Merry Little Christmas Intro & Outro Tutorial
This is part 2 of the tutorial on “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”.
In part 1 we created a solo jazz piano arrangement for the whole form. In this part of the tutorial we will study the construction of improvised introductions and endings.
We conduct a harmonic analysis of the key – Ab Major – and identify the chords that we can use to create intros and outros.
We also apply theory and concepts from the PianoGroove course including:
- tritone substitution
- upper structure harmony
- passing chords
The concepts covered in this lesson can be applied to any jazz standard so pay attention as we cover a number of important harmonic principles.
Lesson Downloads
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Diatonic 7th Chords For Major Scale File Type: pdf -
1625 & 436251 Introduction Formulas File Type: pdf
Related Lessons
Intros can be useful to extend the length of your performance and also to establish the tonality or the key in which the tune is being played.
Passing chords are temporary stepping stones between chords, adding variety and making your playing sound more interesting & dynamic.
Tritone Substitution is a useful reharmonisation technique that can be used to add harmonic interest and variety to a chord progression.
Practice Tips
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Before attempting to create an improvised introduction, you must first familiarise yourself with the diatonic 7th chords of the key of the tune.
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You should already be familiar with the II-7, V7 and Imaj7 chords.
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Most tunes start on the I chord and so the easiest way to craft an introduction is to play a II-V.
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Remember to utilise the different registers of the piano. Incorporating upper structure triad runs is an effective way to achieve this.
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The next step is to add the VI7 chord into the progression to create a I-VI-II-V.
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Experiment with the Imaj7 - VI7alt - II-7 - V7alt and add in passing chords where applicable as per the examples in this lesson.
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Finally pick a memorable motif from the tune and incorporate this melodic idea into your intros and outros.
great videos. The charts for the diatonic 7th chords is very useful. Is there a video that walks through the chords for each scale?
Hi Ronny… thanks glad you are enjoying the tuition.
I’d recommend checking our the series on Intros, Turnarounds & Endings: https://www.pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/intros-endings-turnarounds/ – in that course we construct common progressions from the diatonic 7th chords and apply them to jazz standards.
Hope you find that useful… any other questions let me know 🙂
Cheers,
Hayden
Loved this arrangement Hayden! It has a lot of usual tips and a great learning experience. I will be playing it for my friends. Thank you and Happy Holidays!
Thanks Mark – happy holidays to you too!
Yes these Xmas songs are great vehicles for exploring jazz harmony. I find it particularly rewarding each year when I come back to play these tunes and I add to my arrangements with little tricks I’ve learnt over the year.
They are timeless tunes and great fun to play around with.
Wishing you a happy new year!
Cheers,
Hayden