Welcome to your Autumn Leaves beginner jazz guitar lesson. I will show you the easiest and most musical approach to learning this great jazz standard and also throw in a free PDF lead sheet. Let’s get started! Use this lesson to:.
Learn the chords. Play the melody. Grab a few tricks for sounding hip. Have fun while you learn! Your Autumn Leaves Lead Sheet Here is a simple chord chart of this great tune. I have included some suggested scales and chord substitutions to put in. Disclaimer: This is a non-profit study strictly for educational purposes.
I do not own the rights for Autumn Leaves. No melody is written, only chord changes.
Autumn Leaves Leadhseet Autumn Leaves Video Tutorial In this video I outline an easy and systematic approach to playing the melody and chords to Autumn Leaves. Check it out then let’s examine the tune in detail. How Do I Memorize this Song?
Your first step in learning any tune is to memorize the chord changes and the melody. Once you do away with the sheet music you can then start creating REAL music. 4 steps to quickly memorize this song:. Listen – listen to 5 different versions. I made this easy for you by selecting my favorite 5 into a Youtube playlist,. Use your Brain – Analyze the structure of the song. How many sections are there?
Autumn Leaves Fingerstyle Tabs
Do chords repeat? What key is it in? Hint: The form is A A B A and LOTS of chords repeat, and the key is G Major or E minor (same thing). Learn the Words – Learning lyrics not only helps you to memorize a song but enables you to really dig into the meaning of it. Your national anthem isn’t just a nice melody it has meaning and significance. Autumn leaves is a love song, learn the words and it will show in your playing.
Use a Play Along – or better yet make your own! I often use garageband or even just a BOSS looper to play along with myself. Throw yourself out there, start soloing along right away.
How to Solo: the Easy Way Before I throw a whole bucket of music theory at you here is some musical fast food: You can solo on E Aeolian or natural minor scale over this WHOLE tune. Here is an Aeolian fret diagram, just centre the white dot over any E (e.g. 7th fret on your A string) and BAM, you have your scale.
Here is what E Natural Minor or Aeolian sounds like: Now, change the b7 (D note) to D# on the B7 chord. This scale is E Harmonic minor (sounds exotic right?). Can you hear the difference between the two? A Better Approach; examine each chord individually. So you know how to easily solo on this tune, now let’s check out each chord for a better approach. Jazz is about outlining the chord changes so let’s get down to business.
The following tips are all included in the free PDF above, so make sure you have that as we progress. Side note: Feel free to click on any scale or arpeggio – it will link to an in depth lesson. The Am7 Chord This chord is the II (two) chord in our key of G major. On II chords you play the dorian mode and you can add in the 9th, 11th and 13th as extensions to a plain minor 7 chord. Here is a little summary and a few links if you would like to learn more about minor chords. Chord: Am7 (or Am9, Am11, Am13).
Scale: Dorian Mode. Possible extensions: 9, 11, 13. Guide tones: b3, b7 (Your target notes). Arpeggio: 1, b3, 5, b7 The D7 Chord The V chord is a powerful thing. In the key of G major our V chord is D7. It leads really nicely to G and you can add on many different notes to colour this chord up.
Chord: D7 (or D9, D13 ). Scale: Mixolydian Mode. Possible extensions: 9, 13. Guide tones: 3, b7 (Your target notes). Possible Alterations: b9, #9, #11, b13. Arpeggio: R, 3, 5, b7 The Home Chord: Gmaj7 This chord is your tonic major resting chord. Chord: Gmaj7 (or G6, Gmaj9, Gmaj69, Gmaj13).
Scale: Ionian Mode/ Major Scale. Possible extensions: 9, 13.
Guide tones: 3, 7 (Your target notes). Arpeggio: R, 3, 5, 7 Great job on making it this far!
To dive even further into these chords, check out my lesson on the II V I progression. Cmaj7: The Lydian IV Chord This is your IV chord, check out my full lesson on this awesome colorful chord here. Chord: Cmaj7 (or C6, Gmaj9, Gmaj69, Gmaj13, Cmaj7#11). Scale: Lydian Mode. Possible extensions: 9, 13.
