Description
In this guitar lesson, you’ll learn how to play the Latin Bossa Nova style rhythm with no accompaniment. I’ll break down the rhythm in detail and show you exactly how to count it. In addition, I’ll show you how to improvise and play some fill licks in-between the chords so that you can have your own mini jam session.
Part 1 - Free Guitar Lesson
Part 2 - For Premium Members
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Slow Walk-Through - For Premium Members
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Video Tablature Breakdown
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A fine piece of guitar music. And it’s not so hard as it seems. Thanks, Brian. I feel very lucky to come across this wonderful site of yours. Go on…
Nice Brian…..nice to hear something from my part of the world……nice departure!
Brian,
I played professionally for 10 years. I was a rhythm guitarist backing up my vocals. I have become a better guitarist in the past 8 months that I have been following you. You have helped me understand the pentatonic scale, major and minor scales with their different positioning. You have also introduced to me different music styles with your weekly lessons. The acoustic guitar rhythm with fills are what I am focusing on. This most recent Bossa Nova style is my favorite. Thank you for helping to make me a better guitarist!
Love the choices you make week after week. Don’t you take a vacation once in a while?
Another Excellent Stand alone lesson Brian ,Plenty of Great Stuff to Work on again!!Thank you Barry
why does D major scale work over all chords , great lesson
Because it’s in the key of D, so you can just stay in the D major scale. You COULD change scales to match the chords if you wanted, which would give a more sophisticated sounding lead, but it isn’t necessary.
Hey Brian!! That Alvarez does ‘double duty’ as a fine sounding Spanish guitar!! Acoustic blues to Bossa Nova……………not too shabby!! Love the arpeggio/riff addition!!
Paul Kantner RIP!! Jefferson Airplane was cutting edge for at least a couple of decades………transforming their sound and reinventing their sound………musical prodigy!!
Jim C.
Thank you Brian for going outside the norm and bringing a “world music” lesson. I like the finger pull technique instead of using the pick. Any chance sometime delving into the West African High Life style of rhythm and melody? It’s something that I’ve been really enjoying and interested in learning the technique. P.S. that voicing of the DMaj7 at the 2nd fret was nice.
That’s a really nice piece of bossa, I love the rythm of it , and it worked out pretty well for me !
Thanks Brian, keep on preparing stuff like this and you’re definitly going to keep me as a premium!
Elie
also…that short 2 note lead over the A13 was spot on as it echos the bass rhythm (imo) you started with..check it out. nicely done.
Cool lesson Bryan…wanting to get i to jazz so this
Works very well.
How would you write out the rhythm part with slashes for played notes and x’s for muted or not played?
/xx/ xx// xx// /x// the base notes on a , and the strums on and ?
Base x rhythm base? Or some version of this?
Good lesson.
I love this lesson. I like to hear different genres and learn to play. Jazz, blues, rock, R&B,..I love them all.
Thanks, great intro to jazz.
I found myself exploring other passing licks using the major scale.
Yep, maintaining the rhythm was a strain on my brain, but very addicting. I kept hearing Girl from Ipanema in my mind. Good to have a little variety in the lessons. A long time ago there was a lesson on reggae, which I’ve been wanting to re-visit.
So a short version. You can’t keep time. You can’t play a whole song. Thus no band will take you.
You tried to understand Robben Ford at a class he led? You did not.
This isn’t meant to be a whole song, it’s a sample of Bossa Nova style rhythm to demonstrate the concept. I don’t teach whole songs on ActiveMelody, that’s not the point, the point is to learn how to play the guitar, so that you can go out and play along with any song, or even write your own.
wow- a hater above. – way to take the high road, B.
anyway..I got lost on the D major scale that you were playing near the 5th fret. . I know the one “3 frets down from the 10th fret” using the 10th fret as the root.
probably my ignorance.
.this scale is played off the d major formed at the 5th fret using the “A” shape.. I do understand that..I am just not familiar with this scale.
is it in your scales lesson?
by the way..this lesson is “Fresh”..my wife just came in and said she likes it..she is used to hearing loud E minor blues, my fav.
The major scale is played all over the neck.. I just wanted to demonstrate it in a couple of places in this lesson. I don’t know that I’ve covered this in a previous lesson though.
Another interesting lesson. Well done for looking in a new direction, Brian.
Brian, As an ex-piano player who is trying to learn guitar at the young age of 69, I find your lessons quite informative and helpful. This Bossa Nova style lesson was excellent. I do wonder why you suggest counting in 16th versus 8th notes as it is written in the tab. I found counting in 8th easier for me. Thanks and keep up the lessons. Bill
Great lesson, Brian. Really enjoyed it, so far … especially as you got down to some basics.
Like the guy above says, it makes a nice change from playing the Blues.
The site is fantastic value and most of us owe you a great debt of gratitude.
What some people seem to forget is Brian has to cater for all levels including beginners so will have to put it in the simplest terms possible i:e the timing counting out etc for their benefit , if you can get it by feel and ear alone then that bit is not for you but bear in mind some people struggle. Also there are new members that may question for example why is he playing a Bar A shape using his fourth finger (a bit weird for me ) when most people use their third finger they may think they are doing wrong so he explains and i’m glad he does every time almost The site is great because if you struggle with something you may get it be using the alternative content that’s on the page like the video tablature or the slow walk through which is excellent .You may also notice there may be subtle difference’s in different videos’of the same piece which tells me nothing is actually played twice the same . The object of this site is to make you understand and be able to play this damn instrument in most styles not just copy a tune that you will forget and learn nothing from . The biggest thing i think members seem to forget is they are not Brian you have your own style you can change things add things on, embelleish it, cut a bit out it’s change the style it’s endless . This is by far the best tutorial site i have seen trust me the grass is no greener elsewhere not to mention great value for money as well .Great tune and lesson by the way .
Good lesson! reminds me a good old George Benson
Very refreshing Brian.
I imagined myself sitting in a big leather chair in a hotel lounge in Latin America whilst sipping a cocktail and drawing off a big Cuban Lahdi da!
Then I remembered I was in rainy old London.
I put the bins on the Mr’s head to have a listen and she approves too!
Very nice lesson Brian! Love your guitar what model is it? I have a 1990 Taylor 410
Overall I class Active Melody as the icing on the cake of guitar playing. The harmonized scale in Lesson 137 was especially interesting. Anymore on this particular subject? Thanks.
Another great lesson and I agree with Sunjamr that it’s tricky, challenging but wow is it addictive;
The scale explanations are great and are the best I’ve come across. You got me really trying and wanting to learn more about them in an enjoyable manner rather than feeling they are a chore; that’s a real credit to your teaching style!
Thanks again Bri
An awesomely adictive lesson Brian, thank you!
The take aways are worth a year’s subscription to this site. When you add the substance of the lessons, wow. It is worth spending time to work on these lessons with patience–the pay off in skill acquisition is very high. Brian is so generous in sharing incredible amounts of quality-enhancing knowledge. Very grateful to him for creating this site.
I really don’t get this ‘uh’ counting, I’d much rather just hear it and feel it – puts me off continuing with the lesson
I cannot dowload the MP3 file, can you?
Christian, that’s probably browser related. If you’re on a PC, RIGHT click on the “Download MP3” link and choose the “Save As.” option (hold down the “control” key on a Mac and click). Or you can use a browser like Google Chrome or Firefox and it will download automatically.
Thanks Brian for the prompt reply.
I had already tried with Firefox and Chrome.
For all other lessons I had no problem. Only with this one.
Instead of the mp3, the brower open again the same page.
Love this one. I struggle a bit with the rhythm, but it is encouraging when I stick with it and start to see progress. Like the variety..
0:47 God, my eyes filled with water. Weird!
I am enjoying this lesson. It took me a bit to get the rhythm. I watched another bossa nova rhythm lesson that I can’t find now. The instructor showed how to do a pause/hesitation in the strum to build a little tension and release. It added a lot to the tune. That might be a good mini lesson. Love your teaching. Thanks for your work!