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In this lesson, I walk you through my full process for arranging Johnny Mercer’s Moon River for solo guitar. Rather than simply teaching a finished arrangement, the focus is on understanding the musical decisions behind each phrase—so you can begin to develop your own voice in solo playing.

We cover pacing, melodic treatment, harmonic choices, and tasteful substitutions, with clear explanations of how each element supports the emotional arc of the tune. I also include alternative approaches where appropriate, encouraging you to make the arrangement your own.

As always, the arrangement is designed to be very playable—musically rich, yet accessible—so it won’t require hours of technical practice just to gain control of the chord movements.

To help extend this beautiful but short tune, I also include a brief segment on how to improvise in a chord melody style, using ideas that naturally grow out of the arrangement.

A detailed PDF is included with the lesson.