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Africa and the Indian Ocean

Raï on guitar: chords and rhythm.

Raï, born in Oran, often walks down the Andalusian cadence: D minor, C, B♭, A. The electric guitar, which came into raï in the 1970s, lays its chords on the percussion's three, three, two.

i – ♭VII – ♭VI – VLevel · 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 minor · 100 BPM
  • Dm
    D minor××231
  • C
    C major×321
  • Bb
    B♭ major×1234
  • A
    A major×123

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
  • down, cut short

From the same world

Afrobeat's interlocking guitars, the arpeggios of the Congo, desert blues, Algerian raï and the séga of the islands.