"Beginner" Progressive Chord Melody Book of Arrangements of Jazz Standards?

[jamiehenderson1993]

Hi,

I'm looking for a book (which may well not exist...). I'm new to Jazz and whilst I'm developing my single note soloing chops, I am missing playing 'pieces' of music. As a result I went looking for Chord Melody arrangements of standards, and was quite overwhelmed.

I looked at Ted Greene, Barry Galbraith and the one of the Mel Bay book - all of which are beyond what I can play now.

Can someone suggest a book of Progressive Chord Melody Arrangements of Jazz Standards - aimed at the 'beginner' to Jazz?

[lawson-stone]

Jeff Arnold has produced several such books. There is a group on this forum working with one of his, a book of ballads. We are currently working on "When Sunny Gets Blue." We learn the arrangement and post a clip of our effort at performing it.

[Mick-7]

Hi,

I'm looking for a book (which may well not exist...). I'm new to Jazz and whilst I'm developing my single note soloing chops, I am missing playing 'pieces' of music. As a result I went looking for Chord Melody arrangements of standards, and was quite overwhelmed.

I looked at Ted Greene, Barry Galbraith and the one of the Mel Bay book - all of which are beyond what I can play now.

Can someone suggest a book of Progressive Chord Melody Arrangements of Jazz Standards - aimed at the 'beginner' to Jazz?

Greene and Galbraith are quite advanced. Take a look at Arnold's arrangements as lawson-stone suggested. I wouldn't call them beginner level but it wouldn't hurt to try them.

I can't think of any other books I could recommend. I myself never learned it from books, mostly by trial and error, harmonizing melody notes with various chords, discovering good ways to connect chords, and what sounded good and what didn't.

Transcribing simple chord melodies will help, e.g., guitarists like Kenny Burrell who tend to play common chord voicings and embellish them with their single line improvisations. As a matter of fact, my transcription (guitar tablature) of chords that Kenny played on Round Midnight was sitting on my pc, I have attached it.

P.S. - Constructing chord scales helps too, see the attached.

[lawson-stone]

There are also 4 books created by Steve Crowell that are not very well known but they are fantastic arrangements, created specifically to teach various approaches to doing chord-melody. My first effort at doing this was with the Crowell books and while they were challenging, I learned a lot very quickly.
I've attached here a sample, one that he used to give out as well so i think it's okay to post it here:

[AllanAllen]

Or conversely, try some note note note chord kinda playing. Like this

Other good tunes I’ve played this way are Dig Dis, Coming Home Baby, Four, How High The Moon, Misty. There’s got to be more I just can’t remember right now.

[jazzshrink]

What about Jazz Chord Solos for Beginners taught by Fred Sokolow (Grossman Guitar Workshop) ?

[bloos66]

Frank Vignola has many excellent video courses on Truefire - you may want to start with Frank Vignola's 1-2-3 Jazz Chord Melody (1-2-3 Jazz Chord Meloldy - Jazz Guitar Lessons - Frank Vignola), also the The Chord Melody Playbook and some beginner and advanced etudes. His videos and teaching style are excellent....

[jamiehenderson1993]

Thanks everyone - I’ve decided to start with the Jeff Arnold Books - they are at the right level for me & contain lots of recognisable tunes I know!