Somehow I found myself working on a another reharmonization of a Beatles' tune.  These Lennon/McCartney pieces are masterpieces as they are, but their gorgeous melodies and strong harmonic identities leave them ripe for a good 'ol reharmonization!  I've always loved Blackbird and have been particularly inspired by the Brad Mehldau trio's take on it.  Over the years, I've tried time and time again to create a solo piano arrangement of it that worked, but I could never quite get it....until now!  What was the trick?  I decided to change the key.  The original is in the key of G.  It never felt or sounded quite right to me on solo piano.  

So I played around with the key and settled on Bb.  Then the arrangement just sort of fell into place!  I love when that happens.  Sometimes a simple shift like that will completely change your perspective on a piece.   I used some of my favorite harmonic moves -- some modal interchange chords, chromatic bass movement, substitute dominant chords.  One of by favorites was the bIImaj7 in place of the V7 chord at the end of the form.  In the key of Bb, I replaced the F7 with a BMaj7 -- the melody worked so nicely over this chord substitute I couldn't resist!  

I hope you enjoy it.  For those who want to explore this further, the lead sheet is available at Gumroad HERE.

Happy shedding! 

I've been getting some requests for more beginner solo piano arrangements so I thought I would teach you a MUST-KNOW jazz ballad -- Body and Soul.   I decided to make this one a two-parter.  In part 1, I teach an easy arrangement with melody in the right hand and shell voicings in the left hand.  Remember, shell voicings are simple two-note voicings usually consist of Root and 3rd or Root and 7th (although I snuck in a few Root and 5ths!).   This is an excellent barebones way to learn a jazz standard;  For an even more simplified version, just learn melody and root notes!  

​Sheet music for the beginner arrangement HERE!

​In the next part, I build off of this beginner arrangement by adding two more notes in the right hand.  Now the melody will be played by mostly the 4th and 5th fingers of the right hand and I've added a few more notes to fill out the chords -- this notes will contain chord tones or chord tensions.  

​Sheet music for the intermediate arrangement HERE!

I hope you enjoy these arrangements -- let me know if you have any song requests for more tutorials/arrangements in this format!

​Happy shedding!

One of the many blessings of being a Dad is rediscovering music I've loved in the past while introducing it to my son.  He's just about two years old now and "Over the Rainbow" is one of his new favorites.  His mom started singing it to him recently for a lullaby.  He even interrupted her while she was singing a lullaby the other night and said "Want Rainbow."  Haha.  What can I say, he knows what he wants!  While I was finishing up editing this video, he heard the first few bars and said to me, "Hear Rainbow."  My heart just about melted.

So anyway, this beautiful song has been in my head recently and I thought I would work out an intermediate piano arrangement of it for you all.  I hope you enjoy it.  The arrangement has some classic solo piano techniques that work great for ballads.  The left hand is mostly arpeggiating roots, 3rds, 5ths, and 7ths while the top of the right hand covers the melody and the some chord tones and tensions below it.  I stuck with mostly the original harmony on this one, aside from a few tritone substitutions in measure 6 of the A section (or subV7s as we like to call them at Berklee!).  There's also some interesting chord tensions -- check out the b9 on the Bb7 and the #11 on the D7 in the A section.  In the bridge check out the 9 on the G-7 and the 9, #11, 13 on the C7 in the bridge.  

When your practicing this one, really try to bring out the melody and let the chords and bass sit underneath it in volume.  Be as expressive as you can with dynamics, it makes all the difference!  

Happy shedding!