Yesterday Seminar Teaser
Hayden Hill
Hayden founded PianoGroove in 2015 with the goal of making the world a more musical place. He shares his love for jazz piano through his online courses and manages the community area of PianoGroove.
Live Seminar Resources
Live Seminar Resources
PDF Downloads
- Yesterday - Chord Chart
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Download theory supplements, midi files, chord changes and full note-for-note transcriptions of every lesson.
- Yesterday - Chord Voicings
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Download theory supplements, midi files, chord changes and full note-for-note transcriptions of every lesson.
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Seminar Description
Seminar Description
The Beatles "Yesterday" in the Style of Beegie Adair
Welcome to a special live stream piano lesson where we explore the timeless Beatles tune "Yesterday," interpreted in the style of jazz pianist Beegie Adair.
In this session you will learn how to blend classic pop with the nuanced sophistication of jazz piano. Whether you’re a fan of The Beatles, a Beegie Adair enthusiast, or simply looking to expand your musical horizons, this lesson will offer valuable insights and techniques into harmonising pop songs with jazz chord voicings, progressions, and fills.
Understanding the Form and Sections
Our exploration begins with a deep dive into the structure of "Yesterday," a song that deviates from the traditional 32-bar form commonly found in jazz standards.
By visualizing the song form in distinct sections, it helps us to memorise the song’s structure and layout which consists of 2 repeating sections: the verse and the bridge.
Analyzing The Numeric Harmony
A significant part of the seminar is dedicated to understanding the harmony of "Yesterday" through numeric analysis. We examine the diatonic seventh chords derived from the key of D-flat major, laying the groundwork for a deeper harmonic appreciation of the song.
This will enhance your ability to understand and recognize the blocks of harmony which make up the tune and how the chords relate to the key of the song.
Simplified Chord Chart and Transcription
The seminar downloads contain a simplified chord chart and a transcription that approximates Beegie Adair’s interpretation of "Yesterday."
We start by playing through the tune with simple voicings allowing you to grasp the essential elements of the tune. We gradually create a more sophisticated arrangement based on the voicings, fills, and arranging techniques of Beegie Adair.
Exploring Beegie Adair’s Stylistic Nuances
Towards the end of the lessons we perform a thorough examination of Beegie Adair’s stylistic approach to "Yesterday." We break down her use of octave melody, melodic embellishments, and chord voicings, among other techniques.
This segment of the seminar sheds light on Beegie Adair’s elegant jazz stylings and how to incorporate them into your playing with practical examples and tips to achieve a similar sound in your arrangements.
In this seminar you will learn to master this Beatles classic, enhance your jazz piano skills, and understand the process of blending different musical genres.
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OMG Hayden – that arrangement was beautiful 👏
Thanks Karl! I agree it’s a lovely arrangement.
brilliant…thanks for sharing such a beautiful arrangement…
My pleasure Michael, I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Great session Hayden. I really like how you combined the simple playing with the Beegie style. I think it makes is much more assessible to many of us.
Thanks Celia – I have just added the blue notation highlights and displayed excerpts of the transcription in the video so it should be easier to review the material.
Yes we will use this format moving forwards; always starting with the basics before adding the more complex arranging techniques. This was actually a suggestion from a student in relation to a previous seminar and so I’m glad to hear it works well for you too.
As I mention in the seminar, the tune sounds beautiful with just the simple voicing techniques and so it certainly makes sense to learn the basic version, build a strong understanding of the core harmony and movement of the melody, and then add the extra melodic embellishments and voicing variations at your discretion.
Enjoy playing this tune – I really enjoyed learning this one too :–)
Talk soon,
Hayden
Great seminar, Hayden! Really enjoyed that, thank you. Earlier this year I went to a ‘jazzy David Bowie’ gig. It was a friend’s idea and I was expecting it to be awful, to be honest, but it was wonderful and made me think a lot about how popular songs could be arranged differently. I could hear a lot of Bill Evans sounds in the piano playing at that gig – it was really interesting. The band are planning to release an album, and I’ll post a link in the forum when they do. Meanwhile … off to explore some of the ideas you’ve given us here.
Thanks JJC – I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Yes please do post a link once the album is released – that sounds very interesting.
Whilst this is a ‘popular song’, the basic harmony of the tune is already quite rich (minor 251s, sus chords, major 251s) and so it’s much easier to add jazzy embellishments to something that is already based on jazz harmony.
Also as we point out in the lesson, the melody often touches the “pretty-sounding chord extensions”, such as the note “F” which is 11th of the C-7b5 chord, and the note “C” which is the 9th of the Bb-7 chord. These so called ‘jazz chord extensions’ are already built into the melody which makes the tune sound lovely with the basic spread voicings that we explore at the start.
Have fun studying this tune!
Cheers,
Hayden
Thank you very much Hayden for this amazing seminar! I really enjoyed it 🙂