Autumn Leaves Chord Melody & Solo

Autumn Leaves is one of the most popular jazz standards and a perfect tune for learning how melody, harmony, and improvisation fit together. The song, originally called Les Feuilles Mortes, was written by French composer Joseph Kosma in 1945. Later, English lyrics by Johnny Mercer helped make the song an international jazz standard, and it has since been recorded by countless jazz musicians.

This Autumn Leaves jazz guitar tutorial focuses on chord melody playing and improvisation over the chord changes.

You’ll learn how to play the melody of Autumn Leaves mixed with chords to fill in the gaps. This common jazz guitar approach outlines the harmony while keeping the melody clear.

Next, you will learn how to solo over Autumn Leaves, and break down the scales and arpeggios used in the guitar solo.

Understanding how these sounds connect to the chords will help you build stronger, more melodic solos of your own.

 

 

• Frank Sinatra – Where Are You? (1957)
• Cannonball Adderley (with Miles Davis) – Somethin’ Else (1958)
• Bill Evans Trio – Portrait in Jazz (1960)
• McCoy Tyner – Today and Tomorrow (1964)
• Wes Montgomery – Wes Montgomery Quartet live in Detroit (1966)
• Jim Hall – Alone Together (1973)
• Chet Baker & Paul Desmond – Together (1974)
• Jimmy Raney – Live in Tokyo (1976)
• Barney Kessel – Live (1979)
• Toots Thielemans (with Joe Pass → great solo) – Live (1980)
• Joe Pass – Virtuoso 4 (1983)
• Wynton Marsalis – Marsalis Standard Time, Vol. 1 (1987)
• Earl Klugh – Solo Guitar (1989)
• The Chick Corea Akoustic Band – Chick Corea Akoustic Band (1989)
• Biréli Lagrène – Standards (1992)
• Eva Cassidy – Live (1996)
• Keith Jarrett – Tokyo ’96 (1998)

 

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Autumn Leaves – Video

Here is the video of this lesson.

The notation/guitar tabs of the melody and solo are further below, under the harmonic analysis and scale sections.

 

 

Autumn Leaves – Harmonic Analysis

Form: Autumn Leaves is 32 bars long with an AABC structure
Key: E minor

The original key of Autumn Leaves is A minor, but the key of the arrangement on this page is E minor (the key of the Real Book).

Other common keys are:

• • G minor – Miles Davis, Joe Pass, Jim Hall
  • F minor – Paul Desmond, Chet Baker
  • C minor – Barney Kessel
  • D minor – Wes Montgomery

The chord progression of Autumn Leaves consists of a series of 251s in G major, alternated with 251s from its relative minor E minor.

251s are the bread and butter of jazz and this makes Autumn Leaves a good song to work on for beginners. The downside is that it can be hard to come up with fresh ideas and this is something more advanced players should be working on.

If you are new to harmonic analysis using Roman numerals, read through this tutorial on the blog first: Roman Numeral Analysis for Jazz

 

 

Autumn Leaves – Scales

Jazz guitar scales are an important tool for improvisation and part of every jazz guitarist’s vocabulary.

In this section, we will have a look at the basic guitar scales to use on Autumn Leaves. These scales outline the harmony of the tune and are a good starting point for building your improvisation.

There are many other scale options you could use over the Autumn Leaves chord progression, but in this lesson, we’ll stick to the most common and practical ones.

 

G Major Scale

You can get away with playing over the entire chord progression of Autumn Leaves using just one scale: the G major scale (also called G Ionian). Most of Autumn Leaves’ chords come from the key of G major, so this scale will generally fit the harmony.

However, if you only use one scale the whole time, your solo will quickly start to sound repetitive.

That’s why it’s useful to combine the G major scale with other scales that highlight the individual chords in the progression.

 

Here are the notes of the G major scale:

 

G Major Scale	G	A	B	C	D	E	F#
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7

 

Here are the notes of the G major scale mapped across the entire fretboard:

 

 

If the major scale is new to you, start with this position:

 

 

E Minor Blues Scale

Another scale you can use over the entire chord progression of Autumn Leaves is the E minor blues scale.

The minor blues scale is very similar to the minor pentatonic scale, but it contains one additional note called the blue note (#4 or b5). This note adds tension and gives the scale its characteristic bluesy sound.

 

E Minor Blues Scale	E	G	A	A#	B	D
	1	b3	4	#4	5	b7

 

Here is a common fingering for the E minor blues scale (the blue note is colored… blue!):

 

 

To bring more variety to your solos and keep your playing interesting, it’s useful to combine these scales with others that outline the individual chords of the progression.

