Frank Vignola's 10 Weeks of Ballads Class Week 1 - 1 Hour

[00:00:04]Okay. So, we are in ballads week one, the romantic side of jazz. Um, we're going to start with East of the Sun. Uh, we're going to get used to the tunes this week. So, each of the, um, tracks, I'll play the melody. The first chorus, play the chords.

[00:00:26]Second chorus is open for you to play the melody. I think it's very important to know these melodies and I think um if after the 10 weeks you have these 10 melodies internalized that is a um a really good thing. So um here we go with East of the Sun.

[00:00:55]1 2 3 4 [music] [music] [music] >> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Hey, [music] hey, hey.

[00:02:10][music] Heat. Heat.

[00:02:14][music] [music] >> [music] [music] [music] >> Okay, you got it.

[00:02:54][music] >> [music] [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat.

[00:03:21][music] >> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Great. Just a quick little analysis.

[00:04:40][music] Starts on the fifth to the major 7th.

[00:04:47]Right off the bat, that's unique.

[00:04:51]All right. And these are just two inversions [music and singing] of the uh G major 7th. And how I come to that just quickly is we know G B D Fsharp are the tones of the G major 7th chord. G, [music] B, D, and F sharp. If we move horizontally to the next chord tone right on the string, that's how we come up with our inversions. So [music] there's the D goes to F sharp, the B goes to D, the F sharp goes to G, and the low G goes to B.

[00:05:30]Giving [music] you that.

[00:05:32]Okay, [music] that's E7th, the fifth to the 9th.

[00:05:43]All right.

[00:05:45]Fifth [music] to the 9th.

[00:05:51][music] Nice interval jump.

[00:05:56]Okay. Okay, now we have the two five, B7th, [music] E minor, A7, the two dominant, then to the 25.

[00:06:10]Right. Check out this little cool thing Howard Alden showed me.

[00:06:15]Uh well, I can't remember what he showed me, but I'll I'll [laughter] remember before the 10 weeks are up. Um okay, second half.

[00:06:30]Same as the first half.

[00:06:33][music] And those interval jumps are really cool.

[00:06:37][music] Then fifth to nine again, [music] down the sixth. Great interval jumps and that's what creates cool melody to [music] dominant C minor [music] little extension on the tune to [singing] B minor to B flat minor you know like no other song A minor [music and singing] to D7 to G. So really cool stuff in the tune. So, just a little quick analysis of that great song. That's a deep song. So, we're going to go on to Misti now. Key of E flat. Three flats like my car. I knew you'd like that one, Vinnie. [laughter] Okay, here is Misty. I'll take the first chorus.

[00:07:35]Another great tune. Errol Garner wrote this. 1, two.

[00:07:40][music] Now, this is a real ballad, [music] so you have to really lay into that tempo. Take [music] your time with each beat.

[00:08:00][music] It's a lot of space, you know, in between each beat.

[00:08:08]>> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Great spot to add some blues in there.

[00:08:45][music] [music] >> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> All right, you got it. Nice easy [music] melody. My [music] [music] [music] >> [music] [music] [music] >> Hey, [music] come on.

[00:10:48]>> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Yeah. Wow. So nice. Even just playing the chords is nice on that one. Now, um, check out this. One of the first things my first guitar teacher showed me was, um, this song, Misty, and he did this, and I'll never forget it. [music] I was like, whoa, listen to that.

[00:12:10]Just three notes.

[00:12:12][music] And then into the E flat major 7th normal grip that we get.

[00:12:20][music] Okay. Later on, you know, thinking about it, it's very common substitution when you have a major 7th for the melody.

[00:12:31]That's the major [music] 7th, right? is to go down one or [music] get the E flat major 7, then an E flat diminished with the D in the melody. It sounds like this.

[00:12:48][music] You recognize that sound [singing] right now. You don't have to get this big stretch. What you can do is just [music and singing] hit a D and slide into the E flat major 7th. [music] And there's a B flat suspended for the opening.

[00:13:11]That's [music] what I do there. Right, that's a B flat 13. And then, right, so just a little smooth to work on. And remember that that major 7th, if you have a major 7th in the melody on a major chord, that diminished same key diminished sounds really good.

