How to Analyze Jazz Standards (Step by Step)

[@daisiesofapril8343]

I analyze jazz standards in color. I went through the LJS playbook two years ago and it was a breakthrough (Autumn Leaves) to color-code. I just take colored pencils to my sheets from the real book and circle progression (blue circled = major key center; broken blue = minor key center….) brief key changes start with yellow circles for the fairly predictable/mundane…moving to orange for less predictable and red for the way out there key change. Later when I need to recall the progression of a standard I see colors. Really and truly.

[@GuitarSongsMasters]

You rock man, thanks a lot. I owe much of my understanding and hearing of jazz to your teachings!

[@victoraranedad1885]

Thanks for this. Recently bought your book and now this video makes so much sense. Please make this a series of jazz standards analysis!

[@johnsontrimble7881]

Love Tune UP!! Great tune! Anytime I practice a new major ii V I progression, i use this song and do it in all keys. Highly reccomend

[@Learnjazzstandards]

Great practice routine Johnson!

[@paulsrandomshit6931]

Bar 11-14 there´s a turnaround (i-Vi-ii-V) because it´s a great way to come back to Dmaj from the 5th

[@LuneCheung]

This is so good !! It makes it so easier to understand!! Thank you

[@TonBariton]

Bars 14 and 15 are in fact the III (Fmaj7) and VI (Bbmaj7) from D minor. It's common to use chords from the minor key of the same name. Think of IVm or bVII7. In this case, the III is altered to a dominant 7 chord, which makes the route to the VI more dominant. And if you listen tot the notes you want to play in your improvisation on Bbmaj7, you really want to hear the e (a note in D minor) and not the eb (a note in Bb major)

[@pwg8379]

Indeed, D minor is parallel to D major. And, important concept that Gary Burton discusses in a clinic---the ear always wants to hear the smallest number of note changes when changing keys and/or there's no note specific to the melody directing analysis otherwise, e.g. your ear wanting to hear the E instead of Eb, although there are no hard and fast rules either esp. as you shift to more outside notes in your solo. Difficult tune to analyze and other ways to analyze that progression too, being Coltrane based changes. Tune Up is based on the tune Countdown, hence the weirder chromatic bass note progression. Using the melody AND key/chord function in your analysis is king.

[@jeffreyhunter4545]

Actually, Cotrane's Countdown (1960) is a contrafact to Miles' Tune Up (1953). Coltrane performed and recorded Tune Up with Miles.

[@stangetz534]

first thing is check to see if one scale fits over the whole tune like summertime and autumn leaves! lol

[@MarkFromTaiwan]

thank you for making this video, I thought bar 15 use modal interchange , the D major change to D minor so B flat is flat 6 and the F7 is it's 5

[@JSDJerry]

Great analysis. I’ll try to use the ideas to figure out other tunes on my own. I learn best by videos rather than pdfs. So, if you had a stand-alone video course for 10 or 20 Jazz standards, I would buy it just to see other examples of harmonic analysis.

[@loadstone5149]

I think in bars 12-16, we modulate to the key of F major, this means Gmin7 would be the ii, the Emin7 would be the vii, F7 would be I, Bbmaj7 would be IV, and A7 sets up the modulation into D major since it is the dominant. The relationship from F major to D major can be seen as modulating to the tonic major because F major is the same as D minor and from the D minor perspective A7 is just the dominant harmonic chord. The chord progression in the perspective of D minor is iv,ii,III,VI,V. So really from D minor’s perspective, this is a very natural chord progression, but our ears hear it as F major because of the context of the repeated ii-V-I cadence sequence. This minor tangent makes the most sense to me.

[@peterklo5119]

Thank you so much! It's very well explained and easy to understand for me.

[@wilsonliberal5195]

Great. Genial simple chord progression

[@eamier]

Thanks for your analyses. Really helpful video.

[@bradfordmasters197]

This was incredibly helpful. Thanks so much.

[@Learnjazzstandards]

Thank you very much! Glad it was helpful.

[@kamsiyonna2372]

usually I would just go through the chords without analyzing. Will definitely be using this in the future!

[@beautifullyearth576]

Great video. Thanks

[@Learnjazzstandards]

Glad you liked it!

[@brendaboykin3281]

Thanx, Brent🌹🌹🌹🌹

[@leodreim]

Great analisys! For me the key is to find the Imaj7, then look back and forward and apply your knowledge and imagination 🤪🤪

[@constandinr8260]

in my understading i see Emin to Eb dim to Ddim to C# dim which sounds good... i tested on sax. Great vid btw. Wainting for more!!!!

[@jazzified1]

Hey man!! Great lesson for learning yo analyse standard a!!

[@Learnjazzstandards]

Glad you found it helpful Luis!

[@curtpiazza1688]

Great lesson....thanx!

[@Learnjazzstandards]

Glad you liked it!

[@composer7325]

Excellent, thank you.

[@Rohrerprod.]

Awesome lesson!

[@maganda288]

Jazz standards simplified 👍

[@GuitarBluesHury]

Great! Thanks!

[@JustyStoky]

What software are you using to have access to the song? Thanks!

[@ezrakowadlo]

brilliant, many thanks.

[@adrianherralgot4071]

Amazing video

[@Learnjazzstandards]

Thank you!

[@mikecoyne2242]

Bars 14 and 15 are V of V tritone sub to the A7.

[@armandolopez8726]

Do you have any videos on chord subs?

[@awe_ayo]

Hey, I love the idea of playing the chord tones as continuous quarter notes but what do I do when the chord isn’t a 7th chord.

[@zachlimb2871]

Play different shapes like 1 3 5 3, (next chord) 1 3 5 3, etc

[@ivanmoskvin7638]

Bars 12 -15. IIm and IVm are subdomimants for bb and interchangeble. Viib7 and V7 are dominants for bb and are interchangeble too and dominant chord could be sub for i. So if don't go for melody analysys could be this harmony taken as just ii v i as well?

[@Learnjazzstandards]

Hey Ivan I think I’m not quite following your analysis. Maybe I’m just not following your line of thinking.