Let’s take the lovely ballad Skylark (by Johnny Mercer/Hoagy Carmichael), and learn how to enhance a ballad’s melody with beautiful chords and a foundational bass line. In this video observe how I took a chart from an old fakebook and updated some chords more to my liking, a process called reharmonization:
Continue reading “Big Ideas For Small Hands: How To Write a Full Sounding Piano Arrangement”
Memorial Weekend 2020 felt like a relevant time to revisit this recording of When The Saints Go Marching In, to honor the lives of heroes lost during both the past and most recent of days. The concept of my arrangement was similar to a New Orleans Funeral or Celebration of Life – a contemplative piano introduction, followed by a jubilant jazz band send off: Continue reading “When The Saints Go Marching In (Lesson in Jazz Harmony)”
A pianist often wonders what to do with the left hand when playing solo without a bassist. Using the spiritual Go Down Moses as an example, I’ll share some of my favorite tips for creating solid bass lines, including ways to have fun exploring reharmonization in minor keys. Continue reading “Creating Bass Lines for Solo Piano: Go Down Moses Tutorial”
Ever wonder how jazz musicians come up with inspired chords when playing ballads? Reharmonization can be a fun experiment to try! Watch my video to find 3 ways to create a compelling bass line plus some sweet chord voicings to play under the melody of Hoagy Carmichael’s classic composition Skylark:
The following video demonstrates how I came up with new chords using an old hymn as an example. It involves first stripping away the music to discovering the essential chords which give a tune its basic identity – I call these the skeleton chords – usually they are the I, V and perhaps IV chords of the tune. Continue reading “Doxology: The New Old 100th – An Advanced Reharmonization Tutorial”
