All styles

Caribbean

Kompa on guitar: chords and rhythm.

Haitian kompa sways, and its guitars play seventh chords that go round: Cmaj7, Am7, Dm7, G7 (I – vi – ii – V). The bass is on the beat; the guitar slips small, dry chords between the bass notes.

Imaj7 – vi7 – 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 C major · 104 BPM
  • Cmaj7
    C major 7×32
  • Am7
    A minor 7×21
  • Dm7
    D minor 7××12
  • 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

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