All styles

South America

Bossa nova on guitar: chords and rhythm.

Bossa nova, from Brazil, keeps jazz chords but plays them softly, with the thumb and fingers, over a syncopated rhythm. Its signature: a maj7 chord rising to a 7 a whole step up, Fmaj7 then G7, before coming back down through Gm7 and C7.

Imaj7 – II7 – ii7 – V7Level · Advanced

The progression

Pick a key: the charts change right below. "Listen" plays the progression with its rhythm; a click on a chord plays it alone, the arrow opens its page.

Key

In F major · 72 BPM
  • Fmaj7
    F major 7××321
  • G7
    G 7321
  • Gm7
    G minor 73fr13
  • C7
    C 7×3241

The rhythm

One bar of the strumming hand, beat by beat. While it plays, the stroke being played lights up.

1
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2
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3
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4
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  • bass and high strings together
  • the high strings
  • the alternating bass

From the same world

From Brazil to Argentina and Colombia, rhythms where the guitar does it all: the bass with the thumb, the chords with the fingers, and syncopation.