{"id":18895,"date":"2026-02-26T16:39:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T15:39:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/?p=18895"},"modified":"2026-03-05T21:46:33","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T20:46:33","slug":"four-miles-davis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/four-miles-davis\/","title":{"rendered":"Four (Miles Davis) &#8211; Melody for Jazz Guitar"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-size: 18px; line-height: 160%; font-weight: bold; text-align: justify;\">Four is a 1954 jazz standard first recorded and arranged by Miles Davis and released on his album <em>Miles Davis Quartet<\/em>. In this lesson, you\u2019ll learn the melody of <em>Four<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-18905\" style=\"margin-top: 10px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/miles-davis-four.jpg\" alt=\"Four (Miles Davis)\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/miles-davis-four.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/miles-davis-four-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/miles-davis-four-48x48.jpg 48w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Although the composition is officially credited to Miles Davis, saxophonist Eddie &#8220;Cleanhead&#8221; Vinson claimed that he wrote the tune and that it was later purchased by Davis.<\/p>\n<p>The original recording featured:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Miles Davis &#8211; trumpet<\/li>\n<li>Horace Silver &#8211; piano<\/li>\n<li>Percy Heath &#8211; double bass<\/li>\n<li>Art Blakey &#8211; drums<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Key:<\/strong> Eb major<br \/>\n<strong>Form:<\/strong> A-B-A-C<\/p>\n<p>A clear harmonic feature of the tune is the move from Ebmaj7 to Ebm7 (<span style=\"background: #f5b335; color: #111; padding: 0.1em 0.4em; border-radius: 0.35em; font-weight: 600; white-space: nowrap;\">bars 2 to 3<\/span>), and later from Abmaj7 (substituted by Fm7) to Abm7 (<span style=\"background: #f5b335; color: #111; padding: 0.1em 0.4em; border-radius: 0.35em; font-weight: 600; white-space: nowrap;\">bars 6 to 7<\/span>).<\/p>\n<p>In both places, the melody underlines this change by moving from the natural 7 to the flat 7 (7 \u2192 b7). That half-step shift is a central melodic idea in the tune and worth paying attention to when you learn the melody.<\/p>\n<p>The notes of the melody are not very difficult, but the tempo at which the tune is usually played can make it challenging at first.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/courses\/product\/jgo-download-pass\/?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=four_top\"><img 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<p><strong>Recommended listening:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Miles Davis &#8211; <em>Miles Davis Quartet<\/em> (1954)<\/li>\n<li>Miles Davis \u2013 <em>Workin&#8217; with the Miles Davis Quintet<\/em> (1956)<\/li>\n<li>Red Garland (with Kenny Burrell \u2192 nice solo!) &#8211; <em>Red Garland Revisited!<\/em> (1957)<\/li>\n<li>Miles Davis &#8211; <em>Four &amp; More<\/em> (1964)<\/li>\n<li>Joe Henderson &#8211; <em>Four<\/em> (1968)<\/li>\n<li>Dexter Gordon &#8211; <em>Bouncin&#8217; with Dex<\/em> (1975)<\/li>\n<li>Chet Baker &#8211; <em>Chet Baker in Tokyo<\/em> (1987)<\/li>\n<li>Guy Barker \u2013 <em>The Talented Mr Ripley OST<\/em> (1999)<\/li>\n<li>Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock &amp; Jack DeJohnette &#8211; <em>My Foolish Heart<\/em>\u00a0(2001)<\/li>\n<li>Peter Bernstein Quartet &#8211; <em>Live at Smalls<\/em> (2008)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"ast-oembed-container \" style=\"height: 100%;\">\n<div data-mode=\"normal\" data-oembed=\"1\" data-provider=\"youtube\" id=\"arve-youtube-tdgbjmj3ywe\" style=\"max-width:900px;\" class=\"arve\">\n<div class=\"arve-inner\">\n<div style=\"aspect-ratio:9\/16\" class=\"arve-embed arve-embed--has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"arve-ar\" style=\"padding-top:177.777778%\"><\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t<iframe allow=\"accelerometer &apos;none&apos;;autoplay &apos;none&apos;;bluetooth &apos;none&apos;;browsing-topics &apos;none&apos;;camera &apos;none&apos;;clipboard-read &apos;none&apos;;clipboard-write;display-capture &apos;none&apos;;encrypted-media &apos;none&apos;;gamepad &apos;none&apos;;geolocation &apos;none&apos;;gyroscope &apos;none&apos;;hid &apos;none&apos;;identity-credentials-get &apos;none&apos;;idle-detection &apos;none&apos;;keyboard-map &apos;none&apos;;local-fonts;magnetometer &apos;none&apos;;microphone &apos;none&apos;;midi &apos;none&apos;;otp-credentials &apos;none&apos;;payment &apos;none&apos;;picture-in-picture;publickey-credentials-create &apos;none&apos;;publickey-credentials-get &apos;none&apos;;screen-wake-lock &apos;none&apos;;serial &apos;none&apos;;summarizer &apos;none&apos;;sync-xhr;usb &apos;none&apos;;web-share;window-management &apos;none&apos;;xr-spatial-tracking &apos;none&apos;;\" allowfullscreen=\"\" class=\"arve-iframe fitvidsignore\" credentialless