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Isn, T She Lovely
Isn, T She Lovely
To celebrate we’ll take a look at 2018 Ellis Marsalis International Jazz Piano
Competition winner Ben Paterson’s excellent take on a Stevie Wonder classic.
Before we go into the lesson itself, take 4 minutes to appreciate Ben Paterson’s
masterful treatment of Stevie Wonder’s Isn’t She Lovely:
Now that you have listen to Ben’s take on the tune, let’s dig deeper:
To set the tone as well as establish the key of the piece, Ben plays this quick run:
Ben starts this bar by playing an F in the bass followed by a
rootless F7(b13) chord.
To play the arpeggio, simply use fingers 1, 2, 3, and 5 over the chord shape
and repeat over 3 octaves going up.
Now let’s look into how to work on Isn’t She Lovely piano harmonies Ben’s way.
Take a look at how Ben harmonizes the first phrase of Isn’t She Lovely:
The first 3 notes of bar 2 are F and Gb.
Notice that on the 1st beat of bar 3, you have a left hand shell voicing. On the “& of
2”, play a rootless Bbm7(9) as shown in the notation.
Ben Paterson also loves to use a lot of extensions over his chord voicings to add
texture and excitement.
The next section reveals how you can use reharmonization to spice up any tune.
On bar 5, Ben plays both the standard V chord (Ab7) and then this is followed
by a chord substitution (Dmaj7#11) that resolves to the I chord on the next
bar.
Before the reharm, Ben still plays the V chord on the 1st beat.
He then plays the tritone substitute at the & of 2 for a more pronounced
effect.
Now, let's see how you can add a bit of flash just the way Ben does it.
Bar 11 of this Ben Paterson arrangement features a quick, staccatissimo run over
a Db major chord:
This particular run appears to be based on the F minor blues scale with a
chromatic run in the end after the 5th.
2. Run through C-Db-D-Eb-E using 1-2-2-3-4. Finger 2 easily slides off from Db to D
using that sliding finger technique in blues.
3. Go through the run very slowly at first with proper staccatissimo articulation.
4. Once it can be executed at a particular slow tempo, increase speed in just small
increments.
You can also use this scale pattern as an exercise by playing it up and down.
Proper fingering for the descending version involves sliding the 3rd finger placed
on Eb down to E natural.
Now let's take a look at how Ben adds a bit more modern flavor to his piano
arrangement.
How To End An Isn't She Lovely Piano Chorus With
More Interesting, Modern Harmonies
On bars 16 to 19, Ben plays some really interesting chord voicings to harmonize
the melody.
Bar 17 has chords consisting of the root and 5th for the left hand then a 9th and
#11th for the right.
We see the end of the passage with a Cb6/9 chord as a substitute for what's
supposed to be a Dbmaj7 chord.
Now that you know some of Ben Paterson's tricks, what should you do next?
You may have studyied all sorts of techniques, tips, and tricks from YouTube.
However, when push comes to shove, you're still unhappy with your playing.
Despite how much you love music, it's not fun to feel embarrassed or
unhappy about a performance.
Perhaps, you just don't have the right focus and guidance.
It's a good thing that the Jazz Inner Circle is here to help.
Our world-class jazz piano instructors definitely know what it takes for you to be
taken seriously and hit the stage with confidence.
One-on-one training sessions with award-winning, Grammy nominee, and world touring
piano instructors.
"The Jazz Piano Mastery Program"
Slots are very limited, so I strongly recommend booking for an interview ASAP.
If you have any suggestions, questions, or comments, feel free to leave some
below. We'd love to hear from you.
Happy practicing.
Mark A. Galang
The A to Z blueprint for jazz improvisation success. Click image to grab today.
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3. Are you a blues piano fan? Check out his popular Breakthrough Blues Method & Learn
Chicago Blues Piano DVD Course.
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