'Autumn Leaves' - Chord Voicings

To begin our study of jazz guitar, I've chosen a very well know jazz composition (these are often referred to as 'standards') that many
players learn when they start out with jazz. In this lesson we are going to examine the chords from this song and to save space, I'm
just going to focus on the first 8 bars to look at how you can take the basic harmony and then enrich the chords a li le so that they
sound more 'jazz-like'. We'll cover the later chords in the song in future lessons.

To begin with, here are the basic chord changes for the first 8 bars of 'Autumn Leaves' with some common chord voicings.

°
C‹7 F7 B¨Œ„Š7 E¨Œ„Š7
6fr 6fr 6fr

4 bw b ww w
w nw
& 4b w
w w
w w bww
w bw bw

4
¢⁄
4
4 6
3 8
5 7
3 8
6 8
7 7
7 8
6
6

°
A‹7(b5) D7 G‹7 G‹7
4fr 3fr

bw
5
w bnnw bnw
& ww #w
w
w
w
w w
w
w w w

¢⁄
4 3 3 3
5 5 3 3
5 4 3 3
5
5 3 3

These voicings are functional enough, but the dominant 7th chords especially sound a li le 'flat' in this context and most jazz musicians
would likely want to make these a bit more colourful. Let's deal with them first.

Here's the same basic harmony again, but now with a b9 added to both the F7 and the D7 chords. I've also re-voiced the Cmin7 chord
a li le to help smooth the chord movement. It's a subtle but effective change in the chord sounds. Btw - If you are unfamiliar with terms
like 'b9' at the moment, don't worry unduly and just let your ears absorb these sounds as you play the chords. We can get to the theory
of all this material later on in these lessons.
C‹7

°
7fr
F7(b9) B¨Œ„Š7 E¨Œ„Š7
7fr 6fr 6fr

bw
w bbw
w w nw
9
w bw
& w
b
w
w
w w bw
w
bw

¢⁄
8 7 6 8
8 8 7 7
8 7 7 8
8 6
8 6

°13
A‹7(b5) D7(b9) G‹7 G‹7
4fr 4fr

bw bw bnnw bnw
& ww #w
w
w
w
w w
w
w w w

¢⁄
4 4 3 3
5 5 3 3
5 4 3 3
5
5 3 3
 2

Now that we have added a b9 to the dominant 7th chords within the first few bars, we can turn our a ention to the other chord
types.
We have to be careful here though, as we need to be aware of whether we are going to be playing chords as an accompaniment to the
melody of the song or whether we will be playing accompaniment to a soloist. I'm going to assume the la er in this lesson, as we
won't
need to worry as much about whether our voicings choice would support the actual melody notes (more on this in future lessons..)

Let's now try some changes with the min7 and major7 chords..and I'm also going to start playing more than one chord in a single bar
to create a li le more movement within the harmony as well as occasionally varying the duration of the chords a bit to avoid things
C‹9

°
7fr
F7(b9) B¨Œ„Š7
6fr 6fr

w bbw
w w
17
w w
& bw
w
w
w w
bw

¢⁄
8 7 6
7 8 7
8 7 7
8
8 6

°20
E¨Œ„Š7 A‹7(b5) D7(#9) D7(b9) G‹7 G‹7

n˙˙ ™™™
6fr 4fr 4fr 4fr

bw n˙ b˙˙
& b˙˙ ™
b Πw
w #˙˙˙ ˙˙ bnnw
w
w bnw
w
w
w w w
™
Œ
¢⁄
8 4 6 4 3 3
7 5 5 5 3 3
8 5 4 4 3 3
6 5 5
5 3 3

For the final example, I have changed things a li le rhythmically, by anticipating the chords slightly from the previous bar. This is a
commonly employed rhythmic technique in jazz which gives a feeling of forward motion to the harmony. I've also added a G7b9 chord
in the final bar as the next chord would be a Cmin7 and the G7b9 leads very effectively to that chord.

C‹9

°
F7 B¨Œ„Š7 E¨Œ„Š7

˙ ™™ ˙˙ ™™ ˙˙ ™™ n˙˙ ™™™
7fr
6fr 6fr 6fr

& b˙˙˙ ™™
bœ nœ
‰ b œœœ ˙˙™™ ˙™ ˙˙ ™
25

Œ ‰ bbœœœ Œ
J b˙™ J

™ j ™ ™ j ™
‰ Œ ‰ Œ
¢⁄
3
3 7 7 6 8 8
3 8 8 7 7 7
7 7 7 8 8
3 8 8 6 6
6

°29
A‹7(b5) D7(#9) D7(b9) G‹7 G7(b9)

b˙ ™ nœœj
4fr 4fr 4fr

& ˙˙ ™™
˙˙ b˙
‰ #˙˙˙ bnnw
w nnw
w
˙™
#œœ ˙˙ w w
w bw
™ j
‰
¢⁄
4 6 6 4 3 3
5 5 5 5 3 4
5 4 4 4 3 3
0 5 5 5
3 4