The Steel Guitar Forum

Here is my jazz-guitar, chord melody arrangement of What a Wonderful World: http://youtu.be/vPmp9LASr7M

I welcome your constructive criticism as this is my first serious attempt at a chord-melody on guitar. I know I need to come up with different ways to play the same passage each time it arrives, rather than repeating myself. Also, I'd like some suggestions for what else I could play on the Bb7 instead of holding it unchanged for so many (4) beats. In my mind, I hear perhaps 4 chords changing there (one per beat), while hanging on to the high D note throughout, but I don't know how to source those chords. Will appreciate any advice on that or any other aspect of the arrangement.

Many thanks in advance,

Jimbeaux
p.s. Yeah, yeah, I know I need to clean up the mess in my study...

Beautiful version of a beautiful tune, Jimbeaux...nice background for my Monday morning coffee. What model guitar is that?? Sounds perfect for chord melody work.
I see you've had to switch to 6 string until the study gets cleaned up and there's room again to set up your steel

Thanks, Jeff. The guitar is an Ibanez AF105NT.

Excellent, Jim. That's one of my favorite melodies.

Very nice, Jim.

Jim Cohen wrote: what else I could play on the Bb7 instead of holding it unchanged for so many (4) beats. In my mind, I hear perhaps 4 chords changing there (one per beat), while hanging on to the high D note throughout,

Staying on the B flat for 4 beats is OK; that chord is a nice distinctive thing about this tune. The A flat note probably doesn't have to be there every time; that chord isn't usually a 7th in most arrangements. Here are a couple of alternatives:

You can always listen to Ted Greene for inspiration.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZENkj7C7Bw

loved it jim,a lot of work as usual.
good onya.
sam.

Jim just a thought,for your next Cd, you should play,Guitar and Steel and Bass with a Drum machine.Or add a Drummer..Call it "Me ,Myself and I..Add your son on any reed inst of his choice I think it would be a great project for you..

Great tune and nicely done Jim, I agree with Earnest,
there is nothing wrong with sitting on the B flat for 4 beats . Keep em coming !

David

Great job- never 'spected the Night Life tag at the end~))

Jim Palenscar wrote:Great job- never 'spected the Night Life tag at the end~))

What else would you expect from a C6 steeler, Jim? Somehow all this stuff gets integrated into the same computer in my head... lol.

loved it~~)

Just beautiful, Jim!

nioe Jim

i find i have to play chord melodies first on the guitar then put them on the steel,i seem to memorize em faster.And have a better core understanding of the harmony.
then it only takes two months to learn and not two years ha ha.
sam.

JIm, if you'd like to spice up that bar of Bb, here's a suggestion or 2:

/BbMaj7 - Bm7 E7 /Em7 - A7b9 etc.

BbM7.. 6 x 7 7 x x
Bm7... 7 x 7 7 x x
E7..... 7 x 6 7 x x
Em7... 7 x 5 7 x x
A7b9.. 6 x 5 6 x x

This one is kind of different but sounds good:

/C9 - B7#9 F13 /E7 - A7b9 etc.

C9..... x 3 2 3 3 x
B7#9.. x 2 1 2 3 x
F13.... 1 x 1 2 3 x
E7...... 0 x 0 1 3 x
A7b9... 5 x 5 3 2 x
A11.....5 x 5 4 3 x
C#dim...x 4 5 3 5 x
D6......x 5 4 4 3 x

Anyway, I hope you don't mind these little suggestions. The beautiful thing about playing chord melody is that you can play any chords you want, even if it is a completely unrelated chord. The bottom line is how it sounds. If you ever get a chance, listen to Richie Beirach's reharm of ATTYA.

That's just beautiful Jim. I so love that song.

AMOK...I see you !! Good music can always be found around good folks and JC is surely one of those !!