All styles

South America

Cumbia on guitar: chords and rhythm.

Cumbia, born in Colombia and now played all over Latin America, turns on three chords: C, F and G7. The bass marks the beats, the guitar places short chords on the offbeats, like the guacharaca scraping away nonstop.

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 C major · 92 BPM
  • C
    C major×321
  • F
    F major1342
  • G7
    G 7321

The rhythm

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

1
·
2
·
3
·
4
·
  • the bass, with the thumb
  • the high strings, cut short
  • 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.