Chord melody is an amazing guitar technique that allows you to play a song’s melody and harmony simultaneously, making your guitar sound like a full band. Masters like Joe Pass and Ted Greene have showcased incredible solo performances using this style, but getting started with chord melody doesn’t have to be daunting. In this lesson, we’ll break down how to play “Autumn Leaves” as a chord melody arrangement, starting with simple techniques and gradually adding more advanced elements.
#1 Building a Solid Foundation
Our first step is to create a simple yet effective foundation. We’ll focus on clearly outlining the harmony by playing the melody and placing a chord on the first beat of each measure. This approach is easy to grasp and serves as an excellent starting point to build upon as we enhance the rhythm later.
A simple chord melody version of Autumn Leaves, placing chords on the first beat of each bar to establish the harmony.
As demonstrated above, the melody’s descending motif makes learning easier. Remember, while it’s called chord melody, prioritize the melody. Ensure the melody remains prominent and isn’t overshadowed by chord considerations, a common issue for beginners. For chord melody, and jazz guitar in general, shell voicings are the ideal starting point.
“Autumn Leaves” is in Gm, so familiarize yourself with Gm shell voicings. There are two sets, starting with the root on the 5th string:
Gm shell voicings with the root on the 5th string, essential for building chord melody arrangements.
And with the root on the 6th string:
Most chords in this lesson will be derived from these shell voicings, often by adding or omitting notes, including sometimes leaving out the root for a different sound.
Shell voicings expanded with added notes, demonstrating how to enrich basic chord shapes for chord melody.
Now, let’s add rhythm to make our arrangement more dynamic.
#2 Rhythmic Jazz Feel
Playing chords strictly on the beat can sound monotonous. “Autumn Leaves”‘s melodic structure, with its motivic phrases, is perfect for incorporating rhythm and call-response techniques, adding a jazzier feel to your playing.
Adding rhythmic variation to the chords in Autumn Leaves, incorporating a call-response feel between melody and harmony.
We’re using the same chords as before, but now we introduce rhythm by playing chords between melody phrases, creating a more engaging musical conversation. You can immediately hear the difference rhythm makes.
Example of a rhythmic chord melody arrangement, enhancing the groove and musicality of Autumn Leaves.
This rhythmic approach already sounds great and could be used for the entire song. However, let’s enrich the chords with chromatic elements to add color and sophistication. Then, we’ll explore the full song arrangement.
#3 Easy Jazz Chord Tricks with Chromaticism
Even with simple 3-note chords, you can introduce chromaticism for smoother transitions and added color. Passing chords, often over-theorized, can be simplified as moving notes by just a fret to create interesting harmonic movement.
For the opening bars, let’s add a passing note to the F7 chord:
You can also insert a passing chord before the Ebmaj7. In this case, E7 acts as a tritone substitution, but it’s essentially just two notes descending by a fret towards Ebmaj7.
Chromatic passing chords adding color and smooth transitions in an Autumn Leaves guitar chord melody.
Similarly, moving up a fret provides a passing chord to D7. While complex to analyze theoretically, the ear easily appreciates the smooth transition.
And on the Gm6:
Movement within the Gm6 chord, adding subtle harmonic interest without changing the fundamental chord.
Even without a different chord, you can create movement on the Gm6 by shifting from the 5th to the 6th, like this:
Inner chord movement on the Gm6 chord in Autumn Leaves, creating harmonic interest and variation.
Experiment and choose what sounds best to you. Before we delve into more advanced techniques, let’s hear how the full song sounds with these basic yet effective tricks, keeping it mostly simple. Chord placement is adjusted in some spots for better melodic flow, as melody remains paramount.
For instance, at the start of the B-part, the Aø chord is omitted for most of the bar, emphasizing the melody and inserting the chord just before the D7 change:
Another adjustment is in the faster chord changes towards the end.
Using a Drop 3 Gm7 chord in Autumn Leaves to keep the melody as the highest note during faster chord changes.
Instead of shell voicings, a Drop3 Gm7 is used to ensure the melody note remains on top of the Gm7 chord.
Part 1 of a full chorus chord melody arrangement of Autumn Leaves, showcasing the application of techniques learned.
And the complete chorus sounds like this:
Parts 2, 3, and 4 of the full chorus chord melody arrangement, completing the demonstration of the song.
You can download the PDF for this arrangement from my website (link in video description). Now, let’s explore how to elevate your chord vocabulary and playing further. Ironically, we’ll revisit the basic first version.
#4 Exploring Advanced Chords
Shell voicings are advantageous for their simplicity, being easy-to-play 3-note chords that clearly define the harmony and include the bass note. However, combining them with rootless voicings offers greater flexibility in terms of harmonic color and melodic possibilities.
Shell Voicings:
- Easy To Play
- 3-Note Chords
- Clear Harmonic Foundation
- Flexible Starting Point
For the first bars, playing a basic shell voicing under the melody on Cm7 leaves an entire bar to incorporate more interesting fills:
This provides opportunities to explore creative fills. You can also incorporate larger chords like drop 2 and drop 3 voicings:
Drop 2 and Drop 3 chord voicings offer richer harmonic textures for Autumn Leaves guitar arrangements.
And add a tritone substitution as a passing chord in the minor II V progression to transition from Aø to D7. Think of it as D7 moved up a fret:
Utilizing tritone substitution in a minor II V progression to add harmonic interest and color.
Adding these elements to the song leads to a richer arrangement:
An advanced chord melody arrangement of Autumn Leaves, incorporating richer chords and harmonic techniques.
But you also have the option to reharmonize chords entirely, which is incredibly powerful for chord melody arrangements. Let’s see why.
#5 Transposition and Reharmonization Techniques
When creating instrumental versions of songs with lyrics, repetition in melodies can become less engaging without the lyrical variation. “Autumn Leaves” demonstrates this with its first 8 bars being nearly identical to the second 8.
Melody repetition in Autumn Leaves, highlighting the need for variation in instrumental arrangements.
Several solutions exist. Transposing the melody up an octave is a great option for this song.
The transposition here reuses some of the simpler chord concepts we’ve already covered.
Example of melody transposition in Autumn Leaves, creating variation and interest in repeated sections.
Changing chords to make repeated sections sound different and more surprising is also effective, especially since listeners anticipate a certain sound after the first repetition.
Reharmonization is a vast topic, but even a few tritone substitutions can significantly alter “Autumn Leaves.” Here, tritone substitutions are used for Cm7 and Bbmaj7.
Tritone substitutions applied to Cm7 and Bbmaj7 in Autumn Leaves, enriching the harmonic landscape.
The Db7(13) substitution for Gm6 is particularly distinctive and functions as a great transition back to Cm7:
Using a Db7(13) chord as a tritone substitution for Gm6 in Autumn Leaves, creating a unique harmonic color.
Exploring reharmonization opens up many beautiful sounds. For a more comprehensive approach to creating chord melody arrangements from standards, check out this video and the story of my first chord melody arrangement – a song I wasn’t even fond of!
How Chord Melody Will Help You Master Important Skills
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