Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Jazz Guitar Fundamentals: Shell Voicings (part 1)
PDF/TAB available on Patreon: patreon.com/ChrisWhitemanMusic
Membership includes access to this lesson and access to ALL of my previous Patreon Lessons with accompanying TAB/PDF Files, as well as 25% Off My Arrangements at Musicnotes.com
chriswhitemanmusic.com
patreon.com/ChrisWhitemanMusic
Chris' Latest Album: chriswhiteman.hearnow.com
Upcoming Shows:bnds.us/rczr6s
00:00 Intro
03:42 Cycle of 4ths on 6th string
06:52 Shell Voicing forms with 6 sting roots
17:25 Maj7 through the cycle of 4ths
18:11 Maj6 through the cycle of 4ths
18:55 Dom7 through the cycle of 4ths
19:47 min7 & min7(b5) through the cycle of 4ths
20:30 min6 & dim7 through the cycle of 4ths
"As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases"
Books & Gear I use and Recommend:
The Jazz Theory Book by Mark Levine
amzn.to/4s1NdOO
Thomastik-Infeld Flatwounds 11-47
amzn.to/44yMTNs
Quilter Amp:
amzn.to/4oZdpqC
Joe Pass Chord Solos: For Guitar, Vibes, and All Keyboard Instruments
amzn.to/44Rb7ml
Wes Montgomery Guitar Folio
amzn.to/45mzWGM
The New Real Book by Chuck Sher
amzn.to/49j31nV
Jazz Guitar Fundamentals: Shell Voicings (part 1)
PDF/TAB available on Patreon: patreon.com/ChrisWhitemanMusic
Membership includes access to this lesson and access to ALL of my previous Patreon Lessons with accompanying TAB/PDF Files, as well as 25% Off My Arrangements at Musicnotes.com
chriswhitemanmusic.com
patreon.com/ChrisWhitemanMusic
Chris' Latest Album: chriswhiteman.hearnow.com
Upcoming Shows:bnds.us/rczr6s
00:00 Intro
03:42 Cycle of 4ths on 6th string
06:52 Shell Voicing forms with 6 sting roots
17:25 Maj7 through the cycle of 4ths
18:11 Maj6 through the cycle of 4ths
18:55 Dom7 through the cycle of 4ths
19:47 min7 & min7(b5) through the cycle of 4ths
20:30 min6 & dim7 through the cycle of 4ths
"As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases"
Books & Gear I use and Recommend:
The Jazz Theory Book by Mark Levine
amzn.to/4s1NdOO
Thomastik-Infeld Flatwounds 11-47
amzn.to/44yMTNs
Quilter Amp:
amzn.to/4oZdpqC
Joe Pass Chord Solos: For Guitar, Vibes, and All Keyboard Instruments
amzn.to/44Rb7ml
Wes Montgomery Guitar Folio
amzn.to/45mzWGM
The New Real Book by Chuck Sher
amzn.to/49j31nV
![Donna Lee (Charlie Parker): Jazz Guitar Chord Melody
Donna Lee (Charlie Parker): Jazz Guitar Chord Melody
TAB/pdf Arrangement available here: https://www.musicnotes.com/l/DcjXb
Chriss other arrangements- https://www.chriswhitemanmusic.com/chord-melody
Chriss website - https://www.chriswhitemanmusic.com/
Low cost lessons on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/ChrisWhitemanMusic
Chriss Latest Album - https://chriswhiteman.hearnow.com/
Zoom/Skype Lessons: https://www.chriswhitemanmusic.com/guitar-lessons
From Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donna_Lee
Donna Lee is a bebop jazz standard attributed to Charlie Parker, although Miles Davis has also claimed authorship.[1][2] Written in A-flat, it is based on the chord changes of the jazz standard (Back Home Again in) Indiana.[1] Beginning with an unusual half-bar rest, Donna Lee is a very complex, fast-moving chart with a compositional style based on four-note groups over each change.
