Here's That Rainy Day - Jazz Ballads by Jeff Arnold Tune #1

[alpop]

I like the G 6/9 that Jeff's arrangement ends on. Really looking forward to hearing your take of Jeff's arrangement Mick.

We should also start thinking of the next tune. I'm open but can suggest any of the following;

But Beautiful
Time after Time
The Nearness of You

All beautiful tunes with beautiful melody....

What do you guys say?

I've always liked Time After Time.

Not sure I'll get the current song recorded as I am recovering from 3 - 1 hour sets of bashing out rock n roll for a dance crowd last night. (I'm definitely too old for that kind of stuff- but fun anyway.)
Even if I don't get it posted in time, I've benefitted from working on it.

[Mick-7]

Here is my arrangement (attached) - the chords anyway, obviously I wouldn't play it straight like this (oh, I forgot to add an intro to it, I'll do that). I'll record my rendition.

Re: the tune to play next, I'd prefer either Darn That Dream or My Funny Valentine, because (1) I've done chord melodies of these songs before, and (2) I just picked up a Jerry Hahn solo guitar CD on which he plays them - haven't even listened to it yet. Stella by Starlight would be o.k. too.

Hahn Solo: Amazon.com


"I've always liked Time After Time."

Not to be confused with the Cyndi Lauper song by that name, actually it would be fun to do a medley of the two songs.

P.S. - I replaced my pdf, I had left out a chord in bar 2, plus I added a 2 bar intro.

[Liarspoker]

alpop, you can always post a recording of Rainy Day this coming week. There's really no time limit to posting recordings it's just that we move to a new tune every two weeks.

Glad that you enjoyed the gig btw.

Mick, just to reiterate after lawson-stone mentioned it, that this is a playing thread. I could easily write out ten arrangements of Rainy Day but the aim of the group is to share a video of each tune of you playing that tune.

In fact I shared an arrangement earlier in the thread by playing it.

Most I suspect would welcome helpful feedback on their playing plus the fact that individually you pick up what you need from practicing these pieces.

Anyhow maybe voting rights for the next tune should go to those that have posted a video of their playing the previous tune?

Tim Lerch, again, does a nice version of Time After Time but let's see if that's the next tune first.....

[alpop]

alpop, you can always post a recording of Rainy Day this coming week. There's really no time limit to posting recordings it's just that we move to a new tune every two weeks.

Glad that you enjoyed the gig btw.

Mick, just to reiterate after lawson-stone mentioned it, that this is a playing thread. I could easily write out ten arrangements of Rainy Day but the aim of the group is to share a video of each tune of you playing that tune.

In fact I shared an arrangement earlier in the thread by playing it.

Most I suspect would welcome helpful feedback on their playing plus the fact that individually you pick up what you need from practicing these pieces.

Anyhow maybe voting rights for the next tune should go to those that have posted a video of their playing the previous tune?

Tim Lerch, again, does a nice version of Time After Time but let's see if that's the next tune first.....

Well said.

I will post this tune even if it's late.

I've done the work, but it ain't real until you can perform it live for an audience, or when the record button is pushed.

Otherwise it's all just talk.

[Mick-7]

"Mick, just to reiterate after lawson-stone mentioned it, that this is a playing thread. I could easily write out ten arrangements of Rainy Day but the aim of the group is to share a video of each tune of you playing that tune."

Yes, I know, I plan to record my version.

[PjzzaPie]

Hello, sorry to come in a little late but I was excited to find this thread. I'm a relative beginner to jazz guitar, though I've been playing guitar for many years. I bought several of the Jeff Arnold / Hal Leonard books since I love chord melody (and ballads). I find the shapes to be fairly challenging but within reach with practice. I wish I had more knowledge about modifying chord melody arrangements - that is certainly a goal of mine. For now I have been trying to play the arrangements as written, as a way to stay disciplined and hopefully to get some of these shapes into my fingers. I don't have much to add to the discussion, maybe fingering choices? Here is a recording of HTRD on my nylon string guitar. I am always open to feedback and suggestions for improvement.

[Mick-7]

Are you working from a particular arrangement? Is this group focusing on a particular arrangement or working on making an arrangement?

We're learning/studying the arrangements in this book:
https://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Ballads-Guitar-Chord-Melody/dp/1423405870

You can find a free copy (pdf) of it online if you search for that title.

