{"id":15951,"date":"2022-08-17T18:29:30","date_gmt":"2022-08-17T16:29:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/?p=15951"},"modified":"2026-02-15T21:53:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T20:53:00","slug":"what-a-wonderful-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/what-a-wonderful-world\/","title":{"rendered":"What a Wonderful World"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"line-height: 150%; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;\">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&#8217;s slow tempo.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-15963\" style=\"margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 20px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/what-a-wonderful-world-louis-armstrong.jpg\" alt=\"What a Wonderful World - Louis Armstrong\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/what-a-wonderful-world-louis-armstrong.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/what-a-wonderful-world-louis-armstrong-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/what-a-wonderful-world-louis-armstrong-48x48.jpg 48w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>That changed years later. After being featured in the 1988 film <em>Good Morning, Vietnam,<\/em> the song reached a wide American audience and became the timeless standard as it is known today.<\/p>\n<p>In this lesson, you&#8217;ll learn an easy fingerstyle chord-melody arrangement of <em>What a Wonderful World<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Recommended Listening:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Louis Armstrong &#8211; Single (1967)<\/li>\n<li>Toots Thielemans &amp; Kenny Werner &#8211; <em>Toots Thielemans &amp; Kenny Werner<\/em> (2001)<\/li>\n<li>Eva Cassidy &#8211; <em>Wonderful World<\/em> (2004)<\/li>\n<li>Israel Kamawiwo&#8217;ole &#8211; <em>Wonderful World<\/em> (2007)<\/li>\n<li>Kenny Burrell &#8211; <em>Tenderly &#8211; Solo Guitar Concert<\/em> (2011)<\/li>\n<li>Tommy Emmanuel (with Frank Vignola) &#8211; <em>Live from the Balboa Theatre<\/em> (2011)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This arrangement follows the same concepts used throughout our <em>Complete Chord Melody<\/em> course: simple shapes, economical movement, and practical voicings that sound full without being hard to play.<\/p>\n<p>To learn how to create your own chord melody arrangements, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/courses\/product\/complete-chord-melody\/?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=ccm_link_top\">check out the full course<\/a> (and use the coupon MELODY to get 15% off).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<span style=\"--tl-form-height-m:562.469px;--tl-form-height-t:361.875px;--tl-form-height-d:361.875px;\" class=\"tl-placeholder-f-type-shortcode_10059 tl-preload-form\"><span><\/span><\/span>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>What a Wonderful World &#8211; Video &amp; Guitar Tabs<\/h2>\n<div class=\"video-container\"><iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JQcVMN7Km1Y\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><i>Audio<\/i><\/p>\n<div class=\"waveplayer-container\"><div id=\"waveplayer-71b00ab476c631a6610f5426159182da-6a543663ec153\" class=\"waveplayer loading wvpl-skin-w2-evolution wvpl-palette-800e3a14c86733ad9ccc96fd80850d88 wvpl-style-light wvpl-size-xs wvpl-shape-rounded \" data-limit=\"0\" data-mode=\"normal\" data-config_id=\"71b00ab476c631a6610f5426159182da\" data-instance_id=\"71b00ab476c631a6610f5426159182da-6a5109505a71a\">\n\t<div class=\"wvpl-left-box\" style=\"background-image:url(https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/audiobg.png)\">\n\t\t<div class=\"wvpl-interface\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"wvpl-volume-overlay\"><\/div>\n\t\t\t<div class=\"wvpl-icon wvpl-info\"><\/div>\n\t\t\t<div class=\"wvpl-controls\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wvpl-icon wvpl-prev wvpl-disabled\"><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wvpl-icon wvpl-play\"><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wvpl-icon wvpl-next wvpl-disabled\"><\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wvpl-icon wvpl-volume wvpl-volume_up\"><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"wvpl-poster\"><\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<div class=\"wvpl-right-box\">\n\t\t<div class=\"wvpl-overlay\">\n\t\t\t<svg>\n\t\t\t\t<use xlink:href=\"#waveform-animation\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t\t<div class=\"percentage\"><\/div>\n\t\t\t<div class=\"wvpl-loading\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wvpl-loading-progress\"><\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<div class=\"message\"><\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"wvpl-position\"><\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"wvpl-duration\"><\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"wvpl-waveform\"><\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"wvpl-infobar\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"wvpl-playing-info\"><div class=\"wvpl-infoblock\"><\/div><\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<div class=\"wvpl-playlist\">\n\t\t<div class=\"wvpl-playlist-wrapper\"><\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-15952 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/what-a-wonderful-world-1.png\" alt=\"What a Wonderful World guitar tabs 1\" width=\"779\" height=\"781\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/what-a-wonderful-world-1.png 