UNFORGETTABLE in C

[jazzdan]

Nobody seems to be able to arrange Unforgettable in the 1st position in G so now I am trying to arrange it in C so that I can sight read it without going up to the nosebleed area of the guitar. Has anybody done the song in C? I am having trouble with the 4th line of the song. I play on a nylon string guitar....thanks...Dan

[matt.guitarteacher]

Nobody seems to be able to arrange Unforgettable in the 1st position in G so now I am trying to arrange it in C so that I can sight read it without going up to the nosebleed area of the guitar. Has anybody done the song in C? I am having trouble with the 4th line of the song. I play on a nylon string guitar....thanks...Dan

Going to be honest with you, because you keep persisting and you just don't understand. There are many on this forum you could do something pretty similar to what you're asking , but it isn't going to happen, and for the same reason that no one on the accountants forum or mechanics forum is going to file your taxes for you or repair your car .

It's a professional service just like those , and can't be just easily rendered for free. The work involved represents hours of someone's life apart from family and other concerns, which can't be replaced. It just isn't appropriate to ask other people to do your work for you as a personal favor. If you're asking with the chords are to a song or something simple , okay.

If I'm mistaken, and you're actually looking to pay someone on this forum to do this service, you would probably get more responses by saying so.

Good luck.

[targuit]

Dan, I would be happy to provide you a transcription. You want a transcription in C? From what you say, you are comfortable reading notation with lyrics, melody and guitar accompaniment? Are going to sing the vocal or would you like a chord melody style arrangement?

[docbop]

Going to be honest with you, because you keep persisting and you just don't understand. There are many on this forum you could do something pretty similar to what you're asking , but it isn't going to happen, and for the same reason that no one on the accountants forum or mechanics forum is going to file your taxes for you or repair your car .

It's a professional service just like those , and can't be just easily rendered for free. The work involved represents hours of someone's life apart from family and other concerns, which can't be replaced. It just isn't appropriate to ask other people to do your work for you as a personal favor. If you're asking with the chords are to a song or something simple , okay.

If I'm mistaken, and you're actually looking to pay someone on this forum to do this service, you would probably get more responses by saying so.

Good luck.

Also how musicians learn is by butting their head against the wall trying to figure out something they really want to learn to do. With aspirins come knowledge!

[matt.guitarteacher]

Dan, I would be happy to provide you a transcription. You want a transcription in C? From what you say, you are comfortable reading notation with lyrics, melody and guitar accompaniment? Are going to sing the vocal or would you like a chord melody style arrangement?

So you missed the previous five threads started by him on this topic I guess.

[targuit]

Yes, I did miss them if you are addressing me. Is there a problem?

[matt.guitarteacher]

It's a professional service just like those , and can't be just easily rendered for free. The work involved represents hours of someone's life apart from family and other concerns, which can't be replaced. It just isn't appropriate to ask other people to do your work for you as a personal favor. If you're asking with the chords are to a song or something simple , okay.

Let me further qualify this by saying that things like this may be done by members here , but not usually to someone they've never heard of before, who shows up with the sole purpose of asking for something , and then is mostly belligerent to all advice offered. I've seen a lot of other members offer you advice and comments and you've mostly been indignant and demanding.

This behavior is just obnoxious.

[targuit]

Dan - I believe someone provided you with a very nice and detailed transcription for piano but also with guitar chord diagrams. While the tune could be transposed to C, if you are thinking of singing the vocal, it would be difficult unless you have a rather high pitched first tenor voice or excellent vocal range. The sheet music I saw on another thread was very good. Take the upper staff of the piano and just develop the lines. They are pretty good as is.

If you insist on the key of C, just transpose up a fourth.

[lawson-stone]

Dan,
It isn't that nobody is able to arrange it in G in the first position. It's that most of us don't care for it in that register. It's like playing the whole song on a piano with your left hand. I have played it several times since you started asking about it here, playing in the lower register. It's doable, but it really doesn't show off the range and beauty of the guitar or the song, in my opinion.

