Day Dream Tutorial Part 1

I chose this Billy Strahorn/Duke Ellington tune for a tutorial because it has so many interesting harmonic possibilities. The melody is simple and has a floating quality, while the chords supporting the melody for the most part glide downward chromatically. I gave in to this structure and didnt play against it. Instead, I went with the chromatic declines and accentuated that part of the structure in my harmonic substitutions.

This is a good tune to focus on finger linking, i.e. playing legato without the pedal. Jazz requires far less pedal than classical, so finger linkages become more important. Also if you are doing densely voiced chords, playing them dry is especially important. The pedal makes dense voicings sound clashy due to the overabundance of overtones.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Day
• Dream
• Tutorial
• 7notemode
• learn
• jazz
• piano
• Billy
• Strayhorn
• Duke
• Ellington
• lessons
• chord
• theory
• gospel

[ladynickie]

...a great tutorial. Thanks. Is it not possible you make that the sheet can be printed ?

[7notemode]

Thanks. A pdf is downloadable from my website. The timing is off and it doesn't get the left and right hands correct, but it might serve as a general guide.

[7notemode]

Thanks everybody for the encouragement. I enjoyed doing this one. It's an interesting song to work with. I'm trying to find a format that works. Talking over playing is a challenge, but talking it out forces me to think about what I am doing and why. They digital keys are out of GarageBand. I'm looking for a clearer keyboard for an Apple/Mac environment.

[serpicoste]

hi very good interpretation!!do you know "Duke Ellington's Sound Of Love"??

can you post a tutorial?? i like this song..thank for yor work!!

[creolelady182]

7notemode-

Could you play this song without interrruption

[creolelady182]

A great tutorial no doubt- my sincere appreciation!

[rokshadesign]

it's excellent the way you show how to play!

thanks very much!!

[loungegecko]

Thanks so much for posting this, in these 10 minutes alone there's months of material for me to work on (years if I procrastinate...). Excellent presentation style! I like it when you go over a few bars after you've explained it. Really helps me take it in. The general tips are great too. 6 stars!

[featureG]

Thank you for sharing this.  May I suggest chord annotations on the pdf and maybe throw in your vocal and make up the words as you go along/ha-hah...regards...

[Jonboyutube]

This is the best jazz tutorial I've seen. Because you break it down step by step and explain each step in such detail I can understand it. A truly great post. More please?!