Summer Solo

Summer Solo
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My tent. I love the simplicity of camping.
The sweet, sun-drenched travel of summer.
It is the time of year when most people take their vacations.
Unfortunately, this tends to make it the most expensive time to travel.
Fortunately, all tourist attractions are open and the world is in full festival mode.
If you're looking to travel solo this summer, whether for a long weekend or for longer, the question becomes where. Here are three themes for planning summer solo travel along with a few fond memories and links to posts with more information.
You can consider these three themes separately or use the festivals theme for destinations, road trips theme for transportation and camping for accommodation. Enjoy!
Summer isn't just a time to check out a destination, it's a time for celebration – and maybe a little dancing in the streets. Every major city in North America, Europe, the world, is vying for your travel dollars with fabulous events and festivals that are free or have free components. Summer is high season for festivals.
Think of Toronto for Caribana , New York for its iconic SummerStage Festival or small town Caraquet, New Brunswick for the incredible Tintamarre . How about Belfast for its Belsonic music festival, Tollwood in Munich for a broad range of performance arts or Fête de la Musique in France where musicians, professional and amateur, take to the streets to play each year on the summer solstice. There are loads more. Check out the Fest300 website for festivals in North America and Must Love Festivals for Europe. Here are my top city destinations for the summer. All of them have festivals to entice you:
Naturally, there are dozens more cities that I could recommend. If you've chosen a destination, check our destination section to see if someone from our community has written about it. If you're traveling to North America, have a read of Solo Travel to America: 32 Tips . If, conversely, you're traveling to Europe, read Solo Travel Europe: 32+ Tips You Need to Know .
Driving the backroads of Emilia Romagna I came across this pastoral scene. Beautiful.
Regular readers know that I love a road trip. It's the freedom – the open spaces.
I've road-tripped much of North America and Europe. I've driven across Canada a couple of times, down the west coast of the US and back up the center, down the east coast and back (there's more territory to cover) and 10 months driving and camping in Europe in a Volkswagen pop-up. I've done my fair share of road tripping. Here are my top posts to inspire you to a road trip.
To find and book activities anywhere in the world check out Viator . (Tours sometimes require a minimum number of people for booking. If you can't book online, call the tour company directly and see if you can join a group.)
Slowing things down provides time to soak in nature's beauty.
7 days a week, 24 hours a day – you can get just about anything you want which is great but it can also make for a dizzying lifestyle. Why not slow things down a bit and go hiking, camping or RVing/caravaning or cottaging.
For me it's a simple tent in a campground. I just can't get over my fear of bears to go interior camping but I do love a well-treed campsite spaced far from my neighbors with a fire pit, a picnic table and my tent. A cooler and a stove and I'm good to go. You can read about how I camp here: 7 Things that Happen When You Do Nothing .
So where to camp? Here are a few of my favorite spots:

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Summertime Jazz Guitar Lesson - Melody & Solo

35 thoughts on “Summertime Melody & Solo Study”