Here is the original thread on the topic:
Jeff Arnold Favorite Standards Study group

Hello, sorry to come in a little late but I was excited to find this thread. I'm a relative beginner to jazz guitar, though I've been playing guitar for many years. I bought several of the Jeff Arnold / Hal Leonard books since I love chord melody (and ballads). I find the shapes to be fairly challenging but within reach with practice. I wish I had more knowledge about modifying chord melody arrangements - that is certainly a goal of mine. For now I have been trying to play the arrangements as written, as a way to stay disciplined and hopefully to get some of these shapes into my fingers. I don't have much to add to the discussion, maybe fingering choices? Here is a recording of HTRD on my nylon string guitar. I am always open to feedback and suggestions for improvement.

Welcome.

I did not like some of Arnold's chord voicings and fingering positions, which is why I rewrote his arrangement. I posted a pdf of my take on it in my previous post #29. There are easier ways to play some of his voicings and/or make the voice-leading smoother. His chords will have you jumping around the fret-board as you are doing, which is inefficient and counter-productive. If you watch, say, Joe Pass play, you'll see that he shifts positions as little as necessary.

[Liarspoker]

PjzzaPie - well done! I see that you play with a plectrum which is, I'm very sure, how Jeff wrote these arrangements too.

Pure fingerstyle arrangements would have a lot more movement imo.

I think that you may have misfingered the Em9 in the tag. Must have another look though.

Fingerings are very personal I think.

I'll watch your arrangement again later today. Nice one

Do you have any preference for the next tune from the ballad book?

[Mick-7]

So... browsing through the book, I see that some arrangements are easier than others. Looks like the one we started with, Here's That Rainy Day, is one of the harder ones, more going on in it harmonically.

Stella By Starlight, Time After Time, When I Fall in Love are a few that are easier, so we may want to try one of them. More advanced players can always up the tempo if they get bored.

[Liarspoker]

If there are no objections I'll set up the thread for Time After Time tomorrow.

I have an arrangement from years ago, must dig it out to compare.

Looking forward to seeing further recordings of Rainy Day today.

Tomorrow we pick up the six-strings for tune #2!!

[Mick-7]

LP, I think it's too soon to begin another tune, most here are just getting into Rainy Day, I'd hold off a little longer.

[Liarspoker]

LP, I think it's too soon to begin another tune, most here are just getting into Rainy Day, I'd hold off a little longer.

Hmm, I'd be keen to keep it to two weeks per tune to keep the momentum going.

However, perhaps for this tune we can extend the timeframe a little so that others can see the thread and join in and to give yourself and alpop a few extra days to record the tune.

What say ye merry gentlemen?

[PjzzaPie]

Welcome.

I did not like some of Arnold's chord voicings and fingering positions, which is why I rewrote his arrangement. I posted a pdf of my take on it in my previous post #29. There are easier ways to play some of his voicings and/or make the voice-leading smoother. His chords will have you jumping around the fret-board as you are doing, which is inefficient and counter-productive. If you watch, say, Joe Pass play, you'll see that he shifts positions as little as necessary.

Thank you. It's hard for me to tell if the voicings aren't inherently smooth or if I just need to practice more. I find the 2nd measure in the Coda to be particularly awkward, but it has gotten a little better with practice.

|-12----------|-10- 
|-13-10-12-13-|-10-
|-12-12-11-11-|-11-
|----10-10-13-|-9--
|-12-12----12-|----
|-------10----|----

Joe Pass' version of the song (on Virtuoso) is incredible. There's a transcription on YouTube that uses hybrid picking, seems pretty advanced for me but definitely a beautiful arrangement.

[PjzzaPie]

PjzzaPie - well done! I see that you play with a plectrum which is, I'm very sure, how Jeff wrote these arrangements too.

Pure fingerstyle arrangements would have a lot more movement imo.

I think that you may have misfingered the Em9 in the tag. Must have another look though.

Fingerings are very personal I think.

I'll watch your arrangement again later today. Nice one

Do you have any preference for the next tune from the ballad book?

Thank you! I like using the pick because it gives me a mellower tone than my fingers. I'd like to say that it also sets me up to play Joe Pass-style riffs, but sadly I don't have that skill yet (and I know he often played those riffs with his fingers).

So for that Em9, I use a barre on the 5th fret. This allows me (in other pieces) to switch smoothly from the m9 to a nearby m7 voicing:

Em9   Em7
---   ---
-7-   -5-
-7-   -7-
-5-   -5-
-7-   -7-
---   ---

The first measure of Body and Soul in this book is a good opportunity to use this barre fingering, though I'm sure it could be played in other ways.

I don't have a preference for the next piece - I really like them all. I will say that I have worked on I Could Write a Book, and it is pretty challenging - more difficult than HTRD in my opinion.

