"Summertime" Medium Tempo Play-A-Long
Practice your singer accompaniment skills by accompanying Lyndol on the tune "Summertime".
Bass & Drums Backing Track
This backing track features bass and drums which frees up our left hand and gives us the opportunity to practice rootless voicings.
Check out the ballad vocal backing track for "Summertime" which is just recorded with a metronome click and no bass. When the bass player is not present we should include the roots in our voicings to establish the basis of the harmony.
Vocal Section, Solo Section, & Scat Section
The backing track repeats 6 times through the form. Lyndol sings twice through the form, then you have the opportunity to solo twice through the form. Lyndol then takes a ‘scat solo’ for once through the form and then the final time through with the lyrics.
Related Lessons
In this section of the tutorial we are going to explore how you should be developing your swing feel and also your ability to improvise in general.
A nice place to start out with walking bass lines is to create lines using just the root and 5th with either chromatic or whole step approach tones.
We will start with left hand voicings to get a good grip of the melody and chord changes. We’ll then add in some bigger voicings and passing chords.
Practice Tips
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Identify the places in the form where the melody breaks or rests.
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As the accompanist, it's our role to fill in this space with harmonic and melodic fills including.
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Remember that you can utilise all of the registers of the piano.
- The fills and harmonic support should complement the singer and not conflict with, or overpower the vocals.