Summertime is one of the most popular jazz tunes at jam sessions and on pick-up gigs. It’s also one of the most fun jazz tunes to play on guitar. Because of this, Summertime is an essential tune to have under your fingers. While is a popular and fun jazz standard, it’s often hard to know where to start. To help you get your hands and ears around Summertime, here’s the melody and a few soloing concepts to explore.
These concepts will help you navigate the chord changes of Summertime with confidence. Learning the melody ensures you always know where you are in the tune and enables you to quote the melody in your solos when inspiration strikes.
Summertime is a fun song, but it’s harder to play than it looks, so studying this material builds your confidence and skill set to navigate this jazz standard.
Have fun exploring the melody, sample solos, and improvisational concepts over this classic Gershwin tune.
Download the Beginner's Guide to Jazz Guitar and start playing today!
Here are the tabs and notation for this easy arrangement of the Summertime theme, where I combine the melody with simple jazz chord voicings .
There are 2 guitar scales that can be used over the entire chord changes of Summertime, the A natural minor scale and the A minor blues scale .
The first is the A natural minor scale (aka A Aeolian scale). This scale has the same notes as the C major scale.
Here is the most common fingering on guitar (but always learn to play all guitar scales over the entire fret board):
The minor blues scale has the same notes as the A minor pentatonic scale, but with an added blue note .
You can get by using only these 2 scales in your improvisation, but your solos will sound repetitive and not very interesting. One way to spice things up a bit is to add some other scales, especially over the dominant chords…
This scale can be used in the 4th bar, over the ii V in D minor (Em7b5 A7):
Here is the fingering in 5th position:
The harmonic minor scale can also be played over the ii Vs in A minor, but here we have to use the A harmonic minor scale:
Another way to add interest to your solos is using arpeggios. While explaining how arpeggios work is beyond the scope of this lesson, here’s one example you can use over the ii V in D minor in the 4th bar.
A common arpeggio to play over a dominant chord is the diminished arpeggio starting on the 3rd of that dominant chord.
For example, you can play a C#dim7 arpeggio over A7:
If you want to learn more about using arpeggios in your solos , check out The Easy Guide to Jazz Guitar Arpeggios .
Here’s a backing track you can use to practice:
Bar 20 : here I use an Am(add 9) arpeggio:
Bar 26 : here I use a G triad arpeggio:
Bar 38 : here I play an Fmaj7 arpeggio over Dm7.
When playing over minor chords, play a maj7 arpeggio starting on the 3rd of that minor chord to get a 9 sound.
Bar 40 : here I play the E altered scale, with a chromatic note in between ( click here to learn how to use the altered scale ).
Bar 45 : this is a Chet Baker phrase.
Wow I’m so happy to have found this!
Dirk, thanks so much for your awesome lessons!
Have you considered doing a count in instead of just having the audio start right up at the point you’re supposed to be playing? You don’t have enough time to play the beginning notes and get the rest of it in the screenshot. Thanks
nice way of teaching. thanks a million !!!!👍
Thanks for the excellent lesson on a great tune Dirk! Really enjoying your site.
Great lesson! The notation is incorrect for Bars 55 (that F-flat, vs the tab) and 64 (wrong rhythm). Just wanted to let you know because it’s been a big help to me!
I like the lessons, but i havent conditions to buy the Ebooks, someone please help me.
Très bel arrangement avec une belle sonorité et une telle facilité d’exécution! Je suis jaloux!!!Lol
You play this beautifully, I would really like to know how you get that nice mellow tone. I know tone is also how the player touches the notes (both left hand and right hand) but what suggestions would you have. Interested in knowing what amp your using and any pedals you us, settings on amp and guitar. Thank you so much.
basically set your mids max bass max or 3/4 and treble 1/2 and on your guitar turn your tone knob all the way down for such an extreme sound anyway that works for me
i hope i could help
I really like how you have put this lesson together, thanks much!!
Nice post!!! I can’t download the backing rack though, there seems to be a server error
Hi Miles, this should be fixed now, please try and let me know…
Hi Dirk,
Thank you, you do so much work for us. I have been with you since the early days and you are always giving more and teaching new material. For the Love of Jazz…You Are Great. Ill get some one day to repay your kindness, and i will buy from you. All the best. Matt Hawkins.
This is an excellent jazz guitar improvisation lesson. The solo was was well done with good lines, good tone and good variation in the feel of the improv
Thank you for this wonderful lesson!
Many Thanks Dirk!
Really looking forward to practice over the weekend now!
Hallo Dirk,
Ik ben momenteel met vakantie.
Na de vakantie pak ik de gitaar weer. Summertime is een heerlijk nummer. Na de vakantie ga ik mij daar zeker in verdiepen.
Dank je wel voor de info.
I’ve had a quick skim through this, and I’m looking forward to getting my teeth into it, but I have one comment to make about your description of the C# diminished arpeggio over an A7 chord.
The reason this arpeggio works, and the way it functions as a replacement for a dominant seventh chord, is that it’s actually an A7b9 arpeggio that misses out the root. When I hear a diminished chord or arpeggio in context, it feels transitional to me – providing a stepping stone from one chord to the next. A dominant seventh has a different feel and function.
Obviously there’s a tension in your lessons between the pragmatic (“this is where to find this arpeggio during a solo”) and the theoretical (“this is what’s really happening here”), but we’re big boys and girls on this forum, and I think we can take a little theory!
My tip for finding where to start this arpeggio it to play the root first and slide up a semitone (to Bb in this case) before starting the familiar sequence of minor third intervals.
