Hello Dolly (Louis Armstrong) - Jazz standard theme, singing, solo tips - PDF Tab on screen+download

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This series is dedicated to every guitar player (especially self-taught musicians) who would like to get close to the charming world of jazz. Basically, playing jazz means listening to the masters and learning to play standards. So, I think it could be fine to start learning some themes through the tabs I'm sharing with you.
Today we’ll study "Hello Dolly", an old style jazz song, very funny to play and sing, and maybe the most popular jazz song ever: the Louis Armstrong’s version of the song reached in 1964 the first position on the U.S. Billboard, ending the Beatles' series of consecutive number-one hits in a row!
I sang and played the theme, then l improvised a solo on the two following choruses.
Beware: no perfectionism or accademic approach here, just a bunch of notes, coming both from scales and chord tones, and a lot of fun (sorry for background children noise!).
Some tips for the solo:
- beginners can play the solo over the whole song in C major tonality, using A natural minor scale and A pentatonic minor scale, except a passage in D minor (in the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th measures) and a passage in F major/D minor (in the 21st, 22nd, 23rd measures). To create tension and release in your solo I suggest to use, the G# diminished arpeggio over the G7 and E7 chords. Diminished arpeggio is very easy to be memorized, since it is a symmetrical pattern on the fretboard;
- intermediate players should analyze the harmonic structure, that in this song is very simple. We have all diatonic chords, except the following secondary dominant chords: Eb° stands in place of D7b9, secondary dominant built on the second grade of C major, E7, built on the third grade, and A7, built on the sixth grade. Of course, you should underline each of these chords with arpeggios, and link the notes melodically in your solo. You can also use G# diminished arpeggio over the G7 and E7 chords, and Eb diminished arpeggio over Eb° chord, which fit very well in this old style jazz context.
In some points of the chorus I used the F melodic minor scale, that in my opinion sounds very nice. Very important is to feel the swing: try to play smoothly, relaxed and having fun, that’s the main goal.
- more advanced players are welcomed to suggest further tips for my solos in the comments below!
Deeper and specific exercises on arpeggios (= chord tones playing), scales and comping will follow on further videos (I hope!).
IMPORTANT: tabs are not intended to substitute the notation; serious jazz students must learn to read music sheet.
Last tip: try to sing the notes you're playing during the solo, it will emprove your phrasing.
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Greetings from Italy! 🇮🇹🎶

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