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Caribbean

Calypso on guitar: chords and rhythm.

Trinidad's calypso rests on I – IV – V7 (D, G, A7) and on a rhythm that went around the world: down, down-up, up-down-up, the "calypso strum" that thousands of pop songs use.

I – IV – V7 – ILevel · Beginner

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 D major · 108 BPM
  • D
    D major××132
  • G
    G major213
  • A7
    A 7×12

The rhythm

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

1
·
2
·
3
·
4
·
  • strum down
  • strum up

From the same world

Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Trinidad and the French Antilles: simple chords played on the offbeat, over the clave or the tresillo.