Jazz Guitar Lessons • Moon River Chord Melody

This is a beginner to intermediate level chord melody arrangement of Moon River.

For more chord melody arrangements see:

• Misty
• Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams
• When Sunny Gets Blue
• God Bless The Child

This is an excellent entry into chord melody arrangements. With a good knowledge of jazz chords, this is fairly easy to execute. Again, the melody is voiced as the top notes of the chords. This tune is in three four time. Three four time is simple triple meter. There are 3 beats to each bar and each beat can be divided by two. The melody is in the key of C Major. C Major is the only key signature with no sharps or flats. This transcription is played in free time. There is no designation of tempo. No click track was used during the recording. Free time is a very expressive way of playing, since the tempo is determined by the performer. The tempo changes tend to create tension in the slower parts and a feeling of release when the player returns to the base tempo. This also makes a huge difference when combined with dynamics (where the music gets softer and louder).

Most of these chords come from The Mickey Baker Jazz Guitar Method Book 1. If you have a fundamental knowledge of barre chords and want to enter into jazz voicings, this book is highly recommended.