A shift control of an automatic transmission including a first transmission section and a second transmission section, which are capable of shifting automatically and independently of each other, and the first transmission section and the second transmission section are simultaneously or alternately shifted, to achieve multi-gear shifts, in which when shifting is to be achieved by shifting the first transmission section and the second transmission section in directions opposite to each other, and shifting is a down shift in the automatic transmission as a whole, such shifting is prohibited. The advantages of the multi-gear shifts are thus fully utilized to avoid high shift shocks.