{"id":1880,"date":"2016-10-19T08:19:30","date_gmt":"2016-10-19T08:19:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ashleyjsaunders.com\/wp-blog\/?p=1880"},"modified":"2022-06-20T21:13:33","modified_gmt":"2022-06-20T21:13:33","slug":"exploring-george-gershwins-summertime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ashleyjsaunders.com\/blog\/exploring-george-gershwins-summertime\/","title":{"rendered":"Exploring George Gershwin\u2019s Summertime"},"content":{"rendered":"

We all know and love George Gershwin\u2019s Summertime. Many years ago I was watching Emily Remler play the song as part of her \u201cBebop and Swing\u201d Hot Licks VHS! You can get the DVD version<\/a> from Amazon! She had rearranged the tune as a solo guitar piece, with the chords interjecting the melody.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What we\u2019ll cover today is my version of Summertime, which is based on Emily\u2019s version. We\u2019ll talk about the chords and how to solo over the changes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I\u2019d encourage you to start by reading my post on Jazz Guitar Basics<\/a>. This article covers some of the theory and practical of playing jazz, which we will be using shortly.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Summertime – Melody<\/h2>\n

Let\u2019s start with just the melody and chord from the original head which I\u2019ve written out for guitar.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"summertime<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I\u2019ve chosen to place the melody within the first A minor shape at the 5th fret, as it\u2019s easily playable.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In terms of chords, there is nothing really that weird or complex.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I\u2019d start with just getting both parts down. Learn the melody, sing it while playing it. If you have a looper pedal, then have a go at recording a simple rhythm over the chords, something like either of these:<\/p>\n

\"basic<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Summertime Solo Guitar Arrangement<\/h2>\n

The tune has natural breaks which allow for chords to be inserted, which is my starting point for adding a harmonic element. I\u2019ve used Emily\u2019s chord changes and rhythm here.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Summertime<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Chords<\/h2>\n

As you can hopefully see, I have used quite well known and fairly simplistic chords.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n

Am7<\/p>\n

\"am7\"<\/div>\n

\n

Bm7<\/p>\n

\"bm7\"<\/div>\n

\n

Dm7<\/p>\n

\"dm7\"<\/div>\n

\n

Em7<\/p>\n

\"em7\"<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n

D9<\/p>\n

\"d9\"<\/div>\n

\n

E7#9<\/p>\n

\"e79\"<\/div>\n

\n

C [no root]<\/p>\n

\"c-no-root\"<\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How to Solo over Summertime<\/h2>\n

While being able to play the above chord melody is quite an achievement, soloing is much more fun!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Without writing a War and Peace length lesson on jazz soloing, I\u2019ll try to give you some tips.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Firstly, start with chord tones, notes like the Major\/Minor 3rd or 7th. If you can find a simple line of chord tones which links the chords together then you should sound half way there. I\u2019d try playing chord tones both as single notes and as octaves.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Secondly, try adding some chromatic notes into your line of chord tones as connecting or passing notes. Even if you\u2019re no Jazz player, you\u2019ll sound like you are!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

While arpeggios are good, the can sound boxy and make your solo feel like an exercise, it\u2019s much better to find melodies that link scale tones with notes from the chord and inject a few chromatic notes. So what scales can we use?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We can largely use A minor pentatonic and C major scales over most of the changes. While this approach may not be perfect, it does provide a starting point for you to find useful melodic lines.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n

A minor Pentatonic<\/p>\n

[shape 1]<\/p>\n

\"a-minor-pentatonic\"<\/div>\n

\n

C major Scale<\/p>\n

[shape 5]<\/p>\n

\"a-minor-scale\"<\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

You can buy my book on scales<\/a> which will give you the whole fretboard and each shape.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The only chord this doesn\u2019t work over is E7#9<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We could ignore the #9 and treat it as the V chord in A and thus use A major scale or A major pentatonic over the change. We could, however using Emily\u2019s method and play a Jazz minor scale up a half step. So in this case, we would use F Jazz minor scale. We could also use play A chromatic scale over the change!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n

A Major Pentatonic<\/p>\n

[shape 1]<\/p>\n

\"a-major-pentatonic\"<\/div>\n

\n

A Major Scale<\/p>\n

[shape 1]<\/p>\n

\"a-major-scale\"<\/div>\n

\n

A Chromatic Scale<\/p>\n

[shape 1]<\/p>\n

\"a-chromatic-scale\"<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n

F Jazz Minor Scale<\/p>\n

\"f-jazz-minor-scale\"<\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Putting it all together<\/h2>\n

There is a lot of tips, tricks and ideas here – plus we\u2019ve only just scratched the surface. I\u2019d start with the melody – practice it so that it sounds like you\u2019ve been playing it for years. Work on making each note sound full and fat.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Once you\u2019re happy with the melody, then learn the chords separately. Get comfortable with where each note is, the fingering and then move on to working on changing between chords. I\u2019d then, work bar by bar to get the chord and melody working together.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When I was happy with the solo guitar arrangement, I\u2019d have a look at soloing and maybe I\u2019d record the chord changes and use that as a base to experiment over.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It\u2019s a lot of work but it\u2019s a really fun piece to play and well worth the effort.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summertime is an iconic Jazz standard that we all know and love. I’ve written a solo guitar arrangement and given you a few soloing tips as well!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2603,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[390],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guitar-lessons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ashleyjsaunders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ashleyjsaunders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ashleyjsaunders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ashleyjsaunders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ashleyjsaunders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ashleyjsaunders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1880\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ashleyjsaunders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ashleyjsaunders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ashleyjsaunders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ashleyjsaunders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}