Mike Stern Master Class: Improvising on Autumn Leaves

In a few previous posts (here and here) I've claimed that jazz musicians actually use the kinds of arpeggio exercises that I have never had much use for. In this post, I will start providing the proof.

In the video above from a master class, jazz guitarist Mike Stern starts out by first arpeggiating the chords for Autumn Leaves and then takes off with a great example of jazz improvisation. Mike calls the arpeggios "chord turns" and explains how classical composers would outline chord changes in a "particularly beautiful way," for example in the Bach Corales. Jazz musicians can use chord turns for parts of solos as long as they make sure it doesn't sound like an exercise! Mike then goes on to demonstrate with the changes for Autumn Leaves.

In the pdf file (here) and the MuseScore msc file (here) I have written out an arpeggio exercise using the changes Mike was outlining. I've given the fingering for the the first note of each arpeggio in the first eight measures. In the second eight measures, Mike switches to a higher register. I've written these arpeggios out as octaves so you can either player the higher note or play the octave. In the sixth and seventh measures on the second page, Mike plays block chords (Em7, Eb7, Dm7, Db7). These are pretty standard root-position chords that many readers will be able to play. In a future post, I'll describe a very straight-forward way to play root-position chords on guitar, especially now that you are familiar with octaves and arpeggios.

Also, in a future post I'll go on to analyze Mike's solo in more detail. If you're interested, you can find a transcription of a Mike Stern Autumn Leaves solo from the Bob Berg In The Shadows CD here. Comparing the two solos is an interesting exercise in understanding the process of improvisation. One point I want to make here is that Mike knows and can arpeggiate the chord changes to Autumn Leaves by heart. So our first step is memorization! Then we go on to play arpeggios (and maybe throw in some block chords) until we are bored, at which point we move on to try different things that might interest us. In the Bob Berg transcription, Mike uses be-bop scales, side-slipping (outside playing) and guide tones (targeting)--all topics to be explored in future posts on jazz improvising.

In the next post, I will look at John Coltrane's use of arpeggios in his well known solo on Giant Steps. Hopefully, studying the Coltrane solo will provide enough proof that the greatest jazz musicians have made extensive use of arpeggios.