The Girl From Ipanema Tutorial
In this lesson, we are going to look at Jobim’s beautiful composition "Garota de Ipanema" which means the "The Girl From Ipanema".
Ipanema is the neighbourhood where Jobim grew up and it’s located on the south side of Rio de Janiero. It’s a nice part of the city and has a beautiful beach.
The Story Behind The Song
This song was written in the early 1960’s. Jobim and his musical partner Vinícius de Moraes were sitting in a bar as they watched this beautiful girl who walked past them on her way to the beach every day.
Vinícius de Moraes was a brilliant poet, and he wrote the lyrics about the girl on her way to the water. The lyrics to the song are about being moved by grace and beauty.
Simple But Sophisticated Harmony
Jobim wrote a simple but sophisticated harmony for the song. Despite the tune being made into thousands of different versions and recordings, you can still enjoy the beauty and balance of Jobim’s wonderful composition.
We will start by learning the accompaniment, and then we will add the melody on top.
Related Lessons
We explore inner voice movement over major, minor, and dominant chords, and then we will apply this information to a well-known jazz standard.
In a minor 251, the 5 chord will be an altered dominant chord. In this lesson we apply altered dominant chords to the major 251 progression.
Upper structure triads are complex sounding altered dominant chords. They will add texture and sophistication to your playing.
Practice Tips
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First, learn the accompaniment to the tune without playing the melody.
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Focus on the moving voices within the harmony, if you focus on these in the accompaniment, you will find it easier to add them when playing the whole arrangement.
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Certain sections of the form contain a lot of open space and this is where you should add inner voices to the harmony.
- Learn and master the vamp which is used for the introduction and ending.
