Jazz Guitar Lessons • Misty (Modal Breakdown, Chord Chart, Melody, Chord Melody)

This lesson is a continuation of:

• Jazz Guitar Lessons • Chord Substitution

For more chord melody arrangements see:

• Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams

• Moon River

• When Sunny Gets Blue

• God Bless The Child

More Jazz guitar lessons:

• Jazz Guitar Lessons • When Sunny Gets Blue (Chord Chart, Melody, Chord Progression)

• Jazz Guitar Lessons • What A Wonderful World

This is an intermediate arrangement of the holy grail of jazz tunes, Misty.

Part 1

This is the chord chart for the song. Most everyone has performed this song in the original key of Eb Major. Three flats in the key signature: B, E and A. Silly saying for the order of the flats: Battle Ends And Down Goes Charles Father. To find the key when confronted with flats, look at the second last flat, that is the key signature. Eg: In the key of D flat the order of flats would be: B, E, A, D, G. The second last flat is, obviously D. The only flat key this does not work for is F Major, only because there is no second last flat in the signature. F Major has one flat: B flat. Memorize this. This chart works well when comping behind a soloist or vocalist. Most all of my jazz knowledge (besides studying advanced courses at Eli Kassner Guitar Academy) comes from the Mickey Baker Jazz Guitar method. Excellent books that I recommend to everyone.

Misty Modal Breakdown. Please see Modes Of The Major Scale, for more info on the modes.

Almost all of the audio examples are simply the mode (scale) played in sequence over the chord. This is not very musical, but aids in demonstrating the sound of the scales in relation to the chords. The basic rule when improvising over a chord progression is to start with the parent scale (in this case E flat Major), then analyze the chord structure to determine what alterations the chords make on the scale. In the end, however, it all boils down to 'if it sounds right, it is'. Measure one is based in E flat (the key signature). In measure two, the B flat minor seventh and minor sixth force the D natural in E flat Major to move to D flat. This changes the E flat Major scale to B flat Dorian (parent scale: A flat Major). This remains in effect until measure four. Then the A flat minor seventh and minor sixth force the scales to move to A flat Dorian. For the remainder of the verse the scale moves back to the parent key (E flat Major). In the bridge, the A seventh chord is best treated as chromatic movement into the A flat Major scale. Move into C Dorian for measures thirteen and fourteen, before returning to E flat Major (the parent scale). Not so prevalent in rock and pop songs, but changing scales within the context of a song is very common in jazz.

Part 2

This is the melody. Try learning this note for note. Memorize it, then get behind it! Play it with feel. Play it as a stand alone piece. I like to think of myself as a horn player when working with melodies. All they can play is single notes. They do not have the luxury of inserting chords. Try this! It works.

Part 3

This is the chord-melody arrangement that I am performing in the video. Most of the foundation chords have been replaced by melody chords (chords that are usually played on the top three or four strings). The trick is to voice (arrange the notes in the chord) so that the melody is the highest note of the chord. With much practice, this gets easier, to the point that this style of playing can be created on the spot (improvised). Jazz is by no means easy, it is a huge study. I often tell students "jazz players are way up there, the rest of us, way down here" Enjoy!!