Like Someone In Love Tutorial
Like someone in Love was written by Jimmy Van Heusen and is one of the great jazz standards. The tune is written in the key of Eb Major and follows a 32 measure A1 – B1 – A2 – B2 form.
The melody is characterised by upwards leaps which offers an interesting contrast to the descending bass movement which falls by half and whole steps in the first A section. We’re going to look at some ways we can develop the melody to really bring out this element of the tune.
Harmonically, everything is relatively straight forward, lots of 25s and 251s as to be expected. There is some slash notation in the first A section which can look tricky to navigate at first glance but once you understand the movement that is implied by the composer, it’s pretty straight forward to voice and to play over.
We’re also going to look at another application of block chords which can be used to add movement and interest over bars containing static harmonies and melodies.
Related Lessons
In this lesson I explain what drop 2 voicings are, how to construct them and how to practice drop 2 so that you are familiar with them in all 12 keys.
Block chords are used for harmonising a melody line by moving the notes of the chord in parallel, following the same rhythm as the melody.
Upper structure triads are complex sounding altered dominant chords. They will add texture and sophistication to your playing.
Practice Tips
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This is a great tune to practice slash chords and descending bass lines in context.
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There is a lot of space in the melody and harmony which makes it a nice tune to apply internal voice movement.
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Check out the lessons on block chords and drop 2 voicings, we demonstrate using this style of voicing in the B Section.
- Remember to listen and transcribe from your favourite recordings - this is where the real learning begins!
