As with every lesson on this website, it’s really important that we bring things back to the world of music and repertoire as early and as often as possible. That’s why, after each phrase pack, I’ll give you a selection of four or five tunes that feature the progression we’re working on. This way, you’re not only guided toward a musical application for the phrases, but you’ll also be expanding your repertoire as you learn the tune(s).

I don’t just want you to grab a play-along track or open iReal Pro and blow a bunch of choruses over the changes like it’s just a sandbox for your cool new phrases. Instead, I want you to take a step back and actually learn the tune—internalize it—so that your repertoire is growing alongside your vocabulary. After all, when we play, we want to serve the song. So, to practice this mindset, we need to learn the songs and keep them in mind as we shed the phrases.

Some great tunes that feature long major ii–V–I progressions are:

• Autumn Leaves

• Green Dolphin Street

• Solar

• How High the Moon

Pick one or more of these tunes to work on over the next few weeks alongside the melodic vocabulary we covered in the previous step. Once you’ve memorized a tune and feel ready to move on, head over to the next step.