779w, https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/what-a-wonderful-world-1-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/what-a-wonderful-world-1-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/what-a-wonderful-world-1-768x770.png 768w, https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/what-a-wonderful-world-1-48x48.png 48w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 779px) 100vw, 779px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-15953 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/what-a-wonderful-world-2.png\" alt=\"What a Wonderful World guitar tabs 2\" width=\"779\" height=\"633\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/what-a-wonderful-world-2.png 779w, https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/what-a-wonderful-world-2-300x244.png 300w, https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/what-a-wonderful-world-2-768x624.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 779px) 100vw, 779px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-15954 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/what-a-wonderful-world-3.png\" alt=\"What a Wonderful World guitar tabs 3\" width=\"779\" height=\"693\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/what-a-wonderful-world-3.png 779w, https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/what-a-wonderful-world-3-300x267.png 300w, https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/what-a-wonderful-world-3-768x683.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 779px) 100vw, 779px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-15955 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/what-a-wonderful-world-4.png\" alt=\"What a Wonderful World guitar tabs 4\" width=\"779\" height=\"955\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/what-a-wonderful-world-4.png 779w, https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/what-a-wonderful-world-4-245x300.png 245w, https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/what-a-wonderful-world-4-768x942.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 779px) 100vw, 779px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-15956 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/what-a-wonderful-world-5.png\" alt=\"What a Wonderful World guitar tabs 5\" width=\"779\" height=\"685\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/what-a-wonderful-world-5.png 779w, https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/what-a-wonderful-world-5-300x264.png 300w, https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/what-a-wonderful-world-5-768x675.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 779px) 100vw, 779px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-15957 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/what-a-wonderful-world-6.png\" alt=\"What a Wonderful World guitar tabs 6\" width=\"779\" height=\"663\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/what-a-wonderful-world-6.png 779w, https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/what-a-wonderful-world-6-300x255.png 300w, https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/what-a-wonderful-world-6-768x654.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 779px) 100vw, 779px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-15958 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/what-a-wonderful-world-7.png\" alt=\"What a Wonderful World guitar tabs 7\" width=\"779\" height=\"977\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/what-a-wonderful-world-7.png 779w, https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/what-a-wonderful-world-7-239x300.png 239w, https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/what-a-wonderful-world-7-768x963.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 779px) 100vw, 779px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-15959 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/what-a-wonderful-world-8.png\" alt=\"What a Wonderful World guitar tabs 8\" width=\"779\" height=\"323\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/what-a-wonderful-world-8.png 779w, https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/what-a-wonderful-world-8-300x124.png 300w, https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/what-a-wonderful-world-8-768x318.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 779px) 100vw, 779px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/courses\/product\/jgo-download-pass\/?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=wonderful_world_bottom\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-19706 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/download-pdf.png\" alt=\"Dowload PDF and backing tracks\" width=\"779\" height=\"242\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/download-pdf.png 779w, https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/download-pdf-300x93.png 300w, https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/download-pdf-768x239.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 779px) 100vw, 779px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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&#8217;s slow tempo. That changed [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15976,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chord-melody"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15951"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15951\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18764,"href":"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15951\/revisions\/18764"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}