JA-520 • Autumn Leaves Introduction

[Indigo]

Lesson Link:  https://www.justinguitar.com/guitar-lessons/autumn-leaves-introduction-ja-520

Questions...

[zorner]

Hi everyone
I started learning Autumn Leaves and I have problem in the chords.
In the chart of this tune the last last two lines are:
F#-7b5/B7b9/E-7 Eb9/D-7 Db9[OR 7, I'm not really sure]
Cmaj7/B7b9/E-/E-

But in the lesson Justin told to play
F#-7b5/B7b9/E-7 A7/D-7 G7
F#7b5/B7b9/E-/E-

Which of those versions is correct?
I thought that Justin teaches this version to make it easier but the Cmaj7 is not a hard chord, so why did he changed it?
And if I play the first one, how should I finger the b9's?

My English is not so good so I hope I explained myself good enough, if I didn't let me know and I'll try to explain it better.

[mouser9169]

There are as many different 'versions' of this song floating around as there are people who have played it. Jazz is like that. More specifically here, I don't think Justin has the latest version of the Real Book - I know he didn't when he wrote the list of 'recommended' books somewhere on this site.

Different editions of the book have slightly different chords for different songs, based on either who's version of the song they were  using for their transcription, or if they got the original form from the composer. The newest (6th) edition is most likely to be closest to what the original composer wrote down.

In my Real Book the last two lines for Autumn Leaves run:

||F#-7b5|B7b9|E-7 A7| D-7 G7|
| F#-7b5|B7b9|E-|  |

So in this case at least, Justin's chords match the newest Real Book edition. 

As for Cmaj7 not being a hard chord - remember, none of these should be played with open chords [meaning chords with open strings in them, not 'open' in the music theory sense] if you want a 'tight' jazz sound. Use barre chords or 'four finger' chords (more often) so you can get nice 'crisp' changes.


Edit: Btw, when are we going to get our 'Blue Bossa' thread?

[cfox59]

Has Justin made a video of his chord melody for this? He's got the melody in one video and chords in another. He teases us with a little chord melody near the end of the chords video. Has he done one and I'm just missing it?