[00:13:34]the same as on the song which we'll go over in a bit right you can do that [music] same thing C diminished over C but we'll get into that when we do tenderly nice ballad technique there on chord melody okay September song will be next again we're going to get used to these tunes and as we go you know more stuff as we get used to the tunes these little moves you know I'll show you another one next week from Misty and eventually after the 10 weeks you'll have a chord melody on most of these songs to put together later each of the weeks going uh slowly.

[00:14:15]And if anyone wants me to tab this stuff out, let me know. Personally, I think it's better to learn it from the video as if we're sitting across from each other kind of showing you something. But it's nice to have it on tab and manuscript. I understand that as well.

[00:14:32]So if you need it, let me know. Uh September song 3 4 1. [music] I like this song because it's like [music and singing] the blues. Reminds me of the blues [music] with that C7th.

[00:14:57]I also like this. [music] That's C minor to D7.

[00:15:04][music] [music] [music] >> [music] [music] >> It's a great bridge, [music] too.

[00:15:44][music] >> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> You got it.

[00:16:19]>> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Hey.

[00:17:35][music] >> [music] [music] [music] >> Great tune right right into the blues.

[00:18:02][music] Starts on the four chord. So nice. And you know what's really cool is the melody. [music] The pickups are a G major 7th, then to the C7th. [music] It's like, wow, such a twist.

[00:18:22][music] And what I also like, the C7 stays the same except [music] E flat now. So, there's a lot of common tones here between the C7th, [music] right? which is the G and the B flat, the fifth and the flat [music] 7 becomes the fifth and the third and then [music] becomes [singing] the blue notes of G. So it's kind of cool.

[00:18:53][music] Now [music] watch this. goes to A7th, C7th, and then the same notes, [music] C for the C minor. [music] So, you have a cool little chromatic line voice leading.

[00:19:22][music] [music] all within those eight measures. Really a cool tune. So, I'm gonna play it again in between the melody. You can do a couple of things. You could just play the chords. If you're beginning, still struggling through the chords or melody.

[00:19:48]Practice that. Okay. For the more intermediate to advanced students, try filling in. [music] Try to put some fills in there. Okay? Or think about using the voice leading.

[00:20:13][music] Just play those key notes, [music] [music] okay? To get used to the voicing. and it'll sound really nice underneath the melody. So, let's try this again.

[00:20:37]A 1, two. [music] Play a little fill.

[00:20:43][music] Another fill.

[00:20:54]>> [music] >> So it's C sharp to C to B.

[00:21:02][music] The voice leading line is [music] E to E flat to D which is the fifth [music and singing] of G.

[00:21:17]And another one the third of A7th to the [music] root C minor. Then the seven D7 to the B.

[00:21:29][music] Try this.

[00:21:31]I'm going to stop it here for a second.

[00:21:34]Try this. A C minor [music] triad and then to the major C. [music] Then watch this. If we move to C minor, we move these two up to C sharp and E.

[00:21:54]There's your diminished.

[00:21:58]And then move them back down.

[00:22:02][music] Back to C minor 6.

[00:22:05]And then diminished.

[00:22:09]Move it up one more. [music] There's your G.

[00:22:13]And then back to the second half. So on the bridge, we'll put it right on the bridge here.

[00:22:20]Give you a little example and then we'll practice it quick. [music] Here we go. 2 3 [singing] 4 1.

[00:22:32][music] [music] You can do whatever rhythm you want.

[00:22:43]back. [music] [music] [music] Phil, [music] Phil.

[00:23:07][music] Okay, now [music] you play the melody and I'll fill da da [singing] da da. [music] [music] >> [music] >> I doodle.

[00:23:50]>> [music] [music] >> Just a couple of [music] notes with that voice leading sounds really nice. Now the bridge just using these [music] notes.

[00:24:19]See that?

[00:24:21][music] You don't have to do much.

[00:24:27][music] Now you fill [music] >> [music] [music] [music] [music] >> All right, great song. Another cool little thing is when you end on a ninth major 9, [music] which is a nice coloring to an end of a ballad, right?

[00:25:15]Okay. What you can do is move it down one half step. So if we add a G, [music] right? G triad with the ninth [music] and we moved it down a half step.

