Exploring Jazz Chords on `Ukulele, Standard Example - Autumn Leaves

If you're a registered site member and have the correct permissions you can view ALL the pages of this PDF or Samples pages at a larger size using the LearningUkulele.com Online PDF Viewer.

A lot of the songs from the Great American Songbook have found their way into the jazz musician's and ukulele players repertoire and are a great source of more advanced chords and progressions.

This lesson presents one way to play through the this classic standard using more advanced 4-part chords, commonly called Jazz chords.

Harmonic Analysis

Autumn Leaves is mainly a Full Diatonic chord progression. Modulating, in this example, the key of Bb Major and it's relative minor key: G Minor .

The first four measures are: II V I IV or 2 5 1 4 in the Nashville Numbering System

Then up an augmented four or diminished fifth to a Am7b5, the II of the II V I in Gm, a modulation to key of Gm, the relative minor of the home key Bb. This II V I is repeated again then back to the Bb.

Pretty much those chords with a bit of substitutions for variety in the last six measures for the ending and them back around.

Common Keys

Autumn is performed in two standard keys, depending on the dominant instruments. For instrumentals, most guitar players will have learned it in G/Em , as it is in the REal Book. horn players favor Bb/Gm . For a vocalist, they will determine the key. So it is to have generic roadmap that you can navigate — regardless of the key.

Here is a custom Play-long Track for Autumn Leaves in the Key of G/Em .