Guide tones: 3, 7 (Your target notes). Arpeggio: R, 3, 5, 7 F#m7b5: The Half Diminished Chord This chord is functioning as the ii chord in our minor key of E minor. It prepares the B7 chord which leads nicely to Em and is really simple to learn because there aren’t too many options or alterations. Chord: F#m7b5. Scale: F# Locrian. Possible extensions: 11, b13.
Guide tones: b3, b5, b7. Arpeggio: R, b3, b5, b7 The B7b9 Chord This dude is the V7 chord leading to our tonic minor key center – E minor. We treat dominant chords leading to minor chords differently to ones leading to major chords. I recommend you check out my V7 chords in a minor key lesson for a full explanation on this.
Chord: B7 (or B7b9, B7#9, B7Alt, B7b13). Scale: 5th mode of Harmonic Minor or Altered Scale. Possible extensions: b9, #9, #11, b13. Guide tones: 3, b7. Arpeggio: 1, 3, 5, b7 The E minor chord Your home minor chord is E minor.
Minor chords are tricky because you have a few options of scales and chords to choose from. Below is a brief overview of your options, for a more in depth look check out my minor ii V lesson. Chord: Em7 (or Emin9, Em11, Em6). Scale: Aeolian. Possible extensions: 9, 11, 13. Guide Tones: b3, b7.
Arpeggio: R, b3, 5, b7 Those Hard Descending Chords So in the last section of the tunes there is this part: Em9 Eb9 Dm9 Db9 What scale do you play over these chords? Well, long story short – what is happening here is tritone substitution. But let me cut out all the musical theory hodge podge: Use the Lydian Dominant Scale over Eb9 and Db9 respectively and Dorian over the Dm9.
Well that concludes this Autumn Leaves beginner jazz guitar lesson. Spend some time exploring each chord and its unique scale and alterations – you will set your self up great to learn other tunes faster that way because jazz standards all use the same chords, just in a different order.
I am working through Yenne Lee's arrangement of Autumn Leaves. I'd post the youtube video of her playing it, but I think it may just be removed, so you can search youtube for 'Autumn Leaves Yenne Lee' to see it if you're not familiar (it is amazing). I'm working on the palm muted section from 5:00 to 6:17 and i can't seem to get the palm muting. It's difficult to get even palm muting that is not to heavy or too light, so I try my best to keep my right hand palm parallel to the bridge and just on top of the bridge.
But then if I try to use my thumb nail to pluck the strings, I have to twist my thumb back in a way that is difficult and I think I might pull something, and it sounds overly bright. So I tried just using my thumb flesh and not the nail, but then it's difficult to get decent volume and speed. I've attached 3 pictures. 1) My right hand palm resting on the strings 2) My thumb positioned with the nail ready to strike the string 3) My thumb positioned with my flesh ready to strike the string Any suggestions? Cossacks download for windows 10.
Right now I'm practicing it without any palm muting. It still sounds good, just not as good as with the palm muting. Thanks 1) palm resting on the strings.
Guitar: 2004 Pepe Romero Jr. Here's Yenne Lee with her arrangement of the Joseph Kosma standard Autumn Leaves. She's playing a great 2004 Pepe Romero Jr. Classical guitar in cedar and maple. Recorded at the Guitar Salon International showroom in Santa Monica, CA. Huge thanks to the folks at Apogee Electronics (ApogeeDigital.com) for the use of their Ensemble interface in these recordings.
All proceeds from monetization of this video goes to the GSI Foundation, a non-profit organization that raises money to support music education in public schools. Visit our site for more information.
Guitar: 2004 Pepe Romero Jr. Here's Yenne Lee with her arrangement of the Joseph Kosma standard Autumn Leaves.
She's playing a great 2004 Pepe Romero Jr. Classical guitar in cedar and maple. Recorded at the Guitar Salon International showroom in Santa Monica, CA. Huge thanks to the folks at Apogee Electronics (ApogeeDigital.com) for the use of their Ensemble interface in these recordings.
All proceeds from monetization of this video goes to the GSI Foundation, a non-profit organization that raises money to support music education in public schools. Visit our site for more information.
Comments are closed.
|
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |