Autumn Leaves Guitar: Chords, Melody and an Easy Chord Melody

Autumn Leaves on guitar is in E minor, with its relative major, G, living inside it. The A section is a 2-5-1-4 in G (A minor 7, D7, G major 7, C major 7) and then a 2-5-1 in E minor (F sharp half diminished, B7, E minor). Learn those with shell chords, learn the melody, then switch between them.

Autumn Leaves is one of the most important songs in the jazz world, and it holds a lot of information that’s relevant for any musician. This lesson looks at the key, the chords, the melody, how the melody and chords relate, and then a simple chord melody we can play together.

What key is Autumn Leaves in?

E minor. The key signature has one sharp, F sharp, which means it’s either G major or E minor, and the song ends on E minor.

G major and E minor hold the same notes, just a different center. That means moving between G major and E minor is quite easy, and it happens quite often in pop, in jazz, in rock, in music in general. That’s a big part of why this song is so important to understand: it does those beautiful tricks that get used all over the place. Look at the end of the chart and you’ll see it finishes on E minor, which is a good indication that the song is in E minor.

What are the chords to Autumn Leaves?

The A section is A minor 7, D7, G major 7, C major 7, then F sharp half diminished, B7, E minor. That’s a 2-5-1-4 in G, the relative major, then a 2-5-1 in E minor.

I play these with shell chords, which are very useful shapes for jazz, for learning songs, and just great shapes in general. A minor 7 is from the 5th fret, and from there it’s D7, G major 7, C major 7, F sharp half diminished, B7 and E minor.

Notice I go to E minor 6 instead of E minor 7. When you’re on the tonic, you want to hear the tonality. A 7th chord there isn’t wrong, but it kind of feels like it’s going somewhere else, as if it’s a 2-5 to D major. Playing the 6 reinforces that sound and the idea of the 1.

• The form. A, A, B, and then I’d say an A with a little change at the end. The second A is a complete repetition of the first, except the ending.
• The B section. F sharp half diminished, B7, E minor: a 2-5-1 in E minor, just like before. Melodically we’re very much in E minor too.
• The last A. Same start, then after the 2-5 to E minor there’s a chromatic descending motion that people often play, leading to C major 7. That’s the 4 of G, or the flat 6 of E minor, which is the same chord. A beautiful place to pause, very dramatic. Then a 2-5-1 back home.
• Altered chords on charts. A lot of charts write something like B7 flat 9. It’s a beautiful sounding chord, but you don’t have to play it. Keeping your shell chords clear and simple, just B7, is a really solid place to be.

Here’s what makes the song so learnable. If you know the first A section, the first eight bars, you know about 75% of the song. That’s a very big deal.

How does the Autumn Leaves melody fit the chords?

The melody is sequential: the same idea repeats from different degrees of the scale. And it keeps landing on the 3rds and 7ths of the chords, so the melody describes the harmony.

Over A minor, the top melody note is C, the 3. Over D7, it’s that same C, which is now the 7. Over G, it’s B, the 3. Over C major 7, it’s B again, now the major 7. A lot of times in music the 3 goes to the 7, and then the 7 resolves downward, like you see here. It’s very satisfying.

Music is about this relationship between the chords and the melody, so the more we pay attention, the better musicians we are.

Rotem Sivan

The melody and harmony are intertwined. That’s why it’s worth seeing the melody in the context of the scale, in G or in E minor, instead of just knowing fret numbers. When you hear and internalize the melody against the harmony, it becomes a kind of lighthouse for your solo. You can hear it and imagine it without overthinking.

How do you learn Autumn Leaves on guitar?

Play the chords in time, one chord per bar, slower than you want to. Then learn the melody by listening, not only from the chart.

1. Chords in time. One chord per bar, with a metronome or some groove, really accurately and slowly. If you do that for 20 minutes or half an hour, you’ll get much better really quickly.
2. Hum the bass. Even if you know the progression, hum the bass as you play so you actually hear and feel the 2-5-1.
3. Say what it is. Tell yourself the information: 2, 5, 1, 4. You don’t want to just memorize shapes. You want to feel the sound so you can play it in a different key later.
4. Listen to versions. I learn music by listening. Pull up a bunch of versions on YouTube or Spotify and listen to the melody. The lyrics help too, because they bring extra meaning to the melody.
5. Know where you are. When you play the melody, know if you’re in the A section or the B section, and feel the harmony inside the melody.

It takes time. But if you do this with a bunch of songs, the next one gets a little easier, and song number 45 will be way easier.

How do you play an easy Autumn Leaves chord melody?

Start with what I call a fake chord melody: go in and out between the melody and the chords. Autumn Leaves has a lot of space in the melody, so it’s a good song for this.

In the A section, I play the melody phrase and then the first two chords, A minor to D7. It’s a little early for the D7, but it sounds good and it kind of makes sense. Then I copy and paste the same rhythm of melody and chords. In the B section it mostly works the same way, but in one spot I have to keep the melody a little longer. And in the last A, at a couple of moments, I play just the melody, and then just the last chord at the end.

You still keep the form and structure, but it’s sort of like the left hand of a piano player. You’re comping yourself. There’s nothing wrong with a proper chord melody with a lot of motion, but knowing the melody rhythmically and the chords well enough to connect them is a big deal, and it’ll help you create later chord melodies and feel more free. I use the same approach on All of Me, where the second half goes into fuller voicings.

If you want to go deeper on the chords, Jazz Chord Essentials covers how a 7th chord is built, the four main colors and every inversion on the 4th, 5th and 6th string sets. And if you want to improvise over tunes like this one, Solo Mastery is my full framework for improvising, with over 40 concepts for soloing.

Frequently asked questions

Is Autumn Leaves in G major or E minor?

E minor. The F sharp key signature fits both G major and E minor, which share the same notes. The song moves between them, with a 2-5-1-4 in G and a 2-5-1 in E minor, but it ends on E minor, which tells you the key.

What’s the form of Autumn Leaves?

A, A, B, then a last A with a little change at the end. The second A repeats the first except for the ending. Since the first eight bars come back so often, knowing them gives you about 75% of the song.

Do you have to play B7 flat 9 when the chart says it?

No. B7 flat 9 is a beautiful sounding chord, but you don’t have to play it. Keeping your shell chords clear and simple, and just playing B7, is a really solid place to be while you learn the song.

Should you play E minor 6 or E minor 7 at the end?

E minor 6 works well, because on the tonic you want to hear the tonality. E minor 7 isn’t wrong, but it can sound like it’s going somewhere else, like a 2-5 to D major. The 6 reinforces the sound of E minor as the 1.

Get the first A section in time with shell chords this week, and you’ll already have most of the song under your fingers.