PlayJazzGuitar.com Forum

[Sardonic]

im fairly new to chord progressions, but eager to learn i tried to understand Autum Leaves and its progression... The basis is the Gmaj7 progression:

Gmaj7 Am7 Bm7 Cmaj7 D7 Em7 F#m7b5

but then it gets tricky, the Bm7 was changed into B7 and the D7 into D9, and here's where im lost

can someone help me with understanding why?

[Gorecki]

[scottl]

I don't think you can look at it as one tonal center. The F#-7b5 B7alt E-7 at the end of each chorus is a minor ii-V-i The tonality is clearly that of Emin. That is Emin as a tonic and not relative minor of Gmaj

Scott

[JakeJew]

Bm7 is the iii chord in G major. Diatonically, it should be minor. But in this song, it is used as a V in the key of E minor. V chords are usually dom7 in jazz.

E minor is the relative minor of the key of G major. The B7 chord in the key of G is very, very, very common and you need to get familiar with the theory behind it. Usually dominant chords function to resolve a 4th higher.

So in the key of G, you might get a D7 to lead to G, an A7 to lead to D, a B7 to lead to E, an E7 to lead to A, etc.

That's where we get something like rhythm changes:

G E7 | Am7 D7 | G E7 | Am7 D7 | G7 |C etc.

As for the 9, you can pretty much always play a 9 or b9 over a dominant chord.

[alfonso]

Here's the link. Just read it and eveything falls into place, it's like oh, that's what I was gonna say...

http://www.jazzstandards.com/compositions-0/autumnleaves.htm

[steve]

Cool site Alfonso. I particularly enjoy the comments by the players. thanks
_________________
Miles is the answer.

[Viper]

Weird man here's my post from the other day inrealtion to a Joe Pass question in the Guitar Forum.

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[Sardonic]

errrrr i think im gonna take the advice "does it matter? its sounds nice right? well thats all that really matters!"

the dom7 as a sub for m7 makes sense (V of Em = B7 made sense as well), and the added 9 as well, so tnx for clarifying

but the rest of the comments only made my head spin

[JakeJew]

[Gorecki]

[alfonso]

Sardonic,
If you look at the post up there by Viper you can see that the song starts on the ii chord in the key Gmajor which is Am. I think what is confusing is when you asked the original question you started the song with the Gmajor chord and that's not right. The song starts on the Am. Viper's post says it all, hope this helps and it doesn't confuse you further, if it does move on as long as you know how to play the song continue playing and lights will go on for you sometime later. peace

[steve]

[Sardonic]

i didnt say the song starts with GM7, the chord progression does

ive been writing songs for over 20 years, so i kno a little bout how certain chords go well with eachother... im only now learning why... and while this does help me write better songs, coz it makes it easier to find a chorus with a verse, A leads to B, B leads to C, that sorta thing... but on the other hand, im a fairly intuitive player, so i dont wanna analize every little thing i play to death (dutch expression)

autumn leaves is a wonderfull example of how to use knowledge and feel for music at the same time... there's 3 progressions involved, the GM9 (D9), Em7 (B7) and GM7 (the rest)... kosma probly knew from experience you can swap the Bm7 and B7 around, and that a D9 goes well if not better in a GM7 progression (i didnt, now i do, tnx to y'all)... music is all about feel tho, and thats why autumn leaves sounds so nice, coz it feels nice, it makes you feel nice

now ofcourse you could analize this to pieces with the circle of fifths theory, but that doesnt always explain everything, thats the mystery of music, and we should keep it that way (imo)... take my verzion of autumn leaves for example, where i play E-F#-G-B rather than just the boring Em7 (twice)... or better take that progression i posted here before: Bm7 - C7sus2 - Dm7 - E7sus2... funny enuff this is based on the GM7 progression as well: iiim7 and V7 subbed by Vm7 (or should i write iii7 v7 instead?)... but how on earth did i come up with the 7sus2 substitutions? where's the logic? do i really wanna kno? it just sounded right and i went for it... wut makes it special (to me) is probly the d-d-f-fis melody line hidden in the chords

anywayz, my question is answered, you can swap 7 and m7 around, add a 9 to some chords, and there's probly millions of other tricks (which i wanna learn all, but then use em without knowing, if ya catch my drift )

[Sardonic]

[JakeJew]

Sorry man I think you're misunderstanding some terms, I'm gonna call it like I see it...