PianoGroove.com

Menu
  • Lessons
    • Jazz Piano LessonsStep-by-step lessons to master jazz theory
    • Blues Piano LessonsLearn the blues, jazz blues, funk, & gospel
    • Brazilian Piano LessonsStudy bossa nova, samba, & choro styles
    • Weekly Live SeminarsSeminars, workshops, and live Q&A sessions
    • Subscribe now
  • Resources
    • PDF DownloadsCommon chords, scales, & progressions
    • SyllabusesSyllabuses to guide your learning journey
    • Jazz Standards Indexlearn to play your favourite tunes & songs
    • Subscribe Now
  • Teachers
  • Buy Courses
  • Community
  • GET STARTED NOW
  • Login
Join Login

Sophisticated Lady Part 1

Back to Altered Harmony & USTs course
video
  • Try a Free Lesson From This Course

    Leave us your email below and we will send you a full sample lesson and a PDF download

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
  • Description
  • Related Lessons
  • Practice Tips
  • Comments

Sophisticated Lady Tutorial

Sophisticated Lady is one of the most famous jazz standards written by the great Duke Ellington, who was one of the most famous jazz composers and band leaders from the 20^th^ century. Written in the key of Ab Major, it follows a standard 32 bar A-A-B-A form.

The tune is quite challenging to play in places and contains a lot of chromatic movement with dominant chords. This makes it a nice tune to study altered harmony and upper structures.

In the first section of the video we will explore the A section of the tune. Remember the A section repeats 3 times so we will be looking at different ways you can voice the chords to add variety to the performance. The descending sets of dominant chords in the A section are quite tricky to navigate at first but using parallel voicings makes the task is much easier.

Moving into the second half of this tutorial we adopt a basic stride style by playing the roots way down in the lower registers and then moving up with out left hand to play left hand voicings. The bridge of Sophisticated Lady has a completely different feel to the A section but sounds great with a stride piano style left hand.

This is one of Duke Ellington’s greatest ballads – enjoy!

Related Lessons

Diminished Chords Basics

Diminished 7th chords are not as common as major, minor and dominant chords and so you don’t see them as often in jazz standards.

Advanced09:35

Understanding Sus Chords

We start the lesson by recapping the basic theory behind sus chords and then explore them in context of major and minor 251s

Intermediate23:46

Tritone Substitution

Tritone Substitution is a useful reharmonisation technique that can be used to add harmonic interest and variety to a chord progression.

Intermediate15:43

Practice Tips

  • Sophisticated Lady is a wonderful tune to explore upper structure triads.

  • Remember to print off the Upper Structure Triad Cheat Sheet which will help you find these voicings quickly and easily.

  • Try to memorise the chord tones contained in each upper structure triad. This will help you make more informed decisions when adding altered harmony to your arrangements.

  • As an example, when the root is in the melody over a dominant chord, the #5#9 upper structure should come to mind which creates the #5, Root & #9. It's then down to you to find the most suitable inversion.

Comments

6 Comments
Leave Comment
  1. Matt says

    August 16, 2016 at 5:31 pm

    Great lesson. For subsequent listeners: it looks like there is a typo at 22:25 where the lead sheet says Abm7b5 but you play Am7b5 (which I think is correct).

    Log in to Reply
    Ask questions and get instant replies from our team of teachers. Get Started With PianoGroove Pro.
    • PianoGroove says

      August 17, 2016 at 11:33 pm

      Hi Matt, thanks for spotting this – that’s correct. I also say ‘Abm7b5’ when in fact it is an Am7b5. This creates a 251 into the bridge (Am7b5 – D7b9 – Gmaj7) . All the best, Hayden

      Log in to Reply
      Ask questions and get instant replies from our team of teachers. Get Started With PianoGroove Pro.
      • Jose says

        January 15, 2017 at 2:29 am

        Can you put in the leadsheet for this song…

        Log in to Reply
        Ask questions and get instant replies from our team of teachers. Get Started With PianoGroove Pro.
        • Hayden says

          January 15, 2017 at 6:32 pm

          Hi Jose, yes sure thing, here it is: pianogroove.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Sophisticated-Lady.pdf

          Log in to Reply
          Ask questions and get instant replies from our team of teachers. Get Started With PianoGroove Pro.
  2. Adam Powell says

    January 18, 2017 at 1:01 am

    Fantastic tutorial and awesome song selection!

    Log in to Reply
    Ask questions and get instant replies from our team of teachers. Get Started With PianoGroove Pro.
    • Hayden says

      January 18, 2017 at 8:36 am

      Thanks Adam!

      Log in to Reply
      Ask questions and get instant replies from our team of teachers. Get Started With PianoGroove Pro.

Leave a reply Cancel reply

Ask questions and get instant replies from our team of teachers. Get Started With PianoGroove Pro.

Watch The Full 21 Minute Tutorial Sign In or Join Now

UK & Europe: +44 808 196 2012
US & Canada: +1 888 616 5371

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Lesson Categories

  • Jazz Piano Chords
  • Jazz Piano Scales
  • Jazz Chord Progressions
  • Jazz Standard Lessons

Community Resources

  • Jazz Theory Q&As
  • Practice Inspiration
  • Improvisation Exercises
  • Jazz Record & Albums

About Pianogroove

  • PianoGroove Reviews
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Community Area

© 2021 Copyright PianoGroove. All Rights Reserved