BOSSA NOVA BASICS

Explore the Cool Sounds of

Brazilian Fingerstyle
By Adam Levy

he music that came to be called bossa

could call bossa nova a clean, washed sam-

nova (literally, the new thing) took shape

This isnt to say that bossa nova is merely

ba, without loss of the momentum.

whitewashed samba, however. Bossa nova

in Brazil in the mid 1950s. Bossa nova

has its own deep, earthy pulse, and while its

mellower than its percussion-laden cousin,

grew out of the countrys powerful samba tradition,

it is equally persuasive.

crossbreeding sambas heavy, hypnotic groove with

heart of bossa nova. For a taste of prime

the breezy, urbane mood of American cool jazz.

classic record by American jazz saxophonist

The nylon-string acoustic guitar is at the

bossa playing, listen to Getz/Gilberto, the
Stan Getz and Brazilian guitarist/vocalist
Joo Gilberto. Other albumsfor example,
As the late composer and bossa nova

and the music is very hot and wonderful.

Gilbertos 1959 disc, Chega de Saudade

patriarch Antonio Carlos Jobim explained

But bossa nova is cool and contained. It

may have been more purely Brazilian, but

in the liner notes to Verve Jazz Masters

tells the story, trying to be simple and se-

Getz/Gilberto crystallized the bossa nova

13Antonio Carlos Jobim: The authentic

rious and lyrical. Joo [Gilberto] and I felt

craze in North America. It swept the 1964

Negro samba in Brazil is very primitive.

that Brazilian music had been too much

Grammy awards, winning best album, best

They use maybe ten percussion instru-

of a storm on the sea, and we wanted to

jazz performance, best engineering, and

ments and four or five singers. They shout

calm it down for the recording studio. You

best song for The Girl from Ipanema.

J O B I M PH OTO : C H U C K S T E WA RT

www.guitarplayer.com

NOVEMBER 1999 GUITAR PLAYER 1

RIDING THE WAVE

BOSSA
NOVA
BASICS

If you want to ride the bossa nova tide into deeper waters, youll find The Brazilian Guitar

Book (by Nelson Faria) and The Brazilian Sound ( by Chris McGowan and Ricardo Pessanha)
particularly helpful. Farias book is a thorough treatise on the ins and outs of traditional and
contemporary Brazilian guitar styles. The Brazilian Sound is not an instructional book per se,
but it offers a top-down look at Brazils rich musical heritage.
Of course, as with any style of music, you cant learn the subtleties of bossa nova from a
book or magazine. To get the feel and rhythms right, you must go to the sourcethe recordings
of the masters. Just about anything from the 60s featuring Joo Gilberto or Luis Bonf will do.

Throughout the record, Gilbertos seductive

guitar provides both primary rhythms and undulating counter-rhythms.

You should also search out recordings by the remarkable Baden Powell and by Srgio Mendes
& Brasil 66 (with guitarist Oscar Castro-Neves). Bola Sete and Laurindo Almeida also made
some fine bossa nova recordings during this period.

AL

Getting Started
Lets take our first step into the world of bossa
nova guitar by exploring some of Gilbertos
comping patterns. Ex. 1 is the fundamental bossa
rhythm Gilberto used for the intro of The Girl
from Ipanema. (If The Girl from Ipanema conjures images of elevator music or a torpid wedding band, youve probably never heard Gilbertos

Ex. 1

Ex. 2

b
b D b 9 D b m9
b b
b b
b
b
b

b
===========
&

> >
b b 2 ..
========
& b b b 4 { . ={

D 6/9

= 60-76

D maj9 D 6/9

3
4
1
2

1
1
2

T
A
B

Ex. 3

= 60-76

..

original sensual and swinging version.)

There are several key points to consider. First
is bossas fingerstyle technique: Pluck the chords
(the up-stemmed notes) with your index, middle,
and ring fingers, and attack the down-stemmed
bass notes with your thumb. Next, notice the

4
3
3
4

4
3
3

..

4
3
3

3
1
1
2

4
5
3
4

T
A
B

4
3
1
2

4
3
3
4

4
3
1
2

4
4
3
4

4
4
2
4

D 6/9

E 9

> >
> >
> >
> >
.
bbb 2 .. .
b

====================
& b 4 . . n n . n b=

T
A
B

4
3
3

4
3
3

4
3
3
4

4
3
3

4
3
3

E m9

4
3
3

6
6
5

6
6
5

6
6
5

6
6
5
6

6
6
5

6
6
5

6
6
5

Anticipating Ghosts

D9

6
6
4

D 6/9

> >
> >
> >
> >
.
bbb . n b .. ..
b
====================
& b . # n . n b . .=
J
()
T
A
B

6
6
4
6

6
6
4

6
6
4
6

5
5
4
5

5
5
4

5
5
4
5

4
3
3

4
3
3
4

4
3
3

4
3
3
4

4
3
3
4

4
3
3

accents they neednt be excessively strong, but

you want a dynamic difference between the first,
unaccented eighth-note and the following two
chordal attacks. By contrast, attack the bass notes
evenly, and let them ring for their full value.
Did you notice Ex. 1s 2/4 time signature?
In pop- and jazz-oriented fake books, you may
find bossa nova standards such as The Girl
from Ipanema and Desafinado rendered in
4/4, but Brazilians writeand, more importantly, feelthis music in 2/4. You can tap into the
2/4 vibe by gently swaying your body, shifting
your weight from left foot to right as you count
One, two, one, two. If you arent moving, you
arent grooving.
Also, note that the Db6/9 chord is voiced with
the 5 (Ab) in the bass. While not the rule, in bossa
guitar its common to have the 5 in the bass on
the sixth string. Heres a tip: When playing a major 9th, major 6/9th, dominant 9th, or minor 9th
chord whose root would occur on the fifth string,
leave the root out of the voicing and instead fret
the 5 on the sixth string. Play Ex. 2, and notice
how the 5-in-the-bass voicing gives chords a
more open sound. The separation between the
upper part of the chords and their respective
bass notes adds to the musical illusion that the
bass and treble parts are played by different
players. (When youre playing with a bassist, he
or she will cover the roots.)

