CHORD MELODY

For this lesson, I have prepared a solo chord melody arrangement of saxophonist Benny Golson’s “Killer Joe”. And I’m dedicating it to the memory of my 3 favorite Jazz Joe’s: Joe Henderson, Joe Diorio and Joe Pass! In case you’re not familiar with this standard, it...

​ For this week’s video I’m happy to share with you a standard I had fun arranging during my summer hiatus. And it’s a swinging Duke Ellington favorite... “In a Mellow Tone”. This chord melody arrangement for fingerstyle solo guitar is also a great vehicle to master...

Did you know that some of the greatest jazz standards are originally classic movie themes? To name just a few... “The Way You Look Tonight” (Swing Time / 1936), “Someday My Prince Will Come” (Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs /1937), “As Time Goes By” ( Casablanca...

In this lesson I show you how I take a standard in a minor key and harmonize the melody using the 6th diminished chord concept associated with the late Barry Harris. For this task I have chosen “Blue Bossa” by Kenny Dorham. Why? Well not only is it a great standard...

If you’re not familiar with my music background, in my teens I was into rock and mainly blues for almost 10 years before getting into jazz and formally pursuing music studies. Who knows, this might be your case too as it is with many current jazz guitarists! But I...

If from the title, “If Jimi Played Jazz” on the thumbnail, you’re wondering what on earth Hendrix has to do with jazz, please keep an open mind and read on... There are several unique clues in Jimi’s playing that lead us to imagine what he might have sounded like if...

For my last post for 2022, in view of the crazy state of our world, I should have probably posted a chord melody for “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” (lol). But like John Lennon sang, “I’m a Dreamer”, and so I chose to end the year on a positive note! Instead I put...

Can you spare a minute? That’s roughly how long this chord melody video lasts! You might or might not know the tune, but it has become part of most jazz musicians repertoire. "Moanin'" was written by pianist Bobby Timmons and first recorded, by Art Blakey's band the...

PDF & AUDIO DOWNLOAD: The "L-O-V-E" lesson files, can be downloaded for $8.00. The download includes the following files:  PDF with both regular notation and TAB of the arrangement, MP3, a Band in a Box file, as well as a Midi file so you can practice using the...

This is my 3rd chord melody arrangement exclusively using the Barry Harris system of harmonization! It’s a very popular standard that many jazz musicians tend to associate with “Autumn Leaves” and “All The Things You Are” due to their similarity in the initial...

Hope you had a chance to check out my arrangement of “I’ll Remember April”, exclusively harmonized using the 6th & diminished chord concept associated with Barry Harris. For my 2nd arrangement in this series, I’ve decided to feature a popular standard in ¾ time....

I hope you had a chance to watch my  lesson titled, “Wes and the Barry Harris 6th & Diminished Connection”! Towards the end of it I promised I would be posting some chord melody arrangements featuring the Barry Harris method of harmonizing lines. I am happy to...