The Vince Guaraldi Charlie Brown Christmas chord
Reader,
Christmas Time is Here, by Vince Guaraldi, is my favorite Christmas song. I never cared too much about the Charlie Brown Christmas movie (I mean… it’s okay, but .. eh?), but the soundtrack is a masterpiece that will stand the test of time.
Now, before you wander off to carve the Christmas ham, take a look at the harmony in this opening line. Specifically, look a the way these chords are voiced.
The harmony alternates between an Fmaj7, and an Eb7. Here in the key of F major, thats the I chord, and the bVII7 dominant chord respectively.
If we look more closely at the Eb7 you’ll notice it includes the #11… an A natural:
But that voicing is horrendous, so how does Vince do it? This is where the Christmas Magic happens…
Let’s voice this chord with an upper structure instead. In the left hand, we’ll play a standard Eb7 shell, and in the right hand we’ll play an F major triad:
This is one of our standard upper structure rules for a #11 chord. (If you’re a member, see the upper structure course, or start a free trial).
This implementation, where the right hand holds a major triad, but the left hand drops to a dominant 7 a whole step below, is all over this tune, and quite frankly, over the whole Charlie Brown Christmas album.
Here’s a more advanced example, from the B section of the same tune:
In this case, the right hand of the Dbmaj7 is voiced with an Ab triad in the right hand, and then the Gb7#11 also has the same Ab triad on top.
Practice this idea, it’s INSANELY USEFUL.
Some Related News
We were supposed to have a holiday Zoom call, but I never scheduled it. Here's what happened:
A couple of weeks ago I got offered to go on a Christmas tour with Under the Streetlamp, a band formed by some guys from the Jersey Boys broadway show, who made it famous doing PBS specials over the last 15 or so years.
I haven’t done a show of this magnitude since before the Pandemic, so when the call came in I jumped at the opportunity. But the preparation for that took over my focus, and the Zoom call had to slide.
So, I'm sorry about that. I owe you that call, and we’ll be doing it after the new year.
I hope all of you have a fantastic holiday season. Stay safe and healthy, see you in 2024!
Josh Walsh
PS. Get your practice in over the break too. No excuses!