[Mick-7]

Joe Pass played chord melodies fingerstyle but whipped out his pick to play single line solos, I don't recall if he'd do that during a chord melody, don't think so.

Thank you. It's hard for me to tell if the voicings aren't inherently smooth or if I just need to practice more. I find the 2nd measure in the Coda to be particularly awkward, but it has gotten a little better with practice.

No, it's definitely awkward, especially on your shorter scale guitar (is it a Washburn acoustic-electric?).

I'd go so far as to say it's "dumb" to play 4 note chords in different positions on every beat.

I rewrote that as:

or it makes sense to go to: x-x-7-7-7-10 (Bm7) because it goes to Em7/A13 next.


"So for that Em9, I use a barre on the 5th fret. This allows me (in other pieces) to switch smoothly from the m9 to a nearby m7 voicing"

Barney Kessell did a rendition of Alfie in which he used almost nothing but barre chords for the entire arrangement (drop D tuning I think). You can sound great without playing complicated chords.

[alpop]

Hmm, I'd be keen to keep it to two weeks per tune to keep the momentum going.

However, perhaps for this tune we can extend the timeframe a little so that others can see the thread and join in and to give yourself and alpop a few extra days to record the tune.

What say ye merry gentlemen?

My vote would be to keep things moving on a two week per tune basis.

This thread isn't going to disappear and I can always post late on here when I have something not TOO shabby,.

I'd be happy to move along and work on the next choice starting tomorrow.

[Mick-7]

The Time after Time arrangement is fairly easy so not a problem this time around.

[PjzzaPie]

No, it's definitely awkward, especially on your shorter scale guitar (is it a Washburn acoustic-electric?).

I'd go so far as to say it's "dumb" to play 4 note chords in different positions on every beat.

I rewrote that as:

or it makes sense to go to: x-x-7-7-7-10 (Bm7) because it goes to Em7/A13 next.

That is a nice option for that passage, definitely smoother to play. I actually do like Arnold's voice leading, particularly the bass movement (c - b - a - d - b - e - a). But his voicings are just hard to execute. You've inspired me to try some other voicings, maybe keeping that bass line if possible. Btw, my guitar is a La Patrie (Godin) Hybrid Classical - scale length is about 25.7"

[alpop]

Okay, no more stalling. Here it is, not fluid yet, so not very musical, but I'll keep working on it.

As you can see by the video it is definitely not a rainy day where I am.

[Liarspoker]

Hey alpop, thanks for posting your recording!!

It's not to bad at all. I suggest going forward that we play the previous tune once as a warm up before tackling the new tune.

Rainy Day would be our current 'warm up' before we practice TAT.

This way we won't forget the arrangements and will have a nice solo jazz guitar set list by the end of the year.

Lawson-stone and Mick I'm hoping that you'll post a recording of Rainy Day too

[alpop]

Great idea about using Rainy Day as a warm-up when working on Time After Time!

Yes, I'm hoping for more participation from folks who initially expressed interest as well.

[lawson-stone]

Hey alpop, thanks for posting your recording!!

It's not to bad at all. I suggest going forward that we play the previous tune once as a warm up before tackling the new tune.

Rainy Day would be our current 'warm up' before we practice TAT.

This way we won't forget the arrangements and will have a nice solo jazz guitar set list by the end of the year.

Lawson-stone and Mick I'm hoping that you'll post a recording of Rainy Day too

I love the tune and already have several clips of my own take on it, but I haven't gotten to learning the Arnold arrangement yet. I love making these clips and hope to do the Arnold this week. I can always post simply a take of me just playing it like I do sitting on the sofa or wherever, but it would not contribute to our discussion of the Arnold arrangement.

Here's one I did with a very "minor" feel

[Liarspoker]

Nice one Lawson!

We are doing Jeff's Time After Time arrangement for the next two weeks.

There's a new thread for that tune so am hoping that you can join us there.

By practicing and recording these tunes we can only improve.

[lawson-stone]

Nice one Lawson!

We are doing Jeff's Time After Time arrangement for the next two weeks.

There's a new thread for that tune so am hoping that you can join us there.

By practicing and recording these tunes we can only improve.

I plan to join in. My problem with HTRD is that I've played it on my own for 35 years or so and didn't particularly like the Arnold arrangement--stuck in my own ways I suppose. Nothing against the arrangement, probably just my liking my own.

[lawson-stone]

I'd kinda like to hear a stab at someone improvising some simple single-note lines over the changes of this. I now it's out of the purview of the thread, but I'd welcome hearing someone walking through how to make the changes in an improvisational approach.