Body And Soul

Johnny Green

BalladDb4/4

60

chords

23

different scales

13

tonal centres

First bars

Eb-7 Bb7(b13)Eb-7 Ab7Dbmaj7 Gb7F-7 Eo7

Thirteen tonal centres in sixty chords. Body and Soul is a ballad, and ballads expose you: at a slow tempo every scale choice is audible in full.

The bridge is the test. The tune leaves the key and crosses ground almost no other ballad visits, then comes back. Twenty chords admit more than one reading, plus three diminished and four half-diminished — the two families most often guessed at.

The full analysis of this song

  • The scale for every chord
  • The triads
  • The arpeggio
  • The reason behind the choice
  • The player in all 12 keys
  • Thiago's commentary
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