Music Lesson: The Girl From Ipanema

This is a little version of The Girl From Ipanema, so you've probably heard it. It's a kind of interpretation inspired by Richard Groove Holmes from a live album. I really like how it uses two very different tones for the two sections of the song.

Tones in the Tune

Let's go into detail about the tones in this tune.

Lower Tone

• On the bottom, we've got the same kind of pad tone that we've used a couple of other times.
• He probably would have been playing with a band, providing more of a bass line.
• In that context, he would have been playing pedals, not so much a pad.
• For this context, it works quite well.

Top Tone

On the top, we have:

• The third harmonic percussion setting.
• This jazz tone is very responsive and chunky.

When he moves into the chorus, it transitions to a very different tone.

• Leslie Vibrato: Flips the Leslie to fast and plays in a broad, glissando way.
• The voicing of chords is very big.
• He uses the Leslie quite a lot; you could try pulling a bit of that out for a different feel.

Gospel Feel

This shift gives a very different, gospel-like feel to the section.

• If you were doing a bass line, you could try doing that with one hand.
• It won't feel quite the same, but you can just about manage it.

Achieving the Right Sound

One way of achieving that sound is by pulling the phrasing back a bit.

• This gives you more room to slide into that new shape without catching too many other notes.
• Be aware of the very light action; it's easy to catch another note accidentally.
• Often, that doesn't matter too much as long as it feels right.

Tips for Sliding Up

• You'll only catch maybe the first couple of contacts, so it's not going to be a disaster.
• Pulling the phrasing back as you slide up can help.
• Spread it out as you go along, rather than forcing it.

Additionally, I pulled a little bit of that drawbar, which adds some mid-range richness to it.

Conclusion

And there you have the main tones of the tune. Good luck!