“The Girl from Ipanema” was composed by Antônio Carlos Jobim with Portuguese lyrics by Vinícius de Moraes, and English lyrics by Norman Gimbel. The 1964 recording by Stan Getz, João Gilberto and Astrud Gilberto turned it into one of the most recorded songs in history and introduced millions of people to bossa nova.
It’s usually played in F major, in an AABA form where the A sections are eight bars and the bridge is sixteen, for 40 bars total. The A section moves from Fmaj7 to G7 (a II7 chord with a lifted, floating sound), then Gm7 to Gb7 (a tritone substitution) and back to Fmaj7. The bridge is the famous challenge: it jumps to Gbmaj7, then moves through a series of chords that pass through several keys before working back to F with a string of ii-Vs.
Improvising over the A sections is relaxed. F major works, but bring out the B natural over G7 (Lydian flavor) and the Cb/Fb sounds over Gb7 to make the substitution heard. The bridge needs a plan: treat each two-bar chunk as its own key center and connect them with common tones. Bossa nova melodies are gentle and conversational, so keep your solos lyrical, with plenty of space and straight eighth notes.
Practice by playing along with the Getz/Gilberto recording at low volume. Learn the bridge separately until you can play its chords from memory without looking. Guitarists should learn the basic bossa comping pattern, and pianists should practice light, syncopated voicings that stay out of the singer’s way.
Recordings to study: the original Getz/Gilberto album, Jobim’s own instrumental versions, and Ella Fitzgerald’s take for a jazz vocal approach.
A common mistake is playing the tune too loudly or with a swing feel. Bossa nova is soft, straight and steady. Read more about the composer on Antônio Carlos Jobim’s Wikipedia page, and find more bossa nova lead sheets on Minedit.