Learn to Play Lead or Backup on Jazz Standard 'My Melancholy Baby'
Tackle this classic in authentic jazz style
“My Melancholy Baby” has been a well-loved standard for years. Written in 1912 by George A. Norton and Ernie Burnett, it’s a song with interesting changes. In the first four measures it drops from Eb to Db7, and then to C7, which is not a common chord progression. This gives the tune its unique flavor. The key of Eb may be new to you. Review your Eb and Db major scales. Get comfortable with the use of your fourth finger as the occurrence of open strings is rare in these flat keys. Remember, the world is half steps and whole steps and you need to not center your thinking around the use of open strings. Using this approach will increase your ability to play Gypsy-swing jazz in any key.
This article, "Learn to Play Lead or Backup on Jazz Standard 'My Melancholy Baby'," is part of the Strings Archive, which you can access with a paid site subscription.
If you have a paid subscription, you are seeing this message because you have not logged in.
What do you want to do?
Log in using my current paid subscription account.
Subscribe now and get our best offer.
ARE FULLY MODERATED
You must be logged in to rate and comment. Log in or Subscribe now.