 

The Harmonic Minor Scale

The most common scale used over a dominant 7 chord that resolves to a minor chord is the harmonic minor scale.

When a dominant 7 chord resolves to a minor chord, you can play the harmonic minor scale of the target minor chord over the dominant.

For example: B7 → Em7 → play E harmonic minor

This works because the harmonic minor scale contains the 3rd and b7 of the dominant chord, together with the b9 and b13 tensions.

There are two dominant chords like this in the chord progression of Autumn Leaves: B7 and E7.

• Play E harmonic minor over B7 (goes to Em7)
• Play A harmonic minor over E7 (goes to Am7)

 

Here are the notes of the E harmonic minor scale and its relation to B7:

 

E Harmonic Minor Scale	E	F#	G	A	B	C	D#
Played over B7	11	5	b13	b7	1	b9	3

 

And here is a common position of the E harmonic minor scale:

 

 

Autumn Leaves Backing Track

Here is the backing track for this lesson:

 

 

 

 

Autumn Leaves Chord Melody

Here is the melody arrangement, where the melody is combined with chords. This type of arrangement is called chord melody.

The voicings used in this arrangement are rootless chords. By removing the root and only playing on the higher strings, the chords stay out of the way of the bass.

 

 

 

 

Autumn Leaves – Jazz Guitar Solo Study

Autumn Leaves Solo Study – Chorus 1 [0:51 in the video]

In this solo, I combine scales with arpeggios to outline the chord changes of Autumn Leaves.

To study this solo, start by learning it in groups of four bars. Once those sections feel comfortable, try playing the entire solo from start to finish.

 

 

 

Bars 1-7 and Bars 9-12

The first section of the solo focuses on simple voice-leading lines within the G major scale.

Voice leading is the smooth movement of notes from one chord to the next. Each note (voice) is moved by the shortest possible distance, often by a half step or a whole step.

In jazz, voice leading typically emphasizes the 3rds and 7ths of the chords, because they define the harmony and connect the chords in a natural way.

 

Bars 14 and 40

Here I play a D#dim7 arpeggio over B7, creating a B7b9 sound.

 

D#dim7 arpeggio	D#	F#	A	C
Played over B7	3	5	b7	b9

 

Play a diminished 7 arpeggio built on the 3rd of a dominant 7 chord to create a dominant 7b9 sound.

Here is the arpeggio diagram for D#dim7. The B note is not part of the arpeggio, but the root of the underlying B7 chord.

 

 

Bar 16

In this bar, I use a Gmaj7 arpeggio over Em7, producing an Em9 sound.

 

Gmaj7 arpeggio	G	B	D	F#
Played over Em7	b3	5	b7	9

 

Play a major 7 arpeggio built on the 3rd of a minor 7 chord to create a minor 9 sound.

 

 

Bars 17, 19, and 31

The arpeggio in bar 17 is an Am(add9) arpeggio.

This is a minor chord with an added 9, but without the b7.

If the b7 were included, the chord would be called Am9.

 

Am(add9)	A	B	C	E
	1	9	b3	5

 

 

In bar 19, I play a G(add9) arpeggio. This is the major version of the same idea: a major triad with an added 9, but without the 7.

 

G(add9)	G	A	B	D
	1	9	3	5

 

 

This type of add9 arpeggio is often used in gypsy jazz guitar, where players often outline chords with triads and added color tones instead of full seventh chords.

 

Bars 27-28

Here I play a major triad moving up chromatically keeping the same shape.

In bar 27, the line still fits the harmony.

In bar 28, the continuation of this idea no longer matches the chord, but it still sounds good because of the strong voice leading and the clear melodic pattern.

 

Autumn Leaves Solo Study – Chorus 2 [1:41 in the video]

 

 

 

Bar 43-44

At this point, I play the arpeggios of the upcoming chords two beats in advance. This technique is called anticipation.

Anticipation means outlining the next chord before it arrives, usually by playing notes from the upcoming harmony ahead of the chord change.

This creates a line that overlaps the bar line, instead of restarting with each new chord, and makes the phrase feel less tied to the bar structure.

Anticipation is a common phrasing technique in bebop.

Here are the arpeggio shapes:

 

Cmaj7

 

F#m7b5

 

 

 

Autumn Leaves is a great study song because it contains many of the harmonic movements found in other jazz standards while not being overly complicated.

Continue studying this tune and check out the additional Autumn Leaves lessons below.