo Guitar Concert (2011)
- Tommy Emmanuel (with Frank Vignola) – Live from the Balboa Theatre (2011)
This arrangement follows the same concepts used throughout our Complete Chord Melody course: simple shapes, economical movement, and practical voicings that sound full without being hard to play.
To learn how to create your own chord melody arrangements, check out the full course (and use the coupon MELODY to get 15% off).
What a Wonderful World – Video & Guitar Tabs
Audio
très belle version, merci
je m’empresse de la bosser
The perfect kind of arrangement, IMO. You can embellish it or maybe simplify it a little–to make it your own.
More of this please—!
Neat voicings kept it a high lite
You’re the best teacher I’ve found. Please do some more utube videos….Please!
Gorgeous. Going to learn this right now.
Dirk, I would love to be able to play Over The Rainbow. Is it possible that you could create an arrangement?
Thanks,
Paul
Arrangiamento molto bello👍
Grazie Maestro!
thanks for sharing a great arrangement of a beautiful song. I enjoy playing this. thank you.
Magnifica versión. Elegante y “aparentemente” sencilla (espero…)
Gracias
Great work Dirk!!! beautiful with clarity..am learning to play it with easy…ever grateful! thanks again…
Thanks Dirk for share you fine job!
Amazing !! Thanks a lot !
brilliant!
Beautiful song. Sat down this evening and trying to learn something for the grandkids. Lol
Fantastic, thanks Dirk.
Excellent version!
Excelente!!!
Merveilleux !
Beautiful Dirk thanks
Nice little arrangement Dirk. They get conquered much faster as I do more of them.
Thanks
Don
Lovely arrangement of a beautiful song – Thankyou for this lesson Dirk!
Please forgive rank stupidity here – I have the same question as John, the B7b9 is notated in the 8th and 5th positions but isn’t the 5th position the D#dim 7th? a few chords on. Should this really be hold the B7b9 for two chords or am I missing something here?
Great arrangement by the way – almost feel like I can play guitar sometimes (easy when someone else has done all the hard work!) – cheers Dirk!
Hey Brad, here the diminished chord is used as a substitution for B7. Playing a Dim7 chord on the 3rd, 5th, b7th, or b9th of a dominant 7th chord produces a rootless 7b9 chord. You can learn more about this common substitution here: https://www.jazzguitar.be/blog/diminished-chords/#substitution
Thanks, I learn a lot with you
Nice arrangement Dirk . Much appreciated .
Great song, perfect arrangement…I’ll try to play.
Thank you Dirk!
Hi, in the 26 part, there ‘re for 2 times
the B7b9 accord…in 8 and 5 positions…it is right or not?
I learned this last year in E flat, but I really loved your beautiful arrangement of this tune.
A really under appreciated tune with a timeless message.
Thank you.
Beautiful .. Thank you for sharing this Dirk!
Nice!
SUPER il y a très longtemps que je n’avais pas entendu cette mélodie vôtre arrangement est SUPER bravo à vous et encore MERCI
Beautiful, very good!
Grande arrangiamento, grazie !
Great arrangement of this song! I look forward to digging into it!
your site is rapidly becoming my favourite jazz guitar place on the web! Another classy arrangement, loving working through the book, thanks!
Very nice arrangement. Thanks for making this world more wonderful, Dirk.
I’ve never been a fan of this song ! Until now !!! Well done, beautifully arranged
Thanks for being so generous with sharing your knowledge and instructions on chord melody music.
Excellent post, thanks!!
A beautiful song, and a beautiful job of arranging it. Thank you so very much.
Awesome. I learned a basic version of this many years ago when my first kid was born and played that to her many nights when she was coping with her first months on this weird planet. I like the way you interpret the melody and the wealth of voicing is fantastic. There are a lot of thing’s to take away with. Thanks!