A similar chord-naming issue arises with Em7b5, C9 and Gm6, where the same shape is used but is (usually!) given the name that fits its function.
Thank you so much, Dirk. One of your best lessons, definitely. Wonderful tone and sound. So jazzy!
Great Lesson, thank you very much!!
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Edited by Tim Lowery Friday 1 July 2022
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Best summer songs of all time, ranked
1. ‘(Sittin’ on the) Dock of the Bay’ by Otis Redding
2. ‘Under the Boardwalk’ by the Drifters
3. ‘Summertime’ by DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince
4. ‘Summer in the City’ by the Lovin’ Spoonful
5. ‘Summertime’ by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong
6. ‘Hot Girl Summer’ by Megan Thee Stallion featuring Nicki Minaj & Ty Dolla $ign
7. ‘Summer Breeze’ by Seals and Crofts
8. ‘It’s Summer’ by Gladys Knight & the Pips
10. ‘Rockaway Beach’ by the Ramones
11. ‘A Summer Song’ by Chad & Jeremy
12. ‘Hot Fun in the Summertime’ by Sly and the Family Stone
16. ‘I’m on a Boat’ by The Lonely Island
17. ‘That Summer Feelin’’ by Jonathan Richman
18. ‘Dancing in the Street’ by Martha and the Vandellas
19. ‘School’s Out for Summer’ by Alice Cooper
21. ‘Walking on Sunshine’ by Katrina and the Waves
22. ‘In the Summertime’ by Mungo Jerry
23. ‘Sunny Afternoon’ by the Kinks
24. ‘Watermelon Sugar’ by Harry Styles
27. ‘It Was a Good Day’ by Ice Cube
28. ‘Saturday in the Park’ by Chicago
29. ‘Good Vibrations’ by the Beach Boys
32. ‘Cruel Summer’ by Taylor Swift
33. ‘Summer Madness’ by Kool & the Gang
34. ‘Summertime Friends’ by Bonny Doon
35. ‘Summer Rain’ by Johnny Rivers
36. ‘Suddenly Last Summer’ by the Motels
38. ‘Bar-B-Q’ by Wendy Rene & the Drapels
39. ‘Sun is Shining’ by Bob Marley and the Wailers
40. ‘Everybody Loves the Sunshine’ by Roy Ayers
44. ‘Be Thankful for What You Got’ by William DeVaughn
45. ‘Water Get No Enemy’ by Fela Kuti
46. ‘Sunshine Superman’ by Donovan
47. ‘Here Comes the Sun’ by the Beatles
50. ‘Heat Wave’ by Martha and the Vandellas
54. ‘California Gurls’ by Katy Perry
55. ‘Summer Wine’ by Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra
56. ‘Paradise City’ by Guns N’ Roses
57. ‘I Know Where the Summer Goes’ by Belle and Sebastian
60. ‘Summertime Rolls’ by Jane's Addiction
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From surf-rock anthems to sweaty hip-hop bangers, these are the most essential summer songs ever made
No season inspires songwriters quite like the summer. Sure, there are artists whose music can be described as ‘autumnal’ or ‘wintry,’ but no musician has ever competed to have ‘the song of spring.’ It’s no wonder, really. If most music is ultimately about conveying a sense of freedom, there’s no time of year that better represents that feeling.
Even if you’re long past the days of ‘summer vacation’ being a thing, there’s something about the warm temperatures, sprinklers on lawns and the smell of barbecue that brings you right back to being a kid with no responsibilities again - and the right song can transport you there even in the dreariest of months. This list covers decades of summer jams, from ‘60s soul sunshine to ‘Hot Girl Summer.’ Slather on some sunscreen and cannonball into this list of the definitive songs of summer.
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Okay, so this lazy-day masterpiece, recorded mere days before Redding’s death in a plane crash, doesn’t specifically single out that it takes place during summertime. But just try to listen to the lapping waves, Redding’s whistling and singing about clearing your mind, and that lovely sonic tranquility throughout without conjuring your most relaxing summer vacation.
This song is deceptively simple – there aren’t many verses, and there’s a pretty long instrumental interlude right in the middle – but few tunes are as evocative of summer as this one. You can almost feel the sand crunching beneath your toes and the ocean waves in the background as you listen to all of its talk of hot dogs, the sun beating down on a tar-papered roof and getting cozy on a blanket with your beloved.
Before rushing the stage at the Oscars and proving himself the ultimate Wife Guy, Will Smith just wanted to kick it in the park in a Speed Racer shirt with half the population of Philadelphia around him and reminisce about chasing girls, driving slow and eating barbecue at the family reunion. Maybe the only Big Willie hit that’s persisted as an unironic classic, ‘Summertime’ literally sounds like summer in the city, the chill-as-hell beat - sampled from Kool and the Gang’s ‘Summer Madness’ - radiating like heat off a sidewalk.
The Lovin’ Spoonful begins its brilliant rock portrait of urban mood swings in a prelude of pent-up anticipation. Three quick pullbacks on the musical slingshot, each followed by a bang of drums like a backfiring car – and then it’s straight into the fast lane, with hard-driving verses that barely come up for air. In tautly evocative language, the song limns a Jekyll & Hyde portrait of a city split into sweltering days (‘All around, people looking half dead / Walking on the sidewalk, hotter than a match head’) and cool, exhilarating nights of randy tomcats on the prowl. Real street sounds (car horns, a jackhammer) add texture to the midsong musical interlude, which lets the song catch its breath before launching back to its urgent rhythms.
‘Summertime’ is a gorgeous lie. As written by George Gershwin and DuBose Heyward for the seminal 1935 American folk opera Porgy & Bess , it’s a lullaby sung by a poor young mother in the slums of South Carolina, assuring her child of a tranquil world that is nowhere around them. (Fish don’t jump on Catfish Row, and the living sure as hell isn’t easy.) Originally sung in a classical soprano range, ‘Summertime’ has been reinvented in many modes, including Janis Joplin’s achingly desperate 1968 account. But it’s hard to beat the warm, soothing version that Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong recorded for their 1957 Porgy & Bess album. Curled in the warm voices of these peerless vocalists, you’re transported to a gentler place, with the Daddy and M
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Summer Solo

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