Ex. 3 shows how Gilberto uses a simple twomeasure rhythmic pattern to work his way
though the chord progression in The Girl from
Ipanema. The last sixteenth-note of measures
2, 4, and 6 anticipate the next chordEb9,

4
3
3
4

www.guitarplayer.com

NOVEMBER 1999 GUITAR PLAYER 7 5

BOSSA
NOVA
BASICS
Ebm9, and Db6/9, respectively. Play this anticipation very lightly. In fact, many bossa nova
guitarists play these anticipated chords as pitchless ghosts, using the chording hand to mute
the strings briefly by lifting the fingers ever-soslightly off the strings.
Again, pay attention to the accents, and strive
to keep the bass notes smooth and even. Resist
the temptation to play syncopated bass lines
or couple the bass line to all the chords. To nail
the bossa style, youve got to keep a steady quarter-note pulse on the bottom.

The up-side/down-side concept is not a

hard-and-fast rule, but youll hear it in many
bossa nova songs. In any case, the two-bar patterns are rarely repeated verbatim for very long.
Instead, rhythmic accents shift and change to
compliment a songs melody and mood, oras
in the many collaborations between bossa nova
and jazz musiciansto compliment the soloist.
Yet bossa guitarists will sometimes repeat a
one-measure rhythm to keep the music static
for a while. Ex. 1 is the kind of a one-measure
phrase you can loop this way. To hear the difference between one- and two-measure patterns,
first play Ex. 3 as written, then repeat the chords,
but play them using Ex. 1s one-measure rhythm.

have this passage up to speed, make up your

own combinations, and try them out with this
tune, other bossa classics, or with your bossa
nova songs.
g

Play It Again, Joo

Ex. 6 brings us back to The Girl from
Ipanema. But this time, instead of copying
Gilbertos rhythms, well play a composite of
several patterns weve tried thus far. Once you

Two Sides to Every Story

Jobim also played guitar, but his style was
a little different from Gilbertos. Ex. 4 is a sample of Jobims comping from the introduction
to Vivo Sonhando (from his album, The
Composer of Desafinado Plays). This example
illustrates an important bossa nova concept:
Each two-bar rhythm pattern usually has a
down side and an up side. The down side
relies on eighth-notes, which are not considered syncopations in bossa nova. By contrast,
off-beat sixteenthsor upbeatsare felt as
syncopations.
Another example of this two-bar up/down
feel can be heard in Gilbertos comping on Doralice, again from Getz/Gilberto. The song was
recorded at a brighter tempo than typical bossa
novas, so play the lively Ex. 5 accordingly.
This four-bar progression also introduces
the concept of moving voices within a chord.
For example, in the opening measure, Dmaj7 s
top note (C#) drops down to B, changing the
chord to a D6. For the E13 chord, B returns to
C#, and then chromatically works its way down
to B again (via E7b13 and A9). This kind of innervoice motion adds harmonic sophistication to
an otherwise simple progression. Note that 7
shifting to 6 is a characteristic bossa move, as
is 6-7, 6-5, or 5-6. The motion can be direct or
chromatic (7-b7-6).

Ex. 4

>
>
>
>
#### # 2 . . . .
..
====================
& # 4 .. .. nn .. nn =

F maj7

= 60-76

Bm9

3
2

2
4
3
1

2
3
3

T
A
B

2
3
3

2
3
3

2
3
3

2 2
3 3
3 3

= 72-90

Dmaj7 D6

2
3
3

2
2
0

Ex. 5

2
3
3

E13

E7 13

7 6 GUITAR PLAYER NOVEMBER 1999

2
2
0

2
2
0

2 2
2 2
0 0

2
2
0

A9

A7 9 Dmaj7

2
2
0
2

D6

>
>
>
>
## 2 n . > b .
====================
& 4 J . # # .. (n) . =

1
1

1
2
4

1
1

www.truefire.com

2
2
0

T
A
B

2
2
0

www.guitarplayer.com

2
2

0 0
2 2
0

2
1
0

2
1
0
0

1
1
0

1
1
0
0

0
0
2
0

0
0
2

2 2
3 3
5 5
0

2
2

2
2

0
2

0
2

PH OTO : C O R B I S / B E T M A N N - U P I

BOSSA
NOVA
BASICS

Eb9
E b m9
> >
>
>
>
> >
.
bbb 2 .. .
b

====================
& b 4 . n . n b=

Ex. 6

= 60-76

T
A
B

D 6/9

4
3
3

4
3
3

4 4
3 3
3 3

4
3
3

4
3
3
4

4
3
3
4

4
3
3

6
6
5

6
6
5

6
6
5

6
6
5
6

6
6
5

6 6
6 6
5 5
6

6
6
4

Db 6/9
> >
>
>
>
b b n .. ( b) b ..
b
.
====================
& b b # . ( n ) n =
n

( b)
D9

www.truefire.com

7 8 GUITAR PLAYER NOVEMBER 1999

T
A
B

www.guitarplayer.com

6 6 6
6 6 6
4 4 4
6

6
6
4
6

6
6
4

5
5
4
5

5
5
4

5 5
5 5
4 4
5

4
3
3
4

4
3
3

4
3
3
4

4
3
3

4
3
3
4

4
3
3
4