As Time Goes By: Interm./Easy Guitar TAB

This collection gives guitarists a genuine taste of jazz-age playing without overwhelming them with complex changes or demanding technical requirements. The arrangements nail the authentic feel of 1920s-30s jazz while keeping the chords accessible, so students can focus on swing rhythm and phrasing rather than fighting the fingerboard. You'll find working intros, endings, and turnarounds included, which means players leave here with real tools for sounding like they belong in that era.

Stepping into a smoky 1920s jazz club where the guitar lines are warm and unpretentious, the rhythm bounces with easy swing, and the melodies land with instant familiarity. There's a lightness to these songs, a conversational quality that invites you to lean in and make them your own rather than deliver them formally.

Guitarists with intermediate to easy-level reading who want to explore jazz standards without getting tangled in advanced harmonic theory. This collection works equally well for adults returning to guitar, students developing jazz vocabulary, and anyone drawn to the style and sound of early twentieth-century popular music.

• Work the swing rhythm separately from the melody. These songs live or die on feel, so spend time with a metronome locking into that shuffle before adding melody or lyrics.
• Shape your chord voicings to sit under the melody naturally. Jazz-era guitar thrives on tasteful reductions, not full block voicing on every beat.
• Let the classic intros and turnarounds breathe. Treat them as genuine musical moments, not filler between verses.
• If singing along, keep your vocal phrasing loose and conversational. The charm of these tunes depends on sounding unhurried and conversational, not metronomic.

Build a themed evening around early jazz standards, pairing these guitar arrangements with vocals or other acoustic instruments for an intimate concert setting. You might also use individual pieces as intermission solos or encore material, since each tune stands alone and connects instantly with audiences. For a jazz history unit, this collection provides direct entry into the compositional voice of the era itself.

• Swing rhythm and groove feel in the context of early jazz standards
• Reading lead sheet notation with chord symbols and TAB simultaneously
• Comping patterns and voicing choices appropriate to 1920s-30s jazz style
• Phrasing and interpretation of melody over jazz changes
• Playing authentic intros, turnarounds, and endings in period style