So, about those Charlie Brown songs you play every December...
Published 5 days ago • 3 min read
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Reader,
Every December, my piano playing friends pull out their Charlie Brown Christmas sheet music and play through "Linus and Lucy" or "Christmas Time Is Here" exactly as written... and then close the book until next year.
The transcription sounds great. But when they sit down to play "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" or any other tune, it doesn't have that same Charlie Brown magic. The Vince Guaraldi sound stays trapped in the arrangement instead of becoming something they can actually use as a tool for other songs.
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Friday Workshop: Soloing techniques over Bye Bye Blackbird.
See you Friday, Dec 19th, at 1:00 Eastern.
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Here's what I've found after years of transcribing music and studying recordings. There are little techniques within these songs that we can isolate and learn for ourselves. And, once you've done that work, you can apply them to any song you want.
3 Ideas from Vince Guaraldi
- The swing feel. Swing is the DNA of jazz, and honestly where most classically-trained pianists get stuck. It's so much more subtle and nuanced than just turning 8th notes into triplets.
- Spread voicings under the melody. This is what gives his chords that lush, open quality. There’s a straightforward formula for building these, and once you see it, you’ll wonder why no one showed you sooner.
- The “breathing” movements. Guaraldi takes his dominant chords and creates movement... tension, then release... that creates melodic moments within the harmony.
Knowing these ingredients isn't the same as knowing how to cook. The real magic is hearing how these three things weave together until it sounds effortless.
So I made a video breaking it all down, step by step. I start with Guaraldi's signature moves, then show you how to apply them to "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," a song that's NOT from Charlie Brown, just to prove the techniques work anywhere.
The video below is reaching a lot of people, and I'm so encouraged to see people in the comments finally having their "a-ha!" moments.
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This makes ANY song instantly sound like Charlie Brown
Happy practicing, and Happy Holidays.
Josh
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Josh Walsh
Say hi 👋🏻 on YouTube or Bluesky.
Or, just reply to this email.
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P.S.
I just added something to your membership: a quick-start guide for anyone who's ever opened Jazz-Library and thought "...where do I even begin?"
It walks you through how to navigate everything, plus my RPM practice method for turning all this content into actual playing results.
If you've been around a while, you probably know most of this. But now it's all in one place, and it might be worth checking out if you feel overwhelmed too.
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