Someone To Watch Over Me Introduction
Welcome to part 1 of this advanced tutorial on the tune “Someone To Watch Over Me” by George Gershwin.
“Someone To Watch Over Me” has a 24 bar introduction which we will now cover in detail. Adding this intro makes the total length of the tune 54 bars long which makes it considerably longer than the standard 32 bar form.
By covering the 24 bar intro in a separate tutorial, it will help us to learn and memorise the chords and changes before moving onto the main 32 bar form.
In this tutorial we will introduce chord extensions, chord alterations, upper structure triads, and inner voice movement.
We will also apply some other stylistic devices to add more character and personality to the introduction.
Related Lessons
The So What chord voicing contains all 5 notes of the pentatonic scale. That’s why it works so well in so many different harmonic situations.
We start the lesson by recapping the basic theory behind sus chords and then explore them in context of major and minor 251s
Upper structure triads are complex sounding altered dominant chords. They will add texture and sophistication to your playing.
Practice Tips
-
Notice that many of the chords and changes in the intro are repetitive.
-
The first 8 bars, and second 8 bars of the intro are virtually identical with slightly different endings.
-
The last 8 bars contain a very similar motif repeated twice.
-
Identifying and remembering these repetitive aspects of the tune will help you to learn and memorise the chord changes.
-
Once you feel comfortable with the chords and voicings in the intro, you can move onto the main tutorial for this tune which is the next lesson in this course.
Hayden,
Eb6 to Eo7 – is Eo7 a passing chord also? Thanks.
Anita D
After mastering the beginner arrangement, and learning other tunes too, It’s with excitement to continue to the advanced arrangement, I have learned the tune, and slowly getting to grips with what seem to me a plethora of advanced methods of expression of chords and movement within, a real joy to my “ear”. Hearing it is delightful, the comprehension is a challenge to be sure. Thanks. H