This is a practice video for Improvise for Real students who are studying the song Autumn Leaves from IFR Standards Workout 1. In this video we will practice together the ear training exercise Melody Paths over the A section of Autumn Leaves.

This is a great exercise to internalize the chords and train your ear to hear where the resting points are across the progression. It will help you develop a natural “intuition” about the flow of harmony across the chord changes, and improvise melodically from your imagination.

You can practice with me in three different ways:

1) Sing the numbers along with me.
2) Play the melodies on your instrument (key of G).
3) Sing and play at the same time (if your instrument allows you to).

Invent your own Melody Paths

If you want to create your own Melody Paths over this same chord progression, here is the jam track in the key of G:

You can also DOWNLOAD the jam track if you prefer. (You might need to right click on the link and select the option to download the file.)

About this chord progression:

This chord progression is not exclusive to Autumn Leaves, it appears in many other songs. Here are a few songs with the same chord progression:

"Autumn Leaves" (A section) by Joseph Kosma
"Europa" by Santana
"Still Got the Blues" by Gary Moore
"You Never Give Me Your Money" by The Beatles
"The Fox" (movie theme) by Lalo Schifrin
"Tzadik Katamar" (B section), traditional Jewish song
"Y Volveré" by Los Angeles Negros
"Emporte Moi" by Alain Barrière