SHEET MUSIC and individual ZOOM LESSONS
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There are SO many videos online regarding blowing over 'AUTUMN LEAVES', but I've not heard one of them talking about VOICE LEADING AND GUIDETONE LINES.
This is a very natural way of learning a chord sequence and your ear ( if you are well listened to jazz) will automatically do the work for you... however, we have to come at it from a technical/academic side of things first, to make sure we fully understand the function and comprehension of the harmony. Once we have understood and PRACTICED this... then the theory is, that we have now trained our ear to hear it, we know what it's called and now we can forget it ( If that makes sense?)

1) Learn the TUNE!!! Listen to people playing it, use the Real book as a guide and be able to play it on your instrument. There is nothing stronger than the tune to help you improvise with the chords.
2) Internalise the ROOTS. Play them with a groove... It's fun. Read them and do them by memory ( both are important)
3) Vertical Improvisation. Practice soloing only using the Roots, the 3rds, the 5ths and the 7ths of each chord. Be able to move around your horn freely as the chords change.
4) Horizontal Improvisation. This is where we recognise that a group of chords are all within a certain key ( in this case Bb major... G harmonic Minor)
5) GuideTone Lines. The 3rds of the chord resolve to the 7th of the chords ( 3,7,3,7 etc... throughout the sequence) Be aware that Sometimes the note stays the same.
The 7ths of the chords resolve to the 3rd of the next chord ( 7,3,7,3 etc...)
The 9th of the chord resolve to the 13ths ( whether that's a natural 13 or a flat 13)( 9,13,9,13 etc)
and finally
The 5th of the chord resolves to the 9th of the next chord ( whether that be a natural 9 or a flat 9 etc) ( 5,9,5,9 etc...)
Play these lines on a piano or over a playalong so you can hear the harmony underneath you and then start to improvise, trying to hit these Guidetone lines to make your melodies a lot more interesting.
Enjoy x

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