Understanding bossa nova

A new wave from Rio

Bossa nova, "new trend" or "new wave" in Portuguese, is a relaxed style of samba, born in Rio de Janeiro in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Chega de Saudade, by Jobim with lyrics by Vinícius de Moraes, is often considered the first bossa nova ever recorded: Elizeth Cardoso recorded it in 1957, and João Gilberto's version, in 1958, was the hit that established the genre. In 1962, the same two writers wrote Garota de Ipanema (The Girl from Ipanema), whose version by Stan Getz with Astrud Gilberto became a worldwide hit.

According to the musicologist Gilberto Mendes, João Gilberto drew his calm, syncopated "bossa beat" from samba: on the guitar, his thumb imitated the surdo, the bass drum, and his other fingers the tamborim. This lesson puts his guitar on the piano: the left hand plays the thumb, the right hand the other fingers.

The thumb and the fingers

The left hand rocks between the root of the chord and its fifth, on a long, short, long, short rhythm: the root is held on beat 1; the fifth arrives an eighth note early, on the "and" of 2, and sounds again on 3; then the root comes back the same way, an eighth note before the next bar.

The right hand strikes the chords on a two-bar rhythm: in the first bar, on 1, on the "and" of 2 (2 and a half) and on 4; in the second, on 2 and on the "and" of 3 (3 and a half). Five chords, two of them between the beats: that is the bossa rhythm as I offer it to you. In the second bar, the hands never play together: the chords slip in between the bass notes.

Three kinds of chords

The lesson's chords have four notes, and come in three kinds:

• maj7, major seventh: Cmaj7 (C, E, G, B), whose B, a half step below C, sounds soft, as if floating.
• 7, dominant seventh: G7 (G, B, D, F) and D7 (D, F-sharp, A, C), which call for the chord a fourth higher.
• m7, a minor chord with a seventh: Dm7 (D, F, A, C).

The right hand plays root, third and seventh, within an octave: the top note, which sings (E, F-sharp, F, E), is doubled an octave lower. The fifth comes from the bass.

What gives the chart its character is D7 (bars 3 and 4): a seventh chord on the second degree, a II7, where the C major scale would give Dm7. The map writes V7/V under it: read the classical way, it is the dominant of G, which it announces. Here it takes its time: its F-sharp drops to F, D7 becomes Dm7, then come G7 and Cmaj7, a II-V-I.

The lesson walks this path twice: A (bars 1 to 4), then B (5 to 8), which ends on G7, an imperfect cadence to start again; A once more (9 to 12), then B' (13 to 16), which comes to rest on Cmaj7, a perfect cadence. The coda (bar 17) holds one last Cmaj7, with a D on top.

How to approach it

My plan takes you through it in 8 days, until this sway feels natural.

1. The bass alone, counting "1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and": C and G first, then the chart (D and A, G and D).
2. The right-hand rhythm, away from the piano. Tap the two bars on your knees until they go round on their own, then play them on Cmaj7.
3. The chords, without rhythm. Chain Cmaj7, D7, Dm7, G7 in whole notes. Your thumb and little finger hold the octave, the two middle fingers fill it in. From Cmaj7 to D7, every finger moves up one step; from D7 to Dm7, only the thumb and little finger move, from F-sharp to F.
4. The passages I point out, bars 3–4 and 11–12, are the D7 bars: four notes, including two F-sharps outside the C major scale. They are meant to be there: they give the chart its character.
5. Hands together, slowly, leaning on the two strokes they share in the first bar. Then listen to the top note: it is your melody.