Billets Doux — chords & grille (gypsy jazz)
Billets Doux by Maurice Yvain & Briquet & Saint-Granier — key of G (manouche), form A B. Below is the full chord grid; on Haute Gitanerie you can play along with a scrolling chord ribbon, transpose to any key, set the tempo, and switch on a rhythm backing (la pompe) to practise your solos over the changes.
About
Billets Doux is a 1921 French music-hall song by Maurice Yvain (with Briquet and Saint-Granier), not a Django tune despite the frequent misattribution. Django and Grappelli recorded it in 1938, often as a light warm-up, and it stuck in the manouche repertoire.
The sound — a breezy, cheerful piece in G major, its melody trotting over classic changes with augmented and diminished passing chords adding a little twenties-cabaret sparkle.
Practising it — keep it light and bouncy. Drill G major and dominant arpeggios, work the chromatic passing chords, and aim for a relaxed swing that suits its music-hall charm rather than a heavy, driving feel.
Billets Doux chords — the grille
A : | G | G/B B♭° | Am A♭° | Am D7 | Am | D7 D7♯5 | G | G | E7 | E7 | A7 | A7 | A7 | A7 | D7 D♭7 | D7 | G | G/B B♭° | Am A♭° | Am D7 | Am | D7 | B7 | E7 | Am | Cm | G | E7 | A7 | D7 | G | G |
B : | G | G | Am | D7 | Am | D7 | G | G |
Chords used
G · B♭° · Am · A♭° · D7 · D7♯5 · E7 · A7 · D♭7 · B7 · Cm
Play along
Open the interactive grille for Billets Doux: loop any section, transpose to any key, set the tempo, and play over a rhythm accompaniment — with a real recorded pompe on featured tunes. In the browser, free.