Donna Lee was recorded by the Charlie Parker Quintet on May 8, 1947 for Savoy in New York City.[2] Musicians with Parker for the session were Miles Davis (trumpet), Bud Powell (piano), Tommy Potter (bass), and Max Roach (drums). Donna Lee was the first of four tunes recorded during the session and was recorded over four takes, the fourth being the master take.[2]
Later in 1947 it was recorded for Decca by Claude Thornhill and his orchestra, which included Gil Evans, Lee Konitz, Gerry Mulligan, Sandy Siegelstein, Bill Barber, and Joe Shulman. Some of these musicians were hired by Miles Davis for his album Birth of the Cool. Evans approached Davis for permission to write the arrangement of Donna Lee for Thornhill. Davis agreed and then got the idea to imitate the sound of Claude Thornhill but with less people for his nonet recordings, as he says in his autobiography.[5]
Jazz bassist Jaco Pastorius recorded a version of Donna Lee on bass guitar, with Don Alias on congas, for his debut album Jaco Pastorius (1976).[1] His friend Pat Metheny called this version astounding because of its hornlike phrasing that was previously unknown to the bass guitar and one of the freshest looks at how to play on a well traveled set of chord changes in recent jazz history.[1] Donna Lee has also been recorded by Karrin Allyson, Anthony Braxton, Nick Brignola, Clifford Brown, Ryan Kisor, Lee Konitz, Warne Marsh, Tito Puente, and Wallace Roney.[1] - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donna_Lee
Books & Gear I use and Recommend:
The Jazz Theory Book by Mark Levine
https://amzn.to/4s1NdOO
Thomastik-Infeld Flatwounds 11-47
https://amzn.to/44yMTNs
Quilter Amp:
https://amzn.to/4oZdpqC
Joe Pass Chord Solos: For Guitar, Vibes, and All Keyboard Instruments
https://amzn.to/44Rb7ml
Wes Montgomery Guitar Folio
https://amzn.to/45mzWGM
The New Real Book by Chuck Sher
https://amzn.to/49j31nV
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases Donna Lee (Charlie Parker): Jazz Guitar Chord Melody](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Vv2tUh6JifU/mqdefault.jpg)







![Tea For Two: Jazz Guitar Chord Melody
Tea For Two: Jazz Guitar Chord Melody
Arrangement available here: https://www.chriswhitemanmusic.com/chord-melody/tea-for-two-jazz-guitar-chord-melody-pdf-download-wtab
Chriss other arrangements- https://www.chriswhitemanmusic.com/chord-melody
Chriss website - https://www.chriswhitemanmusic.com/
Low cost lessons on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/ChrisWhitemanMusic
Chriss Latest Album - https://chriswhiteman.hearnow.com/
Zoom/Skype https://www.chriswhitemanmusic.com/guitar-lessons
The 1924 Jazz Standard composed by Vincent Youmans & Irving Caesar and arranged by Chris Whiteman for solo guitar.
from Wikipedia:
Youmans had written the basic melody idea of Tea for Two while he was in the navy during World War I, and he used it later on as an introductory passage for a song called Whos Who With You? While in Chicago, Youmans developed the idea into a song that the hero could sing to the heroine for the musical No, No, Nanette. He soon after played his composition for Irving Caesar and insisted he write the lyrics then and there. Caesar quickly jotted down a mock-up lyric, fully intending to revise it later on. Youmans, though, loved the mock-up and convinced Caesar it was just right for the melody.[4][1]
The phrase Tea for Two was originally shouted by hawkers on the streets of 18th century England who wanted to attract business by lowering the price of a pot of tea from thruppence to tuppence.[5][6]
Musical characteristics
Tea for Two has an A1-A2-A3-B form, a range of just over an octave, and a major tonality throughout.[7][8] The songs original key was A♭ major with a false key change to C major during the second A section.[7] It is melodically repetitive (as the entire song consists of eighth and quarter notes, except for a pattern of eighth, quarter, and eighth notes which briefly emerge in the second section) and has a relatively simple harmonic progression.[7][8]
Notable recordings
January 1925: The Benson Orchestra of Chicagos instrumental rendition reaches number five on the US Billboard chart and stays there for five weeks[9][5]
January 1925: Marion Harriss rendition reaches number one on the US Billboard chart and stays there for 11 weeks[9][5]
1939: Art Tatums rendition hits number eighteen on the US Billboard chart and stays there for a week[9][5]
September 1958: Tommy Dorseys rendition reaches number seven on the US Billboard chart and stays there for twenty weeks and number five on the weekly top 50 chart from the Toronto radio station CHUM and stays there for thirteen weeks[9][5]
October 1958: Tommy Dorseys rendition reaches number three on the UK Singles chart and stays there nineteen weeks[9][5]
1986: Art Tatum posthumously receives a Grammy Hall of Fame Award for his 1939 piano solo rendition[9][5]
The Offspring included the song on their 1997 album Ixnay on the Hombre. It includes spoken word dialogue by John Mayer, and the track was titled Intermission.
Nick DeCaro solo album recorded in 1974 and produced by Tommy Lipuma with engineer Al Schmitt. Featured at Rock Roll Hall of Fame Library & Archives Nick DeCaro tribute event September 2018.
Books & Gear I use and Recommend:
The Jazz Theory Book by Mark Levine
https://amzn.to/4s1NdOO
Thomastik-Infeld Flatwounds 11-47
https://amzn.to/44yMTNs
Quilter Amp:
https://amzn.to/4oZdpqC
Joe Pass Chord Solos: For Guitar, Vibes, and All Keyboard Instruments
https://amzn.to/44Rb7ml
Wes Montgomery Guitar Folio
https://amzn.to/45mzWGM
The New Real Book by Chuck Sher
https://amzn.to/49j31nV
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases Tea For Two: Jazz Guitar Chord Melody](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/XWGNe3_YMWA/mqdefault.jpg)

