All in the Family Chord Melody

I grew up watching All In the Family and it remains one of my favorite shows to this day.

Not too long ago, I played a jazz gig and someone in the audience requested “Those Were The Days,” the classic theme song from All In the Family, written by Charles Strouse and Lee Adams.

I couldn't fill this person's request since didn't know how to play it at the time.

But soon after, I listened to the song a few times and wrote my own arrangement in about half an hour.

I tried to prepare this arrangement in the style of one my favorite guitar players, Barney Kessel, whose music I've been obsessed with for a long time.

Barney had this unbelievable way of playing chord melodies.

His arrangements were full of thick, harmonically rich chords that always sounded appropriate since they served the melody, directly or indirectly.

He had this way of playing that (even 50 years later) sounded modern without sounding too “out.”

And he would play them in a way that would swing and sound classic, without sounding too dated or hokey.

The tab you see here is pretty close to I played in the video, since I usually improvise various chord voicings in the moment.

Wishing you guys a safe and happy Thanksgiving, there will be more Dead/Phish videos and lessons coming soon.

Full PDF of Those Were The Days

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