Bossa nova is derived from the samba and its rhythms
are syncopated, which means that many of the offbeats
are accented. The main function of the guitar in bossa
nova is to accompany a voice or another instrument.
There are many great players today who play this style
on solo guitar, but in this lesson we'll focus on breaking
down the bossa nova rhythms to better understand them.
Bossa nova is usually played on a nylon-string guitar,
but steel strings will work as well. Guitarists with
a basic fingerstyle concept won't have much of a problem
with the idea of a bossa nova workout.
When listening to this style of music played by the
masters of bossa nove, you'll notice that the voice
or solo instrument will seem to be floating in suspense
over a solid foundation provided by the instrumentalist.
That is the essence of bossa nova: smooth and free—yet
quite determined.
Most bossa tunes seem to be in 4/4 time but some
are in "cut" time (4/4 time played at double
speed) or 2/4 time. By breaking the measure down this
way we will see how to play on the correct part of
the beat. Playing "off" the beat is a trademark
of this style, so you will play more offbeats than
onbeats with the fingers of your right hand.
Your right-hand thumb will almost always play on
the strong beats (beats one, two, three, and four in
4/4 time). A common pattern begins by playing with
both the right-hand thumb and fingers on the first
beat of the bar. While the thumb continues playing
on beats two, three, and four, the fingers play selected
offbeats.
Now try this rhythm on the guitar. The example below
shows the rhythm with a typical bossa chord voicing.
For now, the chords played by your right-hand fingers
should ring through until the next chord is played.
Later, when you get a feel for the rhythms, you can
experiment with damping certain chords within the pattern.
For the example below, try damping the very first chord
in the pattern with your right-hand fingers, immediately
after striking the strings.
