{"id":145191,"date":"2024-09-13T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-13T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/?p=145191"},"modified":"2024-09-11T09:59:22","modified_gmt":"2024-09-11T16:59:22","slug":"learn-a-jazzy-reharmonized-arrangement-of-sweet-georgia-brown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/learn-a-jazzy-reharmonized-arrangement-of-sweet-georgia-brown\/","title":{"rendered":"Learn a Jazzy, Reharmonized Arrangement of \u201cSweet Georgia Brown\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Non-Traditional | Learn Lisa Liu\u2018s Interpretation of \u201cSweet Georgia Brown\u201d\" width=\"1290\" height=\"726\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/e5jfNjFT7FQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The beloved standard \u201cSweet Georgia Brown\u201d was written in 1925 by Ben Bernie and Maceo Pinkard, with lyrics by Kenneth Casey. The inspiration for the song reportedly struck when Bernie met a member of the Georgia House of Representatives, Dr. George Thaddeus Brown, in New York City. Brown mentioned that the Georgia General Assembly declared his daughter, who had been born in 1911, should be named Georgia after the state. This would be referenced in both the song title and the lyric \u201cGeorgia claimed her\/Georgia named her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>First recorded by Bernie and his orchestra, \u201cSweet Georgia Brown\u201d became a popular standard, performed by guitarists like <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3ZkF8sI\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Django Reinhardt<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/4gjUrrE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Doc Watson<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3Xpbjo4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Bucky Pizzarelli<\/a>, among many others. It was also adopted as the theme song for the Harlem Globetrotters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I chose to arrange the song in G major, the key it\u2019s often played in within my <a href=\"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/gypsy-jazz-video-lesson-learn-the-la-pompe-manouche-style-in-6-easy-steps\/\">jazz manouche<\/a> circles. In the first 12 measures of the original version, each chord lasts for four bars, so I reharmonize the melody notes for chordal variation. For example, instead of playing a single E7 shape, I use six different voicings in bars 1\u20134. I begin with an E major triad with the third (G#) in the bass and play a descending counterpoint bass line that travels down to C#, where I substitute the relative minor chord (C#m7) before moving on to an E augmented triad.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While at times I punctuate the arrangement with fuller voicings, containing as many as six notes, I also use more skeletal forms for contrast. In the last four bars, for instance, I play only the melody with a bass line, and the ear fills in the implied sequence of dominant sevenths shown in the chord symbols.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To add a bit of surprise, and to interject a bit of a bluesy feel, I opt for a rootsy approach on the open G chord at the end of the piece. This is a song about the South, after all, and in creating any instrumental arrangement, it\u2019s important to evoke the lyrics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"286\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Sweet-Georgia-Brown-notation-1.png?resize=1024%2C286&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"&quot;Sweet Georgia Brown&quot; guitar lesson music notation sheet 1 \" class=\"wp-image-145195\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Sweet-Georgia-Brown-notation-1.png?resize=1024%2C286&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Sweet-Georgia-Brown-notation-1.png?resize=500%2C140&amp;ssl=1 500w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Sweet-Georgia-Brown-notation-1.png?resize=768%2C215&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Sweet-Georgia-Brown-notation-1.png?resize=300%2C84&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Sweet-Georgia-Brown-notation-1.png?w=1074&amp;ssl=1 1074w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"758\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Sweet-Georgia-Brown-notation-2.png?resize=758%2C1024&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"&quot;Sweet Georgia Brown&quot; guitar lesson music notation sheet 2\" class=\"wp-image-145196\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Sweet-Georgia-Brown-notation-2.png?resize=758%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 758w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Sweet-Georgia-Brown-notation-2.png?resize=370%2C500&amp;ssl=1 370w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Sweet-Georgia-Brown-notation-2.png?resize=768%2C1038&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Sweet-Georgia-Brown-notation-2.png?resize=222%2C300&amp;ssl=1 222w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Sweet-Georgia-Brown-notation-2.png?w=1079&amp;ssl=1 1079w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 758px) 100vw, 758px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/store.acousticguitar.com\/products\/no-348-sep-oct-2024\" name=\"magazine\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"width: 150px; height: 198px; margin: 0px 20px 10px 0px;\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/001_348_Cover-150px.jpg?w=1290&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Acoustic Guitar magazine cover for issue 348\"><\/a>\n<p style=\"font-family: sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 15px 0px;\">This article originally appeared in the <a href=\"https:\/\/store.acousticguitar.com\/products\/no-348-sep-oct-2024\">September\/October 2024<\/a> issue of <em>Acoustic Guitar<\/em> magazine.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This beloved tune became a popular standard, performed by guitarists like Django Reinhardt, Doc Watson, and Bucky Pizzarelli, among many others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":145193,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"This beloved tune became a popular standard, performed by guitarists like Django Reinhardt, Doc Watson, and Bucky Pizzarelli, among many others.","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1652],"tags":[1951],"ppma_author":[1867],"class_list":["post-145191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-songs","tag-september-october-2024"],"blocksy_meta":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Lisa-Liu-playing-Sweet-Georgia-Btown-photo-Joet-Lusterman.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1","authors":[{"term_id":1867,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"lisa-liu","display_name":"Lisa Liu","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Lisa-Liu.jpg","url2x":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Lisa-Liu.jpg"},"user_url":"","last_name":"","first_name":"","job_title":"","description":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145191"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":145926,"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145191\/revisions\/145926"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145191"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=145191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}