Also, the sooner you get out of the first position and take possession of the whole neck of the guitar, the sooner a new world of playing will open up for you.

This is a jazz forum. We are accustomed to working with only modest resources: lead sheets with melody and chords, and we improvise the rest, often ad hoc. Writing "arrangements" is rare.

I suggest you watch the video of that one player you liked who did it this way, and just transcribe his performance. You can slow down the video, stop and start, and learn it measure by measure. That's how many of us learned.

Best of luck. I've tried to help you every way I know how, within the limits of my own time commitments. I hope you find what you're looking for, but I'm done with this topic.

[jazzdan]

I don't know why that other fellow is so against me but he certainly is. Anyway, thanks for your offer. I just want a simple arrangement of the song UNFORGETTABLE in C. It is hard to look at music and play way up the neck of the guitar for me. That is why I asked if anyone had done it in the 1st position. When I was in college my friends told me I would never be able to play because I couldn't tune the guitar. I'm tenacious and found new friends until the tuner came out. Eventually, I had enough arrangements that I got a job playing in a restaurant.....even played for President Ford.

I have tried to arrange the song myself but I'm stuck in a few places and don't know what to do....thanks...Dan

[jazzdan]

You have been kind enough to reply and I appreciate it but I don't know how to do what you have suggested I do. Again, thanks. If you told me to play happy birthday by ear....I couldn't do it. If you sang happy birthday and asked me to strum along I couldn't do that either because I can't hear when to change chords. If you put the sheet music in front of me I could eventually play it if it isn't too difficult....thanks again....Dan

[jazzdan]

I tried doing that but there are big holes in this song in several places and I am having trouble filling them. I transposed the song from G to C and raised the melody an octave but I don't know what to do about some of the holes....thanks for replying. If you are in LA, I'll give you a tennis lesson or table tennis lesson...thanks, Dan

[jazzdan]

Talk about being obnoxious and belligerent....look in the mirror. Who made you chief of this outfit anyway? Mind your own business.....Dan

[docbop]

Talk about being obnoxious and belligerent....look in the mirror. Who made you chief of this outfit anyway? Mind your own business.....Dan

Maybe you don't realize it but three of the posts you're probably referring to are from one of the people who run this site. So it is his business.


For the amount of help you require you really need to get one-on-one lessons with someone.

[targuit]

And I am not one of them (people running the site). I live on the East coast and not LA, where I think I would prefer to be this coming weekend. And yes, this forum like any other has its share of bullies like a grade school yard.

Although I have not followed this thread or previous ones apparently, I would suggest reviewing where you are at in terms of your playing. You speak of 'sight reading', which is reading an unfamiliar piece of sheet music the first time, often in performance circumstances. But I'm not trying to quibble. If you can read music, the sheet music which Lawson- Stone I believe posted for you is quite adequate to create an arrangement.

If that is too challenging for you to work with at this point in your development, perhaps you should reconsider how to proceed. Please understand I am trying to help. What you should do is take a piece of sheet music paper and start by 'analyzing' the sheet music in the key of G first. Start by determining the root bass note of each chord in each measure. The guitar chords written above the measure tell you in essence generally the root of the chord in the name. Then, guitar in hand, identify the melody, which in effect is written out in the piano score. Once you have the root, third, and seventh of the chords identified, you should be able to sing the melody and play the chords in simple arpeggio style initially. If you have a keyboard available, sit down with the music and pick out the melody and the bass.

What people are trying to say is that you 'learn by doing'. In the end I can give you a transcription of mine transposed to the key of C, an awkward key for singing. Can you give a clearer idea of what you can do at this point in time? Do you not have a Real Book of some sort available for reference? In my Hal Leonard Real Little Ultimate Fake Book (from the early Eighties or so) the song is in the key of G. The sheet music which Lawson uploaded for you is just fine and contains all the notes you need. You can always thin it out and simplify just a bit.

How do you approach other songs? You may want to consider reading up on basic chord construction.