data-arve=\"arve-youtube-tdgbjmj3ywe\" data-lenis-prevent=\"\" data-src-no-ap=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/tdGBjmJ3ywE?feature=oembed&amp;rel=0&amp;iv_load_policy=3&amp;modestbranding=1&amp;autohide=1&amp;playsinline=0&amp;autoplay=0\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"1600\" loading=\"lazy\" name=\"\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-presentation allow-popups allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/tdGBjmJ3ywE?feature=oembed&#038;rel=0&#038;iv_load_policy=3&#038;modestbranding=1&#038;autohide=1&#038;playsinline=0&#038;autoplay=0\" title=\"\" width=\"900\"><\/iframe><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\t<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\":\"http:\\\/\\\/schema.org\\\/\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jazzguitar.be\\\/blog\\\/four-miles-davis\\\/#arve-youtube-tdgbjmj3ywe\",\"@type\":\"VideoObject\",\"embedURL\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\\\/embed\\\/tdGBjmJ3ywE?feature=oembed&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3&modestbranding=1&autohide=1&playsinline=0&autoplay=0\"}<\/script><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Audio<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"waveplayer-container\"><div id=\"waveplayer-d98e6e6aa58e41921b5c2696beecc5a6-6a5824b1a03d1\" 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=\"d98e6e6aa58e41921b5c2696beecc5a6\" data-instance_id=\"d98e6e6aa58e41921b5c2696beecc5a6-6a57a29ca3f74\">\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>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-18897\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/four-miles-davis-1.png\" alt=\"Four (Miles Davis) - Melody for Jazz Guitar Page 1\" width=\"1180\" height=\"1532\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/four-miles-davis-1.png 1180w, https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/four-miles-davis-1-231x300.png 231w, https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/four-miles-davis-1-789x1024.png 789w, https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/four-miles-davis-1-768x997.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1180px) 100vw, 1180px\" \/><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-18898\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/four-miles-davis-2.png\" alt=\"Four (Miles Davis) - Melody for Jazz Guitar Page 2\" width=\"1180\" height=\"1370\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/four-miles-davis-2.png 1180w, https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/four-miles-davis-2-258x300.png 258w, https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/four-miles-davis-2-882x1024.png 882w, https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/four-miles-davis-2-768x892.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1180px) 100vw, 1180px\" \/><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-18899\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/four-miles-davis-3.png\" alt=\"Four (Miles Davis) - Melody for Jazz Guitar Page 3\" width=\"1180\" height=\"692\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/four-miles-davis-3.png 1180w, https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/four-miles-davis-3-300x176.png 300w, https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/four-miles-davis-3-1024x601.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/four-miles-davis-3-768x450.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1180px) 100vw, 1180px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/courses\/product\/jgo-download-pass\/?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=four_bottom\"><img 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<p><strong>More Miles Davis Lessons:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/nardis\/\">Nardis<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/solar-jazz-guitar\/\">Solar<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/ronny-jordan-so-what\/\">So What<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/miles-davis-for-guitar\/\">Miles Davis for Guitar<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Four is a 1954 jazz standard first recorded and arranged by Miles Davis and released on his album Miles Davis Quartet. In this lesson, you\u2019ll learn the melody of Four. Although the composition is officially credited to Miles Davis, saxophonist Eddie &#8220;Cleanhead&#8221; Vinson claimed that he wrote the tune and that it was later purchased [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18905,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","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":[154],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jazz-standards"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18895","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=18895"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18895\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18992,"href":"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18895\/revisions\/18992"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}