[00:25:30]F7 Fsharp 7 sharp nine up to G. [music] It's kind of a cool if you just keep that pinky there.

[00:25:46]It's [music] nice.

[00:25:50]Okay. Again, could also get it down here.

[00:25:57]this [music] more familiar sharp nines on Fsharp and then to the G [music] major 9.

[00:26:07]There's some cool, you know, at the end of a ballad. Always nice to throw some [music] little things like that, you know, classic guitar sounds. All right, let's move on to Stardust.

[00:26:20]Now, most of the time Stardust is played out of tempo. the verse.

[00:26:28]Sometimes it's not.

[00:26:31]I put it in tempo because I just think it would be too difficult to try to phrase it out of tempo and connect when we can't hear each other or I can't hear you, I should say. So, um, I did put it in tempo and I've really found I grew fond of this uh in tempo. So with that said, let's play it through.

[00:27:00]1 2 3 4. [music] Isn't that nice?

[00:27:13][music] >> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Pokei Carmichael knew how to write them.

[00:28:11]tell you that.

[00:28:14][music] [music] [music] [music] >> [music] >> Hey, [music] [music] hey, hey.

[00:29:05]>> [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Heat. Hey, heat. Hey, heat.

[00:29:32]>> [music] [music] >> Okay, we're going to go back to the chorus. And you got it. [music] You got it.

[00:29:59]>> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Oh.

[00:30:53]>> [music] [music] [music] >> Don't tell me.

[00:31:13][music] [music] Then [music] [music] we take it out. [singing] [music] Wow.

[00:31:52]That's five minutes of joyous sounds hopefully on your end. Anyway, [laughter] great tune. Let's move on to Stars Fell on Alabama.

[00:32:10]Another one of my favorites.

[00:32:12][clears throat] Hey Ed, with a thumbs up, do you have the recording meeting of the grooves that I did with Jean Burtoni?

[00:32:31]That's maybe Oh, okay. Yeah, I'm Jean called me looking for a copy. I'm trying to find one. Okay. Stars fell on Alabama. Reminds me because we recorded this on that as well. Okay.

[00:32:47]1 2 3 4 [music] [music] [music] last night.

[00:33:15]>> [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat.

[00:33:31][music] >> [music] [music] [music] [music] >> It's a beautiful bridge. So beautiful.

[00:34:09]>> [music] [music] [music] >> All right, you give it a try. Nice easy melody. [singing] >> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Okay. So, [music] so there's a case of using the for the ending of an arrangement.

[00:36:27][music] And what is that? The root.

[00:36:33]All right. [music] Chord C triad with the pinky on the six and the nine.

[00:36:39][music] And then we move that [singing] down while keeping that [music] another way of ending the ballad which I went over in the other one. It's good repetition sometimes helps things sink in. Also a different key. Um, [clears throat] okay. And we're going to move now. I have some chord melody arrangements of these tunes written up.

[00:37:05]So if there's interest, just let me know and I will upload them. uh this week, but you have to remind me so I remember.

[00:37:12]Okay? So, please, if you're interested in those chord melody arrangements, I could send them through in the pecloud.

[00:37:20]Here is Sweet Lraine. Now, my favorite version of this, if you can dig it up somewhere, is Tony Bennett with a baritone ukulele player, who turns out to be Bobby Hackett, the great trumpet cornet player.

[00:37:39]And it is stellar with a clarinet. I believe it was Pee-Wee Russell in the low register clarinet with the bass probably Milt Tinton or one of those guys and just a little rhythm baritone uke. Beautiful as a ballad and just absolutely stellar. If you can find that somewhere, it's a great listen. So, here's Sweet Lraine.

[00:38:03]Now, this song, boy, you got to pay attention because the chords move every two bars. So, even though it's a ballad, here we go.

[00:38:15]1 2 3 4 [music] [music] >> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Hey, [music] hey, hey.

[00:39:25]>> [music] [music] >> I love this tune.

[00:39:43][music] [music] >> [music] >> You got it. I just found joy. [music] [music] >> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Yeah. Wow. Another case of this in the key of F would be [music] [music] nice ending.

[00:42:00][music] Mary sweet rain.

[00:42:05]That's an open position. Or the more familiar [music] sharp nine to the more familiar major nine. [music] Common tone on top.

