All styles

Caribbean

Zouk on guitar: chords and rhythm.

Zouk, born in the French Antilles with Kassav', often turns in minor, from fourth to fourth: A minor, D minor, G, C. Everything rests on the tresillo, three, three, two: the bass on the first stroke, short chords on the next.

i – iv – ♭VII – ♭IIILevel · 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 A minor · 110 BPM
  • Am
    A minor×231
  • Dm
    D minor××231
  • G
    G major213
  • C
    C major×321

The rhythm

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

1
·
·
·
2
·
·
·
3
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·
·
4
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  • 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.