[jazzdan]

Thanks for your advice and I have tried doing exactly what you have said and I bought that book at Lawson's suggestion. In measure 3 it calls for a gdim7 and that chord isn't in my Mel Bay chord book. Then in measure 7-8 there is another long hole to be filled but I did something there which doesn't sound that bad. Measures 14-20 is where I am having the biggest problem. Sometimes the suggested chords don't even have the melody note you are trying to harmonize.

I just bought this book by Hal Leonard called FINGERPICKING STANDARDS and in that book many of the arrangements are fine. I can't sight read at first but after practicing measure by measure and sentence by sentence and paragraph by paragraph I try and perfect my performance. I havn't been able to find UNFORGETTABLE yet.

Thanks for your advice....very kind of you.....Dan

[jazzdan]

I counted wrong. It is measure 13-16 where my biggest problem is......thanks....Dan

[matt.guitarteacher]

In measure 3 it calls for a gdim7 and that chord isn't in my Mel Bay chord book.

Diminished chords are symmetrical and have many different synonyms. Gdim7 could be called Edim7, Bbdim7, Dbdim7, or C#dim7...

Sometimes the suggested chords don't even have the melody note you are trying to harmonize.

It's not necessary for the melody note to be part of the chord.

Why don't you pick up a copy of Robert Conti's Chord Melody Assembly Line?

Jazz Guitar Learning Resources by Robert Conti

It teaches you how to get started playing a basic chord melody from a lead sheet; plug-and-play. You don't even have to be that creative. From the goals you're describing, it may be the best $40.00 you've ever spent on playing. I would hope it might even inspire you enough to take things to another level.

Seriously, you can thank me later.

[grahambop]

If it helps, the Ireal app has the chord chart in G:

[gtrplrfla]

I counted wrong. It is measure 13-16 where my biggest problem is......thanks....Dan

Try this link. Although it's in "G" as others have pointed out, if you insist on transposing to "C", simply go from the note of "D" , the 'Un' of Unforgettable(3rd fret, second string) and begin on either the 3rd fret, 1st string or the open "G" , 3rd string. Bear in mind that the melody in chord melody is ideally played on the top strings.
The Gdim 7 can be played on the top 4 strings, thus 1st fret , 4th string; 2nd fret, 3rd string; 1st fret, 2nd string and 2nd fret , 1st string IIf played in "G"). If played in "C" , simply move the diminished shape up to the 6th fret , if the melody line begins on the 1st string. If you decide to begin on the open 3rd (G melody note), the diminished will require a different shape, thus: 6th string , 4th fret; 5th string, 5th fret; 4th string, 3rd fret and 3rd string, 4th fret.
I wish you good luck ! Take your time , persevere and progress will come !

[jazzdan]

Thanks....You jazz guys all seem to want to turn me into something I am not. I am 67 and love to play my guitar and do so everyday except Saturday. When I learned to play I did so by learning other peoples arrangements. Maybe that was the wrong approach but I've done alright. I played in a restaurant for six years in Vail Colorado reading other peoples arrangements. I now play once a week in a pre school and it seems to bless the children immensely. What could be more rewarding than that? Praise the Lord!


I am going to play at a party this summer in Alaska, God willing and I want to play UNFORGETTABLE. I have been requested to play some slow romantic songs for dancing and what could be more romantic than UNFORGETTABLE. I have been searching for an arrangement that I can play well and that is why I made my appeal on this forum. I contacted Chord Melody Guitar and they don't even have it. Anyway, thanks for the advice....I appreciate it. I'll keep searching....Dan

[jazzdan]

Thanks, believe me I've tried that approach and I've come up short.....but thanks.....Dan

[mr. beaumont]

A tough tune to do and stay in one position. Any reason you're so against breaking out of this self imposed box?

[jazzdan]

At first I requested an arrangement in the first position that I could sight read but if the song was arranged in C I could play it while looking at the music if the arrangement was not too difficult....thanks.....I'll keep tapping my foot until I can find an arrangement I can play....Dan

[mr. beaumont]

Any way you can post what you did work out for yourself?