One of these standards is the classic tunes Autumn Leaves, a tune by French composer Joseph Kosma from 1945. The original lyrics were crafted by French poet Jacques Prévert and American songwriter Johnny Mercer wrote English lyrics in 1947.
I had previously posted a simple octave transcription of the melody in a recent post.
While Autumn Leaves is a fairly simple song, it offers a variety of choices and challenges for the beginning jazz guitarist and improviser.
When beginning to examine a piece for performance and/or study, there are several things that must be mastered. First, the melody of the song must be learned. Second, the student should examine the chord progression - often called chord changes, or just changes - and then analyze the changes from the perspective of first the accompanist and then the improvisor. Odds are in most performances, you'll be called upon to do both.
Autumn Leaves Arpeggio Study (PDF)
The music I've attached to this post is an arpeggio study of the chord changes. Before we break down the progression and analyze it, we'd better make sure we can play the tones in the chords themselves! All instruments should be able to arpeggiate their way through the changes, and chording instruments, such as the piano and guitar, should also be able to play at least the simple form of the chords smoothly in a basic comping pattern.
I'll offer a few choruses of the chord changes as well as a detailed analysis of the harmony and techniques for approaching the solo in later posts.
This study is quite simple - merely a variety of arpeggiations of the changes that flow fairly smoothly. The guitar tablature indicates a variety of common shapes for the basic chords in a number of positions and fingerings. I hope you find some new positions or ideas that perhaps hadn't occurred to you yet.
Please feel free to comment or ask questions.
enjoy!
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