While waiting for a student this morning, I wrote down this basic chordal melody to the standard "All The Things You Are" that I was going to hand out to him. Turns out, he didn't show. :( Oh well. You can view the .pdf file above or click on the pics below to enlarge.
For those who have a more experienced knowledge of chord voicings, this will appear fairly basic.
For those who are interested in having a more "modern" sound, lower the 5th of each chord down to the fourth to create some quartal harmonies (chords made up of consecutive 4th intervals). This works great on any min7 chords. Quartal harmony can work with dominant7 or major7, though some ears may not enjoy that sound as much. Just experiment and find what works for you. Hopefully, this can be something useful to start with.
Notice that the rhythms are very straight. Please don't perform it this way, unless you're looking to receive the title of lamest guitar player alive! Once you become comfortable with the chord shapes, change the rhythms up to give it some life. Leave one chord short while let another one ring out, etc. And please don't just play those constant eighth notes as they appear (I just followed the Real Book melody, which no one plays "as is").
Again, this is just a basic foundation to understand what and where to play. It's up to you how to play it. The best advice is to listen to others and hear how they interpret the melody. Then make it your own! Here are some people to start with....
Pat Metheny
, Ella Fitzgerald
, Frank Sinatra
, Charlie Parker
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