Swingtime in Springtime — chords & grille (gypsy jazz)
Swingtime in Springtime by Django Reinhardt — key of F (manouche), form A. 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
A Django Reinhardt original recorded in 1946 with the reformed Quintette du Hot Club de France, Swingtime in Springtime comes from the band's clarinet era (Hubert Rostaing) and shows Django's more harmonically adventurous post-war writing.
The sound — sunny F major that leans on F7 to reach B♭, a Gm–C7 turnaround home, and colour from a B♭°7 passing chord and a D7 setting up the ii; bright and buoyant.
Practising it — target the F7 arpeggio as it pulls to B♭, then the Gm–C7–F ii–V–I; let the B♭°7 lead your ear chromatically. A brisk, springy swing tempo suits it.
Swingtime in Springtime chords — the grille
A : | F | F | F | F7 | B♭ | B♭ | F | F | Gm | C7 | F | F | F | B♭ B♭° | F | F7 | B♭ | B♭° | F | D7 | Gm | C7 | F | F |
Chords used
F · F7 · B♭ · Gm · C7 · B♭° · D7
Play along
Open the interactive grille for Swingtime in Springtime: 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.