Chords for YESTERDAYS - A TRIBUTE TO WES MONTGOMERY

_ _ How do you do, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls?
My name is Geoff and welcome to Polo Neck Music.
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_ Okay, I'm going to play a tune called Yesterdays.
[G] No, not that Yesterday by Paul McCartney.
I'm talking about Yesterdays.
It's plural.
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_ [D] _ [Gb] Anyway, this song was written by the great American composer Jerome Kern with lyrics
by Otto Harbach.
It was one of the songs used in a musical called Roberta, which came out a long time
ago in [G]
1933.
_ Since then, it's become a popular jazz standard.
So I'm going to play the Wes Montgomery arrangement of this tune.
But before I do that, I'd like to give you all a [B] short bit of biographical [E] information
about Wes Montgomery.
Wes is one of my all-time favorite [D] guitarists.
Now, I know I said in a previous video that [G] Chet Atkins is one of my favorite.
[Bm] But hey, I'm [B] allowed to have as many favorite guitarists as I [G] want.
So [B] there. _ _ _ _ _
_ _ Ah, shut up!
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_ _ Wes Montgomery is considered to be one of the greatest jazz guitarists of his generation.
He's been a positive inspiration and influence to musicians the world over.
He was a relatively late starter to music and only began learning to play the six-string
guitar at the age of 20.
However, he had played a four-string tenor guitar from age 12.
Wes learned to play by copying the solos of Charlie Christian note for note.
Charlie Christian was a great pioneering musician for his time because he was one of the first
people to make recordings with an electric guitar back in [Ab] the early 40s.
_ _ [G] Wes Montgomery had an unusual playing style in that he plucked the strings with his right-hand thumb.
He did this out of consideration for his neighbors.
[E] Before Wes turned professional, he worked as a machinist during the day and practiced
the guitar late [G] at night.
[Gb] By playing with his thumb, he was able to produce a softer sound that would not disturb his neighbors.
[A] How considerate is that, huh?
The world would be a better place if all next-door neighbors showed this sort of consideration.
_ Wes's main trademark was playing melodies in octaves.
He also used block chords in his improvised solos.
[B] _ _ Talent obviously ran in the Montgomery family because he had two brothers who were also gifted musicians.
His younger brother, Charles Buddy Montgomery, played vibraphone and piano, while an older
brother, William Monk Montgomery, was a bass player who was one of the very first musicians
to perform on the electric bass during the early 50s.
_ Wes Montgomery died of a heart attack in 1968 at the relatively young age of 45.
This is a real shame in my opinion.
He should have been around for a lot longer, but he left a rich legacy of recorded material
for which he won numerous accolades and [Gb] awards.
_ [Dm] As I mentioned before, Wes created his trademark sound by using his right hand thumb to pluck
the strings, but I'm going to play with a standard flat pick.
So here we go with Yesterday's. _ _ _ _ _
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_ [A] _ _ _ [D] _ _ I hope you all enjoyed my performance of Yesterday's [G] today. _
_ [Ab] Yesterday's today, does that sound right?
I don't know.
[Eb] Anyway, thank you all for coming to visit me here once again at Polo Neck Music.
I'll be back again in two weeks from now with another video presentation.
Until then, may the gods smile down upon you all.
Toodle pip [Eb] for now. _
_ _ [F] _ If you would like to subscribe to my channel, then please click on the subscribe button.
You may feel free to post comments as well.
If you have any [Gb]
questions, then I'll do my best to answer them.
Please [A] also find the links to my Facebook and DeviantArt pages in the video description.
Thank you all very much for your attention.
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