December 2011 - The Christmas Song

**fep** · 12-13-2011, 01:23 PM

Originally Posted by bluegreenguitar

just wanted to add that a cool substitution that some folks use is to play:

Am7b5 Ab7b5 instead of
Ebmaj7 Fmin7

for the first measure of the last A section

Starting the section with a m7b5 instead of the tonic, never would have thought of that. A ii V of the Gm7 chord.

Just tried it, sounds good to me.

**Jimand** · 12-13-2011, 03:59 PM

Hi Frank -

Thanks for the analysis.

Could the Gm7-C7-Fm7-Bb7 bars be simplified as iii - VI7 - ii - V7? I've seen this analysis often used for the turnaround sequence.

BTW, what notation software do you use? I'd like to get started doing analysis charts.

**fep** · 12-13-2011, 04:58 PM

Originally Posted by Jimand

Hi Frank -

Thanks for the analysis.

Could the Gm7-C7-Fm7-Bb7 bars be simplified as iii - VI7 - ii - V7? I've seen this analysis often used for the turnaround sequence.

BTW, what notation software do you use? I'd like to get started doing analysis charts.

Hi Jim,

Yes, and thanks, I think your analysis is better. I'll try to get around to changing it, I've got a few other projects going right now.

I used Sibelius 6.

**fep** · 12-13-2011, 05:21 PM

Originally Posted by oldskoolchop

just started on this tonight and feel i am doing ok, but slow, and there are a few places that are giving me a little difficulty, my reading is very slow so I have to stumble through till i get it in my head and then go by ear, could someone post a video, or recording, of the chords, and of the melody (separately without backing tracks) using this pdf, so i can hear how it is done correctly

thanks in advance for anyone that will take the time to do this

Okay I got some video recorded.... one for melody and one for chords.

The main thing that differs from the pdf files is my backing track ends with a Emaj7 chord and then the Ebmaj6. Also, I played around with the rhythms here and there on the melody take and played around with the chords a bit on the last 'A' section.

Here's the pdf files (again).

Christmas Song Files - Folder Shared from Box - Free Online File Storage

**jazzalta** · 12-13-2011, 07:50 PM

I have a little arrangement of The Christmas Song in text. I have the score in tabledit, but I don't know how to convert to pdf. If anyone can be of assistance to me re the conversion I'd appreciate it. Enjoy. The Christmas Song.txt - File Shared from Box - Free Online File Storage

**oldskoolchop** · 12-13-2011, 08:31 PM

Originally Posted by fep

Okay I got some video recorded.... one for melody and one for chords.

The main thing that differs from the pdf files is my backing track ends with a Emaj7 chord and then the Ebmaj6. Also, I played around with the rhythms here and there on the melody take and played around with the chords a bit on the last 'A' section.

Here's the pdf files (again).

Christmas Song Files - Folder Shared from Box - Free Online File Storage

awesome thank you big help, now for the weekend to get here and i can devote a good time block to it, and thats a nice guitar

**wizard3739** · 12-14-2011, 12:58 AM

Hey Frank, beautiful guitar and you get a wonderful tone from it! Very, very nice clean sound. I love listening to you play.

wiz

**brwnhornet59** · 12-14-2011, 01:07 AM

Nice job Frank. Sounded good.

I just started working on a CM for it tonight. I have the A section down, will be working on the B section tomorrow. When I get it fluid I will post it.

**Dazz** · 12-14-2011, 08:29 AM

Originally Posted by jazzalta

I have a little arrangement of The Christmas Song in text. I have the score in tabledit, but I don't know how to convert to pdf. If anyone can be of assistance to me re the conversion I'd appreciate it. Enjoy. The Christmas Song.txt - File Shared from Box - Free Online File Storage

on windows, if you can print the file in a format that you like, you can usually convert what gets printed to a PDF. You have to download a "printer" called PDFcreator. It gets installed like a printer driver but instead of printing, it creates a PDF. YOu have to select it like you would select a printer from a list, when you go to print from TABLEDIT?

Here is a link PDFCreator | Free Business & Enterprise software downloads at SourceForge.net

Des

**fep** · 12-14-2011, 11:01 AM

Originally Posted by oldskoolchop

awesome thank you big help, now for the weekend to get here and i can devote a good time block to it, and thats a nice guitar

Originally Posted by wizard3739

Hey Frank, beautiful guitar and you get a wonderful tone from it! Very, very nice clean sound. I love listening to you play.

wiz

Originally Posted by brwnhornet59

Nice job Frank. Sounded good.

