Summertime

About Summer Time So many versions of this standard. Best to pack it with original bursts like Artie Shaw!

Artie Shaw
Miles Davis
Chet Baker

"Summertime," Ella Fitzgerald Ella's version of "Summertime," technically a cover of George Gershwin's aria composed for the 1935 opera Porgy and Bess, is still utterly jaw-dropping. Gershwin's mix of jazz elements and African-American folk music worked so seamlessly that it would be hard to ignore the song's validity as a jazz standard even if Fitzgerald had never touched the tune. But she did, and did so in a way that really can't be outdone.

Minor 6 chord shape

middle finger on 6th string (low E, the fat string) if you let your finger straighten slightly it very conveniently mutes the 5th string which is what you want. This finger gives you the root note so the chord is determined by the fret where this finger is positioned, in our case we want to start on the 5th fret = A so chord is Am6, move it up 2 frets and you have Bm6 move up another fret and its Cm6 (so remembering just this one shape gives you twelve new chords that you know) first finger goes on 4th string ON THE FRET BEFORE THE ROOT (so if doing Am6 this is on the 4th fret) ring finger on the 3rd string on the same fret as the root note (in this case the 5th) little finger on the 2nd string on the same fret as the root note (in this case the 5th) high e string (1st string) is muted with the palm of the hand by just closing up the whole hand a little (or use whatever part of your anatomy works for you)

Minor 7 chord shape

ring finger presses down the 2nd 3rd and 4th strings and also mutes the 1st string (it is easier than it sound) middle finger comes around the side and presses down on the 6th string and naturally tends to mute the 5th string (which is what you want) so only four strings actually sound, exactly what you need for a 7th chord (root, 3rd, 5th and 7th note of the scale for those into music theory)

Hope this helps, sorry if it is a bit long winded but I have tried to make it as clear as I can, I would hate anyone to be practising the wrong thing. Must be fretboard diagrams somewhere on the web but I have not found any nice ones yet.

FREE GAME TO HELP YOU

Lastly there is a nifty little (free !) game at Fretboard Trainer

That is supposed to help you memorise the guitar fretboard, sadly my scores are still in the mid teens but they are improving slowly and I do think it is helping me memorise all the note positions. Let me know what you think

abc-BIG-BAND-TENOR-summertime-T2a

X:1
T:Summertime (2nd Tenor)
M:4/4
L:1/8
K:F
R:Dave Wolfe
| C2 D2 E2 F2\
| ^F2 =F2 E2 _E2\
| z8| A4 _A-G3|
| A4 =B4\
| A4 G4|| z2 =B2 ^c4\
| =B4 d2 ^c2|
| =B4 ^c4\
| =B4 z4 \
| D2 -(3D_E=E F3 G\
| B4 G2 ^G2|
| ^C4 E4\
| A8 || z2 d2 =B4\
| A4 G4|
| z F3 z G3\
| A4 F4 | Z4 | A4 =B4 | A3 G-G4||
| "[25]" dA=BF GB^ce \
| f=BdA B^cfg\
| adf=B ^ceg=b\
| d'a=bf gbd'a|
| g8| z2 B2 A2 ^G2\
| E4 ^G4| A4 -A =G3||
| "[33]" F2 G2 \
| F4 d2 ^c2 \
| =B4 ^c4| z8 ||

abc-BIG-BAND-TENOR-summertime-T2b

X:1
T:Summertime (2nd Tenor page 2 of 2)
M:4/4
L:1/8
K:F
R:Dave Wolfe
| A8 | z2 A2 F4\
| F8| z2 =B2 _B4|
| A4 _A4 \
| G4 G4|| "[48]" z2 AG -G2 GA\
| -A4 G4|
| F4 G4 \
| F4 A4\
| B8\
| A4 _A4|
| z2 E2 _A4\
| G4 (3z2G2_E2 \
| D2 DF-F4\
| z2 d2 ^c4|
| d4 A4\
| A4 z4\
| A4 A4\
| D4 F4| Z8|
| A4 =B4 \
| A3 G-G4|| "[61]" dA=BF GB^ce\
| f=BdA B^cfg|
| adf=B ^ceg=b\
| d'a=bf gbd'a\
| g8\
| z2 B2 A2 ^G2|
| E4 E4\
| A8\
|| "[69]" z2 d2 =B4\
| A4 G4|
| Z2 | A8 \
| z2 A2 F4\
| F8|
| z2 =B2 _B4\
| A4 _A4\
| G8| A8||