The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
  1. #1

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    I was searching for an easy to understand approach to learning some basic Bossa Nova rhythms and ran across this on YT. Not much here for you advanced players, but at my level I found it very informative and well organized. Especially the pattern that uses anticipation when changing chords. I could never get my head (nor my fingers) wrapped around that until now. If you're a noob like me might find this useful.

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

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    Good video.

    I would add that it is important to recognize the view that there is no such thing as a bossa nova pattern, because every song is different.
    A Brazilian master told me that.

    OTOH, if you listen to, say, Joao Gilberto's comping, not every song is different. Or, at least, some are quite similar.

    The originators of bossa nova included a bunch of players, each of whom had his own spin on the comping.

    This is akin to learning to play the "Beatle Beat".

  4. #3

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    Yea it's pretty simple. Also right out of Antonio Adolfo's "Brazilian Music Workshop".

    Adolfo's book is also extremely well organized... and the examples have a much better feel. Or Brazilian Guitar Book by Nelson Faria... again a much better feel, (and player). But still simple. But if it works for you... go with it and maybe later get into the next level with examples I posted.

    What might be interesting is... do you want to play old Brazilian folk and dance music. Most of the Brazilians I've gigged with over the years... want to play Jazz.... and love to get funky. It's not in slow motion.

    I'll also add... learn about the Clave and then Montunos, which will open the door to Brazilian Clave. Traditionally Brazilians don't use term Clave as Afro-Cuban music.... but almost all musicians are aware of basic Brazilian rhythmic figures that serve a similar purpose. A repeating rhythmic figure that serves as the foundation for Samba,
    and as with Afro-cuba.... patterns can be reversed . Like playing a Three-Two or a Two-Three Clave.

    Anyway... a few steps at a time.
    Last edited by Reg; 09-10-2020 at 06:42 PM.

  5. #4

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    Quote Originally Posted by Reg
    Yea it's pretty simple. Also right out of Antonio Adolfo's "Brazilian Music Workshop".

    Adolfo's book is also extremely well organized... and the examples have a much better feel. Or Brazilian Guitar Book by Nelson Faria... again a much better feel, (and player). But still simple. But if it works for you... go with it and maybe later get into the next level with examples I posted.

    What might be interesting is... do you want to play old Brazilian folk and dance music. Most of the Brazilians I've gigged with over the years... want to play Jazz.... and love to get funky. It's not in slow motion.

    I'll also add... learn about the Clave and then Montunos, which will open the door to Brazilian Clave. Traditionally Brazilians don't use term Clave as Afro-Cuban music.... but almost all musicians are aware of basic Brazilian rhythmic figures that serve a similar purpose. A repeating rhythmic figure that serves as the foundation for Samba,
    and as with Afro-cuba.... patterns can be reversed . Like playing a Three-Two or a Two-Three Clave.

    Anyway... a few steps at a time.
    I used both those books. Faria's book is my all time number one guitar book. It breaks things down simply and then takes things up to the level of a transcription of a hip recording -- and does that for each style/chapter in the book. He has another book called Inside the Brazilian Rhythm section which is also good - my only criticism (not really) is that I wished it was even longer and more detailed.

    Adolfo's book is more about the rhythm section as a group, but includes plenty of guitar specific material. He presents a couple of pages of different comping patterns, all of which are relevant - and has a lot of detail about how they're applied.

  6. #5

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    There are also a couple of excellent books by Carlos Arana.

    In a nutshell he states that bossa nova comping is made of 21 (or so) rhythm patterns that one can put together in several different orders, so as to obtain the rhythm variations qhich are essential in the style. Always using the same 2 bar pattern quickly gets boring to hear

  7. #6

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    Ahmed El Salamouny Brazilian Guitar
    brazilian rhythms for guitar - Renato Candro
    Almir Chediak
    Flavio Medeiros, Carlos Almada - Brazilian Rhythms for Solo Guitar

    Most have cd's - available on youtube for the most part.