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Practice Track – Autumn Leaves

Many jazz compositions are built up on the II-V-I progression. An example is the tune Autumn leaves, which alternates between II-V-I progressions in G major and E minor (the relative minor of G). This set of practice tracks will help you to develop your soloing over a major II-V-I and its relative minor II-V-I, such as in Autumn Leaves.

First we will develop skills in the major II-V-I, with a IV chord added at the end. With the added IV chord, we go right around the circle of fourths into the minor II-V- I. Here is a practice backing track for the major II-V-I-IV. Use the G major scale to improvise.

||:Am7      |D7         |Gmaj7      |Cmaj7     : ||

II-V-I-IV-GMajorLoop

Next we develop up our minor II-V-I. Use an E minor scale to improvise – the melodic minor scale with a (C# and D#) is suggested by the melody, however the b5 of the F#m and the b9 of the B7 are C, which indicate the harmonic minor scale. You can also experiment with the natural minor scale (same notes as G major), which gives a #9 sound over the B7. Constructing a melody using the arpeggio notes of each chord (especially 3rds, 7ths and altered tones) on beats 1 and 3, or all down beats in eighth note passages will always sound strong!

||:F#m7b5      |B7 (b9)    |Em          |                   : ||

II-V-IEMinorLoop

Now we can alternate between the major and minor, as in the tune autumn leaves:

||:Am7      |D7         |Gmaj7      |Cmaj7     |

|F#m7b5      |B7 (b9)    |Em          |                  : ||

|F#m7b5      |B7 (b9)    |Em          |                  |

|Am7      |D7         |Gmaj7      |Cmaj7     |

|F#m7b5      |B7 (b9)    |Em          |                  |

|F#m7b5      |B7 (b9)    |Em          |                  :||

autumnleavesStyleProgressionPracticeTrack

Have fun – and devote plenty of time to working with these practice tracks, as they will give you a solid foundation which will help you in your improvising on many jazz tunes. In a future note I will talk some more about strategies for soloing over these chords!

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Practice track for bassists

Here is a practice track for bassists interested in playing jazz. One of the fundamental building blocks of jazz is the ii-V-I progression, and practicing the ii-V-I progression in every key should be a must for every aspiring jazz musician! So here is a start for bass players, a slow (90 bpm) ii-V-I in the key of Eb, comprising a basic drum track with some rhythm guitar. Practice your walking bass lines, and then let loose with your solo ideas. First you will need to have the Eb major scale under your fingers. In the following fretboard diagram, the squares represent the tonic, or the Eb. Start with the open position scale pattern, and once you know this very well, add the 3rd position scale pattern. Once that one is known, add the next, until you have a command of all the scale patterns. If you have got that far, there is an additional scale pattern corresponding to the open position up an octave I have left you to work out for yourself! These fingerings and scale patterns are for electric bass. If you are learning double bass, use your double bass fingering patterns which are a bit different.

Once you have one (or more) of the scale patterns above under your fingers, use the practice track to explore the progression.  I would suggest identifying the root note of each chord first, and then the third, fifth and seventh of each chord. Have fun!

Eb flat ii-V-I practice track

 

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Practice Track: G major ii-V-I

Here is a practice track for beginning and intermediate guitarists – done in a light rock style. The chords are

||: G |Am |D7 |G : ||

Practice soloing over the progression using the G major scale. Some other strategies you might find interesting to play with are

  1. Use the arpeggios for G major seventh, A minor seventh, and D seventh over the appropriate chords
  2. Use G major (E minor) pentatonic or D major (B minor) pentatonic over the G major chord, and A minor pentatonic over the A minor and D7 chords. Note that all three of these pentatonic scales contain only notes from the G major scale.
  3. Mix up arpeggios, pentatonic patterns, and major scale runs.

Enjoy!

G major ii-V-I

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Practice Track: F major ii-V-I

This practice track is done in a light rock style, and is great for practicing soloing using the F major scale. The chords are

||:F                |Gm               |C7                 |F            :||

Other approaches to soloing (besides the F major scale) you can use are (i) F major (D minor) pentatonic scale (ii) F major pentatonic for the F chord, followed by G minor Pentatonic for the G minor and C7 chords, (iii) A minor pentatonic for the F chord followed by G minor pentatonic for the Gm and C7, (iv) F major, G minor and C7 Arpeggios with passing notes from the F major scale. Any combination of the preceding of course will also work!

All the above approaches are really just using the F major scale, but give different selections of notes which help create different sounds. Using the pentatonic scales is cool because it allows you to make use of a well known scale, and get maximum value from fingering and scale shapes that you might already know well.

So download the practice track below, and start having some fun!

Free Mp3 Download: F major II-V-I practice track.

 

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Practice Track: C major ii-V-I

At the heart of very many jazz tunes is the ii-V-I progression, in the key of C major, that’s Dm7, G7, to Cmaj7. Learning to improvise over ii-V-I progressions is an important skill for jazz improvisation. This practice track allows you to start honing your improvisation skills over the ii-V-I progression in the key of C:

||:Dm7        |G7          |Cmaj7          |             : ||

Use notes from the C major scale to make up your melodies over the chord progression.

Free MP3 download: C major ii-V-I practice track.

Enjoy!