[00:42:18]Okay. Great stuff. Cool. Cool. Tenderly is next.

[00:42:26]I could play these tunes all afternoon.

[00:42:28]No problem with me here with all the ballads.

[00:42:32]Okay, here we go.

[00:42:36]One, two. Another dural ballad. [music] Another real ballad [singing] style.

[00:42:45][music] [music] >> [music] [music] [music] >> Doo doo doo doo doo.

[00:43:25]>> [music] [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat.

[00:43:51]>> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Okay, you got it.

[00:44:34][music] [music] Heat. Heat.

[00:44:50][music] [music] [music] >> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Okay.

[00:45:56][music] Thank you.

[00:46:02]>> [music] [music] [music] >> Okay. Wow. There's a lot of beautiful stuff we're going to get into uh with this one. So, I won't even start yet. It's a great one. Great tune. Uh, Till There Was You.

[00:46:44]Lot of great substitutions with Tenderly. I I really wrote the simple changes and I thought it'd be good to write those simple changes so you can understand through the 10 weeks the theory behind some of the substitutions we're going to be putting in there. So, uh, okay, Till There Was You.

[00:47:10]I was first introduced to playing this tune with David Grisman on our Frank and Dog record. It's the first tune we recorded for that. I think it was the first take and it ended up being the first cut on the record.

[00:47:24]Funny, but what a great song. Here we go.

[00:47:34][music] [music] >> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Great interval jumps there. [music] Such a unique melody.

[00:48:44][music] >> [music] [music] >> you. All right, play it around. You got it.

[00:49:06][music] [music] >> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Big [music] interval jumps in there.

[00:49:56]Beautiful. And I love this.

[00:50:00][music] Cool.

[00:50:07]>> [music] [music] >> Little jango in there.

[00:50:24][music] [music] All right. Really, really, really, really nice. Uh, just do a quick little tuny tune here.

[00:50:44][music] [music] Okay, we're going to move on to Crimea River and then end off with Body and Soul.

[00:51:00]Crimea River. We're just going to play the tune, the Barney intro. I did put up a video there. It's not exactly what Barney played, but the concept was the [music] that so cool [music] that sound, [singing] the close interval. It's a tough stretch.

[00:51:26]Then this chord, the A flat [music] 7 sharp 11 to the augmented. Love that sound.

[00:51:35]Again, it's not exactly what he played, but it's in the style of that classic introduction. That's such a great record. That whole record is full of brilliant guitar accompaniment by Bonnie Kessle, Julie London. Okay. Okay. Crimea River.

[00:51:53]Another really slow ballad. I love these. Two. Three. Four.

[00:52:01][music] [music] >> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Love this part. G major. [singing] So [music] nice.

[00:53:29]So old.

[00:53:36]>> [music] [music] [music] >> All right, you got this one. [music] >> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> an E flat E flat major 9 down a half step keeping the ninth on top becomes the sharp [music] nine of D7. Seven.

[00:56:12]Again, that cool sound, great for endings [music] of any ballads.

[00:56:17]Um, okay. Body and soul. Now, Body and Soul, I think, uh, can be considered one of the greatest ballads, right? Stood the test of time, even to this day. So many artists cover Body and Soul.

[00:56:34]Uh, with good reason. First of all, it's in the key of D flat, which is kind of odd.

[00:56:40]uh to play a song in D flat, but then the bridge goes to D major and then to C major.

[00:56:47]So, it really goes all over the place.

[00:56:50]Um, starts on the two minor.

[00:56:58]Right off the bat, it throws you a curveball [music] by doing the five of the two, as they call it. Meaning this [music] is the five seven of the two the minor. So five of [music] two to two then to five of one. So right off the bat it's a little curveball there. Da da [singing] da da da.

[00:57:25]Now [music] we're in the one key.

[00:57:29]D flat.

[00:57:30]Now this is cool. Go up to G flat major [music] 7th. [singing] Now follows this beautiful baseline down [music] F minor to an E diminished.

[00:57:44]Now an E [music] flat minor. Bring the bass down to D flat. Brings you right to C bass. [music] Minor 7th flat 5 F7. And now your [music] two dominant.

