Jazz Standard
Autumn Leaves chords
Autumn Leaves by Jazz Standard is an intermediate song in Gm, played with no capo. The whole sheet is 7 chords (Cm7, F7, Bbmaj7, Ebmaj7, Am7b5, D7, Gm7) across 4 sections: A1 → A2 → B → A3. 2 of the 7 shapes are open chords. Shapes that use a barre: Cm7, F7, Bbmaj7, Ebmaj7, Gm7. It sits at roughly 130 BPM.
By Chiye · Updated
Hardest change in the sheet: Cm7 → F7, 4 times.
- Difficulty
- Intermediatebarre shape Cm7
- Key
- Gmwith no capo
- Tempo
- 130BPM
- Tuning
- Standard (E A D G B E)low to high
- Chords
- 72 open, 5 with a barre
- Sections
- 4each with its own progression
Chords in Autumn Leaves
Frets read low E to high E, x means leave that string out.
Chord sheet
One chord per bar in this practice sheet. Follow the time signature shown beside each section; dots mark the remaining counts in the bar. Tap a bar to hear its chord, or loop the section to practise the changes.
Chord accompaniment only. Follow the section notes for this arrangement’s timing. Songs whose words are public domain →
A14/4 · ♩=130
A24/4 · ♩=130
B4/4 · ♩=130
A34/4 · ♩=130
Printable one-page chord chart
How to play Autumn Leaves
This G-minor arrangement connects two ii–V progressions. Cm7, F7 and Bbmaj7 form ii–V–I in Bb major, the relative major of G minor. Am7b5, D7 and Gm7 form ii–V–i in G minor, with the dominant D7 supplying F# outside the natural-minor scale.
Practise those two three-chord groups separately. Cm7 does not become F7 by sliding the same shape two frets: that would change its root to D and leave it a minor seventh. Follow the diagrams for the change in both root and chord quality.
Am7b5 begins bar 5 of each A section. The open shape x-0-1-0-1-x already includes the root A, so you do not need to remove it. The following D7 has its own root D; it cannot supply an A that was missing from the previous chord.
Comp quietly at a comfortable tempo and give each cell a full bar. After both cadences are clear, connect the eight-bar A section and then the B section. Listen for the different major and minor arrivals rather than memorising the progression as one long list.
How to practise Autumn Leaves
Four steps computed from this sheet: the order the shapes are easiest to learn in, the changes that really occur in the progressions above, where each chord turns up, and the tempo ladder up to the speed marked here.
Learn the shapes easiest first
D7 (x-x-0-2-1-2, beginner) → Cm7 (x-3-5-3-4-3, intermediate, needs a barre) → F7 (1-3-1-2-1-1, intermediate, needs a barre) → Bbmaj7 (x-1-3-2-3-1, intermediate, needs a barre) → Ebmaj7 (x-6-8-7-8-6, intermediate, needs a barre) → Gm7 (3-5-3-3-3-3, intermediate, needs a barre) → Am7b5 (x-0-1-0-1-x, advanced)
2 of the 7 shapes are open chords, so start there and leave Cm7 until the others change cleanly.
Drill the changes this sheet actually uses
Am7b5 → D74×Cm7 → F74×D7 → Gm74×F7 → Bbmaj74×
These counts come from the progressions on this page, so they are the changes you will actually play, not a generic list of pairs to practise.
Know where each chord turns up
- Cm7every section
- F7every section
- Bbmaj7every section
- Ebmaj7A1, A2, A3
- Am7b5every section
- D7every section
- Gm7every section
Climb the tempo ladder
Start at 78 BPM and move up only when a full pass is clean: 78 → 98 → 117 → 130 BPM. The tempo marked on this sheet is 130 BPM, and the last step is the one that always feels like a jump. Stay at 117 for longer than feels necessary.
Practise each section's chord changes slowly, then play the sheet through at a steady tempo without pausing between sections.
Playing Autumn Leaves with a capo
This sheet needs no capo. Each card shows what you would finger at that capo position so the song still sounds exactly as written. Useful when the shapes above are awkward, or when you want to sing it higher without learning new chords.
No capoas written
Cm7 F7 Bbmaj7 Ebmaj7 Am7b5 D7 Gm7
2 of 7 stay open
Fret 3
Am7 D7 Gmaj7 Cmaj7 F#m7b5 B7 Em7
7 of 7 stay open
Fret 5
Gm7 C7 Fmaj7 Bbmaj7 Em7b5 A7 Dm7
4 of 7 stay open
Fret 7
Fm7 Bb7 Ebmaj7 Abmaj7 Dm7b5 G7 Cm7
1 of 7 stay open
Working out a different key? The capo calculatordoes the same arithmetic for any chord set.
More intermediate songs to learn after this one: Father and Son, 500 Miles, Shallow, The One That Got Away.
These chords across the songbookHow often each chord in Autumn Leaves turns up across all 104 songs on this site, and what it most often moves to next. The counts come from the sheet library itself, not from theory.
4bars of this chord across the songbook
1songs use this shape
Most often followed by F7, 4×.
7bars of this chord across the songbook
2songs use this shape
Most often followed by Bbmaj7, 4×.
6bars of this chord across the songbook
2songs use this shape
Most often followed by Ebmaj7, 3×.
10bars of this chord across the songbook
3songs use this shape
Most often followed by Bb7, 1×.
4bars of this chord across the songbook
1songs use this shape
Most often followed by D7, 4×.
45bars of this chord across the songbook
12songs use this shape
Most often followed by G, 22×.
12bars of this chord across the songbook
3songs use this shape
Most often followed by A7, 1×.