Autumn Leaves Practice Routine II – This is the second part of my series focused on improvisation exercises for the famous jazz standard ‘Autumn Leaves’. In this lesson, we will be playing ‘guide-tones’ through the song’s chord changes.

To start with, take some time to listen to various recordings of ‘Autumn Leaves’ to familiarize yourself with the song.
Ensure that you are fully familiar with the basic chord changes and how the guide-tones fit within those changes. The guide-tones consist of the 3rd and 7th notes of each chord in the song’s progression. 

Mastering guide-tones is considered essential in jazz since these two notes define the overall sound of each chord. By focusing on these tones, you can create a more melodic and harmonically descriptive structure to your Autumn Leaves practice. You can also use guide-tones for accompaniment and they can function very effectively as simple two-note ‘comping’ figures. 

Feel free to experiment with rhythm and note duration to add your personal style to the guide-tones. Additionally, you might consider playing guide-tones in different inversions to explore how they can change the feel of the harmony. Also practice guide-tones throughout the fingerboard in all registers.

In example one (see below) I am playing the 3rd and 7th for the duration of each chord. Be sure to listen closely to how these tones interact with the chords to fully appreciate their role.
Try to memorise this exercise and then experiment with varying the rhythms as discussed above. 

The second exercise involves playing chord scales from the 3rd degree of each chord in the song progression. This not only improves your harmonic understanding but also enhances your ear for anticipating chord movements. By practicing scales in this manner you get used to beginning scale sequences from guide tones. The full exercise is on the PDF.

Remember that practice is key, so be patient with yourself as you work through these variations.
You could also try this exercise descending from the 7th degree of each scale. Ultimately, this will give you greater freedom and confidence when soloing across the progression. This approach can also help make your scale soloing sound more consistent between chords. 

Here is a MIDI generated audio recording of the exercises:

You can download a PDF with the exercises here: Autumn Leaves Practice Part II .

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