Charlie Chaplin, famous for making people laugh, was also good at making music. He composed “Smile” for his last silent movie “Modern Times” in 1936 with the help of composer David Raksin. The first phrase of the melody is identical to a phrase (Cavaradossi singing “Quale occhio al mondo può star di paro”) in the first act love duet from Tosca, Puccini’s opera. In 1954, lyrics were added to the melody by John Turner and Geoffrey Parsons. Nat King Cole recorded the first version with these lyrics and reached #10 on the Billboard charts.   This chord melody arrangement of Smile uses drop 2 ..read more

In a Sentimental Mood is a famous jazz standard composed and recorded by Duke Ellington in 1935. In this lesson, you will learn the melody of In a Sentimental Mood and a solo over its chord changes (with some Emily Remler vocabulary mixed in). The original recording and many other recorded versions are in F major, with a bridge going to Db major. Duke Ellington’s version with John Coltrane is in Db major. Recommended Listening: Django Reinhardt – Django Reinhardt et le Quintette du Hot Club de France, avec Stéphane Grappelli (1937) Sonny Rollins – Sonny Rollins with the Modern Jazz Quartet ..read more

Make You Feel My Love was written by Bob Dylan for his album Time Out of Mind (1997). The song became a bit of a modern standard and was covered by more than 450 artists including Billy Joel, Garth Brooks, and Adele. Creating guitar instrumentals of pop songs is a good exercise in reharmonization, phrasing, and recognizing melodic patterns. The melody of Make You Feel My Love is built on a rhythmic and melodic pattern that is repeated throughout the entire song. It’s a good idea to get catchy phrases like these under your fingers to use them in your own jazz solos (like you learn in our cours ..read more

Nature Boy was written by eden ahbez (his real name was George Alexander Aberle) in 1947 and recorded by Nat King Cole in 1948. Cole’s recording became a no 1 hit for eight weeks and sold over a million of copies. In this lesson, you will learn how to play the melody and chords of Nature Boy. eden ahbez (he didn’t capitalize his name) was a member of the “Nature Boys”, a group of nomadic hippies that wore long hair and beards and ate only raw fruits, vegetables, and nuts. At the time of the release of Nature Boy, eden was living under the L of the Hollywood sign in LA. Recommended listening ..read more

Fly Me to the Moon is one of the most famous and recognizable jazz standards ever. In this lesson, you will learn how to play the chords and chord progression of this popular song. In the chord study below, you will mostly learn basic jazz guitar chords and voicings such as minor 7, major 7, dominant 7, and half-diminished 7. But, you will also learn chord voicings with extensions, such as minor 9, minor 11, dominant 9, dominant 7b9, dominant 7#9, suspended chords, 6/9 chords, and diminished chords over dominants. I kept the rhythm as simple as possible, as kind of a pop ballad, so you can co ..read more

In this lesson, you will learn how to play the chords of Blue Bossa and a bossa nova rhythm pattern. One of the most common non-swing rhythms that jazz guitarists often play is the bossa nova groove. but learning how to play an authentic bossa or samba groove on the guitar can be tricky. To help you get a handle on how to play an authentic groove over any Brazilian jazz tune, I’ve put together two chord studies featuring a popular Samba/Bossa groove that you should get under your fingers. While you are probably familiar with major 7 chords and minor 7 chords, it is very common in Brazilian mu ..read more

Autumn Leaves is a timeless jazz standard recorded by numerous jazz legends, making it a must-know tune for any aspiring jazz guitar player. In this lesson, you will learn a beginner-friendly chord arrangement of Autumn Leaves. This arrangement mainly uses drop 2 and drop 3 chords, two kinds of basic chord voicings that are essential for every jazz guitarist. Drop 2 and drop 3 chords are commonly used in jazz guitar playing and by learning these voicings, you will add more variety to your guitar playing. By learning the chords of Autumn Leaves you will familiarize yourself with a classic jazz ..read more

Groovin’ High was written by Dizzy Gillespie in 1946. The standard is probably his most famous composition and one of the first famous bebop recordings. In this lesson, you will learn how to play the melody of Groovin’ High. Groovin’ High is based on the chord structure of a 1920s song called Whispering, which was first recorded by Paul Whiteman and his Ambassador Orchestra in 1920. Dizzy Gillespie took the chord changes of Whispering and composed a new melody on top of it, with a faster tempo and a more complex harmony. Learning the melody of Groovin’ High is a good introduction to the bebop ..read more

Billie’s Bounce, one of the most iconic jazz standards from the bebop era, was written by Charlie Parker in 1945 and is one of his most famous songs. The original recording featured Charlie Parker (alt sax), Miles Davis (trumpet), Dizzy Gillespie (piano !), Curley Russell (bass), and Max Roach (drums). The story goes that Billie’s Bounce is named after Billie Holiday, but the song’s title really alludes to Billie Miller, who worked as a secretary for Charlie Parker’s agent, Billy Shaw. In this lesson, you will learn the melody of Billie’s Bounce in two octaves. Practicing the melody will help ..read more

One of the most common chord progressions in jazz is the blues progression. A “straight” 12-bar blues usually has three 7th chords (I IV V). In jazz, we add more chords to this progression, such as II V I progressions and a more complicated turnaround. Jazz blues also features a different kind of phrasing and melodic language, which is the focus of this lesson. Soloing over a straight 12-bar blues progression relies heavily on pentatonic and blues scales. While you can certainly use these over a jazz blues progression as well, you will need more tools such as arpeggios, scales, and chromatic p ..read more