January 2026 - Moonlight in Vermont

[mr. beaumont]

One can of course improvise chord melodies. Working on comping can be combined with working on arranging chord melodies, that is to say, they are related studies.

Yeah, you do enough of them, you start to realize how similar a lot of tunes are.

[Hyppolyte Bergamotte]

[ragman1]

You may be interested to know this tune was first composed in Db. For some reason that sort of morphed into Eb and here we are. Fine for chord melody but I find it a bit too treble-y for comfort. So I stuck it back to C which was much nicer.

Not that I couldn't do it in Db, of course, naturally

[Mick-7]

You may be interested to know this tune was first composed in Db. For some reason that sort of morphed into Eb and here we are. Fine for chord melody but I find it a bit too treble-y for comfort. So I stuck it back to C which was much nicer.

Not that I couldn't do it in Db, of course, naturally

Johnny Smith played it in C major, it's a good key for using open strings.

[ragman1]

Johnny Smith played it in C major.

I didn't know that.

This tune seems to have attracted a lot of attention, much more so than most of the other monthly tunes. Anyone know why?

[Mick-7]

I didn't know that.

This tune seems to have attracted a lot of attention, much more so than most of the other monthly tunes. Anyone know why?

Believe Johnny Smith is to blame, it's one of his most famous recordings. Whenever I think of him, his arrangement of this tune and of Shenandoah come to mind - especially the latter.

[ragman1]

Yes, the JS recording is probably the quintessential guitar version. It's odd that his recordings of other standards didn't achieve the same popularity (as far as I know).

[kris]

A beautiful version in the key of G....:

[charlieparker]

I started transcribing Hirofumi Abasa's version to try and learn the song. Thought I would post a clip of what I have so far. Only a few seconds of it.

[Mick-7]

cp, you're not gonna leave your strings hanging off your tuners like that, are you? It's a road hazard!

[GuyBoden]

Yes, the JS recording is probably the quintessential guitar version. It's odd that his recordings of other standards didn't achieve the same popularity (as far as I know).

Walk don't run?

[ragman1]

Walk don't run?

It wasn't his version that achieved the popularity!

[alltunes]

ever get one of those days when your hands just don’t work together well I recorded this just now anyway

[Smoothsailor]

I'm just in my second year of playing guitar and i'm learning a couple of chord melody arrangements of this tune..

I want to practice some comping to the Margaret Whiting version of this song.. kind of freddie green-style(?)

What chords and chord-voicings would you use?

[Mick-7]

Walk don't run?

It wasn't his version that achieved the popularity!

Believe it earned him unpopularity from Ventures fans.

I want to practice some comping to the Margaret Whiting version of this song.. kind of freddie green-style(?)

Don't know that one, is it on YouTube?

[ragman1]

Believe it earned him unpopularity from Ventures fans.

It was Smith's fault they covered his tune? Funny fans.

[ragman1]

Gosh, here it is.

It's the heavy chunk-chunk rhythmic background that's the Freddie Green style.

[Mick-7]

It was Smith's fault they covered his tune? Funny fans.

Oh, I didn't know that Johnny wrote it! Should have read the liner notes!

[lawson-stone]

Yeah, you do enough of them, you start to realize how similar a lot of tunes are.

And also,,, there are "licks" in chord-melody playing just as there are licks in line playing. Learning to negotiate the simple ii-V-I chordally, substitutions, variations, voicings, changing the top notes the way Joe Pass said even in comping, you can put a "little melody" in the top line of the chord phrase.Once you know 7 or 8 such ii-V-I patterns, they are easier to use improvising--at least to me--than working line-licks in. I always forget single-note licks, but when I learn a new chord phrase, it tends to stick with me.

[lawson-stone]

Oh, I didn't know that Johnny wrote it! Should have read the liner notes!

The story I heard was he was trying to do something on "Softly As In a Morning Sunrise" and came up with "Walk Don't Run." Never checked it out.

[Question]

I am playing this interesting arrangement of Moonlight in Vermont by Dan Baraszu from a video which was posted earlier in this thread.

He very gererously allows anyone to download the PDF of his arrangement from his YouTube video.

As a challenge I am attempting to play it exactly as he did; the chart is very accurate to what he is playing in his video.

[Mick-7]

A beautiful version in the key of G.... (by Herb Ellis).

Definitely borrowed Johnny Smith's first few measures of chords....

Kris, Did I hear you say in another thread that you have one of these? If so, how is it?

TC Electronic BodyRez Acoustic Pickup Enhancer Pedal

[kris]

Definitely borrowed Johnny Smith's first few measures of chords....

Kris, Did I hear you say in another thread that you have one of these? If so, how is it?

TC Electronic BodyRez Acoustic Pickup Enhancer Pedal

Hi Mick,
TC BodyRez It is a very interesting mini effect.I use it with my nylon strings guitar Frameworks.
This guitar sounds more classic with this effect, and it"s more fun to play.
Best
Kris

[mr. beaumont]

And also,,, there are "licks" in chord-melody playing just as there are licks in line playing. Learning to negotiate the simple ii-V-I chordally, substitutions, variations, voicings, changing the top notes the way Joe Pass said even in comping, you can put a "little melody" in the top line of the chord phrase.Once you know 7 or 8 such ii-V-I patterns, they are easier to use improvising--at least to me--than working line-licks in. I always forget single-note licks, but when I learn a new chord phrase, it tends to stick with me.

Definitely! This is a very important point.

[John A.]

Here's how I usually do it:

Frank Vignola has a cool lesson on Johnny Smith's version. I've practiced it quite a bit and can mostly do it, but not quite cleanly in time due to some of the stretches. Maybe some day ...

PS: I posted this by mistake in a different thread, so I deleted that and re-did it here.