John Hall

I was talking with a student the other day and we got into the subject of diminished seventh chords and how they are used in jazz. It got me thinking about how many different ways this chord can be resolved…

A jazz arrangement of this traditional carol that I hope you find interesting and will learn for the Holidays. A good way to keep your jazz voicings in shape.

Click here to securely download score for $5.00

My latest in the seasons series. I hope you enjoy Spring even though many of you in the Midwest USA are without power and experiencing temperatures below freezing. We can always hope I guess.

This piece is back to a…

Here is short piece using one of the more common octatonic (eight-tone) scales. This particular octatonic scale is often referred to as the diminished scale. It can be described as a symmetrical scale consisting of alternating whole and half-steps.

The…

The second in a series of seasonal compositions.

Hope you enjoy.

Download available here for $2.00 or more if you like.

You can also purchase the set of four seasons here for $5.00.

A common-tone diminished seventh chord is a full-diminished seventh chord that has a note in common with its chord of resolution. For example as is common in jazz:

Take the progression in C major:

Em7 - Ebdim7 - Dm7 -…

My yearly contribution to the Christmas guitar repertory. A new arrangement of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen that I hope you enjoy. I know it's a little early but as before you might need a little time to get it…

Hot Cross Buns revised. A short example of reharmonization. I chose the simplest tune I could think of, with a slight variation, and incorporated some of the more common techniques of reharmonizing a melody that would be typically employed by…

A new piece that I am hoping will be accessible to most players. Included is a version with standard notation only and a second version with standard notation and tab. Both are contained within the single PDF.

To download click…

What do we mean when we say "Carulli was a good composer but not as good as Sor".

Let's examine a little study of Carulli's and see if we can find an objective way of comparing his work with Sor's.

…