Summertime Advanced Arrangement
Welcome to part 2 of this lesson on "Summertime" vocal accompaniment. In part 1, we explored a basic version of the form and the chord changes. We also introduced a walking bassline outlining the root and 5ths of each chord.
In this lesson, we will introduce extended and altered chord voicings to create a richer and more sophisticated accompaniment.
Summertime Bassline & Voicings
In our situation, the left hand will be playing the bassline and the vocalist will be singing the melody. This leaves our right hand free to experiment and explore the more colourful tones and tensions.
We will keep the bassline consistent with the previous lesson, and so I’m going add voicings that fit well with both the baseline and the melody.
We will be incorporating some of the voicings from the solo piano arrangement of this tune. We’ll still need to be mindful of clashing extensions and reharmonizations as discussed earlier in this course. In places, we’ll need to simplify the voicings, and only add in complex colors in melodic breaks, or where we’ve worked it out that it will sound good with the melody.
Summertime Sing & Play
If you are the singer and the pianist, it’s a little easier to coordinate voice to piano and experiment with the tunes you are playing. You can follow this exact process for all of your songs. Check out the next lessons in this course for tips and advice specifically for the singing pianist.
This lesson provides a track where I’ll sing in Dmin with simple bass and metronome. You can play along and try out different basslines, voicings and fills. I’ll go thru the form 4 times, once with the lyrics you’ve heard me singing, then I’ll scat, then I’ll come in with the first verse again, and then I’ll get to sing my very most favorite verse of any jazz standard – the 2nd verse of summertime.
Related Lessons
A nice place to start out with walking bass lines is to create lines using just the root and 5th with either chromatic or whole step approach tones.
We will start with left hand voicings to get a good grip of the melody and chord changes. We’ll then add in some bigger voicings and passing chords.
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.
Practice Tips
-
When introducing extensions and alterations, be mindful of clashes with the melody as discussed in earlier lessons in this course.
-
Simplify the chord changes and only add complex colors in melodic breaks, or where you have worked out that it will complement and enhance the melody.
-
You have all the creative license to work out your own version of this song.
- You are welcome to use the chords and ideas covered in this tutorial, but also ensure that you are listening and transcribing from your favourite versions of the tune.
Hi Lyndol. This was a fun one to work through. Question on the F# dim chord (4th bar): at minute 5:52, you played the F# note in the bass, but at minute 13:28, it’s played with ‘A’ in the bass. Is that assumed that the bass player has the F# covered? or is it generally OK to play different bass note as long as it’s in the chord? thanks
Hi Joel,