Jazz Guitar Lesson PDF

(By Mike in Woodbridge, Virginia, USA.) This is my rendition of the Jazz Standard “Tenderly”, music by Walter Gross and words by Jack Lawrence. The chords are mostly taken directly from The New Real Book. I hope you enjoy it.

(By Jean-Pierre Vimont, Aulnay sous Bois, France) Here is my arrangement of “Laura”. It’s just the basic melody of this beautiful song on top and what I hope to be nice chords and some extra solo phrases when the melody rest. I hope that you will enjoy it.

(By Martin Antaya, Montreal, Quebec) I have included the bass part, but it may be ignored for section B (for beginners). It requires a lot of quirky stretching to reach the low Bb and maintain the other fingers on the chord. Otherwise it’s a great exercise for left hand stretching!

(By Denis Barsalo, Dorval, Quebec) Here’s my first attempt at writing a chord melody. I kept it simple with mostly “vanilla” changes and it can be played either with fingers or pick or combination thereof.

(By by Jose Arboleda, Colombia) Here’s a chord melody on “Polka Dots and Moonbeams”. The piece is an etude to practice chords mostly… Sorry, no TABS! (-:

(By R. Michael Olson, San Francisco, USA) A great 1924 Gershwin tune, excised from many a musical. The chord names are straight from the real book lead sheet, without my alterations. The tablature are the general shapes you play the melody over, a simplified harmonic guide. For an excellent reference, listen to Helen Forrest backed by the Benny Goodman Orchestra. Solo performances of it on piano are very exuberant and much more “Gershwin-ny” in contrast. Billie and Ella also sang great renditions, but Helen’s voice (supported by Goodman’s arrangement) shows that it is as dark and somber a tune at heart as “Summertime”.

(By R. Michael Olson, San Francisco, USA) This is a rather “chordy” arrangement of Duke Ellington’s 1932 classic. I wrote it as a condensed exercise on inversions, by and large in response to the excellent Barry Galbraith comping etudes recommended by our gracious host and friend Marc-Andre. I suggest listening to Ellington’s duet with contrabassist Jimmy Blanton, one of the sweetest pieces of music I’ve ever heard and available on youtube… …to give you stylistic and improvisatory inspiration. Note that the first verse and second half of the chorus are played an octave higher than notated. The chord references are from the Real Book and do not include my alterations.

(By Denis Barsalo, Dorval, Quebec) Here’s a real simple chord melody version of this beautiful melody.

Share Your Own Jazz Guitar Standards Chord Melody!

Please share your own jazz guitar standards chord melody arrangements with the community! Leave a comment below with your performance notes, then send the PDF to the email admin -at- jazzguitarlessons.net