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South America

Forró and baião on guitar: chords and rhythm.

Baião and forró, from Brazil's Northeast, sound Mixolydian: the chord a whole step below the tonic (here C, in D) takes the place of the dominant. The bass plays the zabumba's figure, a long note then a short one, and the chord falls short on the second beat.

I – ♭VII – IV – ILevel · Intermediate

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 · 100 BPM
  • D
    D major××132
  • C
    C major×321
  • G
    G major213

The rhythm

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

1
·
·
·
2
·
·
·
  • the bass, with the thumb
  • the alternating bass
  • the high strings
  • the high strings, cut short

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.