“Never Let Me Go” Tutorial
In this lesson we’re going to create a solo piano arrangement of a beautiful ballad ‘Never Let Me Go’, written by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans.
The tune appeared first time int the movie The Scarlet Hour, and has been recorded by numerous people from then on.
Good versions to check out are of course the movie version sang by Nat King Cole, Bill Evans version, Nancy Wilson, Keith Jarret, just to name a few.
When learning a new song, I highly recommend to listen many vocal versions, that’s nice way to sing and learn the melody, and also you will get familiar with the lyrics.
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.
We start the lesson by recapping the basic theory behind sus chords and then explore them in context of major and minor 251s
Passing chords are temporary stepping stones between chords, adding variety and making your playing sound more interesting & dynamic.
Practice Tips
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Experiment with placing the chords after the melody. This creates a 'question & answer' or 'call and response' approach to playing solo jazz piano.
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When dealing with multiple modulations, always relate the chord back to the key of the tune. This applies to the bridge of "Never Let Me Go".
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Memorising the modulations in relation to the key of the tune will help you transpose the tune if needed.
Are you going to have part II with bigger chord voicings? This is such a beautiful melody but it seems to be lacking something. Check out Peter Horvath arrangement. This is how I want to play this song.
Hi Denise 👋
Yes we can certainly revisit the tune with some bigger voicings.
Is this the version you are referring to?…
Cheers!
Hayden
Yes, love the arrangement. I’ve been trying to work on my chords but just can’t quite get the same sound. This is why I have you!
Is there a lesson for this great tune somewhere else on the site?
What you mention in the comment from 2019, with bigger voicings.
Maybe on seminars??
Thx.
Hi Dudo,
I don’t think that this tune was ever covered elsewhere on the site but we can definitely incorporate this into a live seminar. We started the live seminars in 2020 and so I don’t think it has been covered in a seminar.
Would you like Tuomo to teach it? He’s the teacher of this lesson.
Either Tuomo or myself can cover it in an upcoming live seminar. I’ve not actually played this tune before but the video above is the kind of slow ballad style that i like to play.
Let me know what you think!
Cheers,
Hayden