{"id":16703,"date":"2024-01-18T18:46:29","date_gmt":"2024-01-18T17:46:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/?p=16703"},"modified":"2026-05-26T19:00:58","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T17:00:58","slug":"smile-charlie-chaplin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/smile-charlie-chaplin\/","title":{"rendered":"Smile (Charlie Chaplin)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Charlie Chaplin wrote “Smile” for the 1936 film Modern Times<\/em>, with David Raksin contributing to the orchestration. The song has a beautiful and bittersweet melody that lends itself perfectly to solo guitar. In this lesson, you will learn an easy-to-play chord melody arrangement of the tune.<\/p>\n

\"Smile<\/p>\n

Chaplin, best known as a filmmaker and actor, was also passionate about music. He taught himself to play piano, violin, and cello by ear and became a skilled composer, even though he never had formal training. Because he could not read or write music, he worked with professional arrangers and composers to bring his ideas to life.<\/p>\n

The opening phrase of Smile is very similar to a melody from the first act love duet in Puccini\u2019s opera Tosca, where Cavaradossi sings “Qual\u2019occhio al mondo pu\u00f2 star di paro<\/em>“. Chaplin never spoke publicly about this similarity, but it is quite noticeable.<\/p>\n

In 1954, John Turner and Geoffrey Parsons added lyrics to Smile. Nat King Cole recorded the first vocal version, which helped make Smile<\/em> a standard in both jazz and popular music.<\/p>\n

The original key of Smile<\/em> is Ab major, but this chord melody version is in E major, a more guitar-friendly key that lets you use the open E string as a bass note.<\/p>\n

This arrangement uses drop 2<\/a> \/ drop 3 voicings<\/a> and 6th intervals<\/a> to harmonize the melody.<\/p>\n

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Recommended listening:<\/strong><\/p>\n