By Bobby Troup

Route 66

Route 66 is a classic American song originally written by Bobby Troup in 1946. It celebrates the famous U.S. highway that stretches from Chicago to Los Angeles, capturing the spirit of adventure and the open road. The tune has been covered by numerous artists, including Nat King Cole and Chuck Berry, and is known for its catchy melody and nostalgic lyrics.

By Bobby Troup

Route 66

Route 66
is a classic American song originally written by Bobby Troup in 1946. It celebrates the famous U.S. highway that stretches from Chicago to Los Angeles, capturing the spirit of adventure and the open road. The tune has been covered by numerous artists, including Nat King Cole and Chuck Berry, and is known for its catchy melody and nostalgic lyrics.

Chord Charts: Route 66

Chord Charts

Learn the chord changes to

Route 66

using common lead sheets for C, Bb, and Eb instruments.

There are many options when playing Blues chord changes, below is a general starting point.

Form: Three phrases of 4 bars each
Total Bars: 12
Common Key(s): F
How to Play This Tune

Step 1: Get Comfortable With the Blues Form Behind Route 66

Route 66 is a great tune to use as a practical entry point into the blues form. This lesson shows how blues-based melodies teach you what the harmony is doing in real musical terms—where phrases resolve, how the form cycles, and what the “shape” of a 12-bar chorus actually feels like.

Instead of treating the blues as a list of chords to survive, you’ll start hearing it as a repeatable structure you can rely on. That foundation makes it much easier to improvise on Route 66 with confidence and consistency, especially as you take the tune through different tempos and settings.

FREE Unlock Rhythm Changes & Blues With These 6 Melodies Unlock Rhythm Changes & Blues With These 6 Melodies

Step 2: Make Your Phrasing Flow Through the Form

This lesson breaks down the three critical movement points in the blues and shows how great jazz musicians phrase through these moments instead of stopping at bar lines.

When you apply this to Route 66, your solo stops sounding like disconnected “chunks” and starts sounding like a continuous story. You learn where the music naturally wants to move, how to lead your lines toward resolution points, and how to keep momentum across the full 12 bars.

This is one of the fastest ways to make your Route 66 solos sound more musical, more grounded, and more like the language of jazz.

FREE 3 Transitions in the Blues You Gotta Nail: Charlie Parker Bosses the Blues 3 Transitions in the Blues You Gotta Nail: Charlie Parker Bosses the Blues

Step 3: Build Clear, Swinging Ideas Without Overplaying

A tune like Route 66 doesn’t require constant complexity—it benefits most from clear ideas, strong time, and melodic development. This lesson shows how great players build solos from simple statements and then make them feel alive through rhythm, repetition, variation, and placement.

Applying these concepts to Route 66 helps you improvise in a way that sounds intentional and connected to the form, even if you’re using very simple material. The result is a solo that swings, tells a story, and feels like it belongs on the tune—not a generic blues exercise.

FREE How to Play the Blues Like a Pro: A Lesson with Wynton Kelly How to Play the Blues Like a Pro: A Lesson with Wynton Kelly

Videos

Videos: Route 66

How to Play Route 66

Step 1: Get Comfortable With the Blues Form Behind Route 66

Route 66 is a great tune to use as a practical entry point into the blues form. This lesson shows how blues-based melodies teach you what the harmony is doing in real musical terms—where phrases resolve, how the form cycles, and what the “shape” of a 12-bar chorus actually feels like.

Instead of treating the blues as a list of chords to survive, you’ll start hearing it as a repeatable structure you can rely on. That foundation makes it much easier to improvise on Route 66 with confidence and consistency, especially as you take the tune through different tempos and settings.

FREE Unlock Rhythm Changes & Blues With These 6 Melodies Unlock Rhythm Changes & Blues With These 6 Melodies

Step 2: Make Your Phrasing Flow Through the Form

This lesson breaks down the three critical movement points in the blues and shows how great jazz musicians phrase through these moments instead of stopping at bar lines.

When you apply this to Route 66, your solo stops sounding like disconnected “chunks” and starts sounding like a continuous story. You learn where the music naturally wants to move, how to lead your lines toward resolution points, and how to keep momentum across the full 12 bars.

This is one of the fastest ways to make your Route 66 solos sound more musical, more grounded, and more like the language of jazz.

FREE 3 Transitions in the Blues You Gotta Nail: Charlie Parker Bosses the Blues 3 Transitions in the Blues You Gotta Nail: Charlie Parker Bosses the Blues

Step 3: Build Clear, Swinging Ideas Without Overplaying

A tune like Route 66 doesn’t require constant complexity—it benefits most from clear ideas, strong time, and melodic development. This lesson shows how great players build solos from simple statements and then make them feel alive through rhythm, repetition, variation, and placement.

Applying these concepts to Route 66 helps you improvise in a way that sounds intentional and connected to the form, even if you’re using very simple material. The result is a solo that swings, tells a story, and feels like it belongs on the tune—not a generic blues exercise.

FREE How to Play the Blues Like a Pro: A Lesson with Wynton Kelly How to Play the Blues Like a Pro: A Lesson with Wynton Kelly

Ready to Take Your Playing Further?

Forrest Wernick
Eric O'Donnell

We’re Forrest & Eric. We’ve learned from a ton of great players like Mulgrew Miller, Rich Perry, and Harold Mabern, and now we focus on helping musicians deeply understand jazz, one tune, concept, and skill at a time.

Download Our New 70-Page Jazz Book (Free)

Enter your email below and we’ll send you our book, The Making of a Jazz Musician — a guide to the realizations that reshape how jazz musicians learn to hear and play.

Develop Your Jazz Improvisation
The PRO
Way

PRO gives you access to our jazz courses and most detailed lessons, including deep dives into tunes, harmony, and improvisation.