[00:57:59]That's the two dominant. You have your two [music] five, right? Then a two E flat minor 7 5 1. [music] I tend to talk in two five sometimes because that two chord again the five. How do you explain a B flat 7 in [music] D flat? I guess you could consider it the six dominant.

[00:58:23]But I look at it in traditional theory which I grew up with, which is this [music] is the two chord. That's the five of the two.

[00:58:32]And then the five of the one. [music] You see that? Five of one, five of two, five of three, five, [music] or five of four.

[00:58:47][music] You hear that sound? You're familiar with that sound? That's the two five sound. Okay. So, a lot of that in the bridge and that beautiful walkdown line.

[00:58:57]>> [music] >> D. If you start on E flat and just bring it down one step at a time. Check this out. [singing] That's the third of [music] B flat 7.

[00:59:12][singing] That's the minor 7th [music] becomes the third of a flat 7.

[00:59:18]So right off the bat, you have a cool voice leading line. [music] Da [singing] da da da da.

[00:59:26]Now, [music] this is really neat. You could put it in the bass or in the middle here [music] up to G flat and now down chromatically.

[00:59:38][music] Well, listen how that sounds, [music] [music] right? If you put it in the bass, it might sound more familiar to you [music] da doo.

[01:00:14]>> [music] >> You see that? Very cool line. So again, if you want me to write that out, I could do that for you. But really, it's voice leading, which all of these ballads seem to have some kind of really cool voice leading that goes through eight measures. It's not just two bars at a time.

[01:00:36]All right. So, if you're going to approach a solo to this, I would say concentrate on those uh voice leading lines.

[01:00:48]Now, chord melody. Check this out. This is the way Bucky used to play it.

[01:00:53][music] Isn't that cool? It's just a little three note, E flat minor.

[01:01:02][music] Over these 10 weeks, I guarantee you're going to get to know your inversions better, too. Because a lot of this is about inversions. Like this is an E [music] flat minor, right? It's in its first inversion because the third is in the bass.

[01:01:18]We have to remember this because [music] there's D minor. Once we know one, we know all 12 because we can move horizontally.

[01:01:28]So, it's kind of important to look at these little shapes and realize they're all over the fingerboard for every minor chord, right? [music] And now this, if you look at that, that's like a B flat 9, B flat 7, [music] the two of the five, the the five of the two.

[01:01:49]And then he used to used [music] to do that.

[01:01:55]Isn't that pretty? [music] Just so nice rolled around there. Use the neighbor, you know, [music] chromatic neighbor, right? Then I like spread [music] because it leads you right there.

[01:02:18]Watch how nice this [music] moves.

[01:02:21]You see that? The same chords we were using. You just put the melody on that first string. [music] Now watch this. [music] All right, there's the voice leading line in the bass with the chords we were playing. Just putting the melody. Okay, I know I'm really simplifying it here into a few minutes, but this is recorded. You could slow it down. You can watch it over and over again if you want. I think I actually have this one penned out already. So, um, let me know.

[01:02:55]If not, I I love what I do. So, I'd love to write this up for you if you're interested in it. With all that said, let's jam on the tune a couple times through. Again, if anybody has any questions, 48 hours is the best. If not, if you think of something after, no worries.

[01:03:15]All questions [snorts] get answered. And here we go with body and soul.

[01:03:25]One, two, three, four.

[01:03:30][music] [music] [music] See that voice leading sounds nice even with the melody. [music] >> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Now on to D.

[01:04:24][music] [music] [music] Now let's [music] see.

[01:04:45]Heat. Heat. [music] [music] [music] >> [music] >> All right, you got it. [music] [music] [music] Hey. Hey. Hey.

[01:05:37][music] [music] [music] [music] >> [music] [music] >> bridge.

[01:06:23][music] [music] >> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Okay, I just realized that I wrote up in the music, [music] which is probably [singing] the original changes, but a common substitution [music] is that G flat. But with that said, each week, as you can see, I'm going to go through a little bit with each tune, go off on some tangents on some of them, depending on what I'm playing and what I'm thinking at the time. So, that's why um you know, I go off on some of those tangents. So, and a song like East of the Sun, which we started with, I you know, it's so deep that you know, we can't do it in one little three minute uh tutorial. So, anyway, with that said, great start. Love these tunes and we'll see you