I just started working on a CM for it tonight. I have the A section down, will be working on the B section tomorrow. When I get it fluid I will post it.

Thanks...

Glad to see this post is still alive and kicking. I still want to post a version of this tune. I have an idea of creating a 'Christmas Card' of my version with a youtube video; I'd have pictures mixed going in and out of the video of me playing the tune.

Lots of chords on this one, I'm off to the woodshed.

**tonyknight** · 12-14-2011, 11:58 AM

Hi Frank,

damn I miss this forum :-) Just wanted to say that you're doing a brillian job at keeping it going while howie has to take a back seat (he's great too though)!

Thanks a lot and I look forward to one day chiming back in.
Cheers,
Tony

**rtleslie** · 12-25-2011, 10:22 AM

Originally Posted by fep

Why that guitar you may ask...

Well, it's the only one I have that matches my hat.

nice chops

**brwnhornet59** · 12-30-2011, 01:18 AM

Better late than never. Sorry the volume is low. I wanted to get it perfected better, but Christmas is over, so here it is. Hope you dig my arrangement.

Thanks for such a cool thread and everyone that has participated.

**fep** · 12-30-2011, 02:53 PM

Originally Posted by brwnhornet59

Better late than never. Sorry the volume is low. I wanted to get it perfected better, but Christmas is over, so here it is. Hope you dig my arrangement.

Thanks for such a cool thread and everyone that has participated.

Cool arrangement (pretty high level of difficulty too)

Hey, you have a knack for arranging... that probably translates to compositions too. Do you write your own tunes? You should.

Better write that down so you don't forget it for next Christmas. Well you do have it recorded so that should do.

**brwnhornet59** · 12-30-2011, 04:21 PM

Thanx Frank I appreciate it. I am going to write it out. I wish I had the software you and Matt use, it would make things so much easier.

I have written, but not in a while. I am still getting my chops back together after not playing for 15 years. But hopefully that will change. Thanx for the encouragement!

**Soco** · 12-31-2011, 06:01 AM

Originally Posted by brwnhornet59

It is never to late!

Sounds like you playing is coming along nicely!Ï can't imagine a 15 year break-this summer I was without a gutiar for 3-4 days and it was a strange feeling- I finally went to a music store pretending to buy a Tom Anderson and a PRS just in order to practice a bit. Yes I am that guy. It felt like I had never played before.
I think the arrangemt of the Christmas son is really nice, not the easiest, but you handled it well. Looking forward to new clips from you.
Happy new year!

**brwnhornet59** · 12-31-2011, 01:13 PM

Originally Posted by Soco

Sounds like you playing is coming along nicely!Ï can't imagine a 15 year break-this summer I was without a gutiar for 3-4 days and it was a strange feeling- I finally went to a music store pretending to buy a Tom Anderson and a PRS just in order to practice a bit. Yes I am that guy. It felt like I had never played before.
I think the arrangemt of the Christmas son is really nice, not the easiest, but you handled it well. Looking forward to new clips from you.
Happy new year!

Wow Jostein, I am speechless. Not an easy feat, just ask my wife!

I can say that the inspiration I have found in this forum, and the players and teachers, especially Matt Warnock, Morten Faerstrand and Dave Kain, have all kept me going and helped open my eyes and ears to the many possibilities that were never there before in my thinking. Your music and playing is especially inspiring as well Sir!

I love this place.

**JazzReggie** · 01-02-2012, 04:32 AM

This was really fun to play over, and was really well received every time I played it. I started on this a bit late, so I didn't get into it as much as I would have liked, but I managed to record something before Christmas to share with friends and family:

Christmas Song

The first time through, I mostly stuck to the head as written, with minor embellishments here and there. The second time through, I tried adding my own spin to things, especially in the A sections. I wanted to take things in a more improvisational direction, but time ran out. If you're not already sick of Christmas songs, I'd appreciate any suggestions and feedback.

One thing I tried while improvising over the backing track was simply hitting chord tones with approach notes and chromatics sprinkled in. For the most part, I focused on just the first chord in a bar, and this worked fairly well, except in one place - over the Cm7 in the 5th bar. I just couldn't get the C (I) to work for me. An Eb (bIII) worked well enough, but I was already targeting the Eb a lot for the Ebmaj chords and wanted something different there. I found that targeting a G (V) worked as well, but I'm still confused about why targeting the root note of the chord didn't work very well. Any thoughts on that?

I really appreciate all the great resources you guys put together for this song, thanks!