Bossa Nova Chords: What Is a Bossa Nova Chord Pattern?
Written by MasterClass
Last updated: Dec 16, 2021 • 2 min read
As the bossa nova genre blossomed in Brazil in the late 1950s and early 1960s, it caught the attention of a global audience. Before long, many musicians and American jazz guitar players began incorporating bossa nova chord progressions into their own music.
Learn From the Best
What Is Bossa Nova?
Bossa nova is a Brazilian musical genre that derives from samba music. It borrows key rhythm patterns and melodic syncopation from samba. In fact, all core bossa nova rhythms can be heard within the samba genre, which is more widely played within Brazil.
What bossa nova songs add to the samba tradition are inventive chord progressions and chord voicings that inspire sophisticated ways of comping and improvisation. Bossa nova guitar players frequently use seventh chords borrowed from jazz standards. Composers lean on these chords for harmonic complexity. Thus, while bossa nova is rhythmically streamlined compared to samba, it can often be more harmonically sophisticated.
What Are Bossa Nova Chords?
In many ways, the notion of bossa nova chords traces back to the seminal 1964 album, Getz/Gilberto, a collaboration between American saxophonist Stan Getz and Brazilian guitarist João Gilberto. Gilberto's acoustic guitar playing on tunes like "The Girl From Ipanema" (with music by Antônio Carlos Jobim) became a benchmark for bossa nova guitar patterns.
Beginning with Gilberto, bossa nova guitar players have favored seventh chords popular in jazz music. To this day, dominant seventh chords, major seventh chords, and minor seventh chords form the basis of bossa nova chord progressions. Tensions like ninths and thirteenths are also popular among bossa nova guitar players.
What Is a Bossa Nova Chord Pattern?
João Gilberto divided bossa nova guitar chords into two components: a bass line played on the sixth string (and sometimes the fifth string) of the guitar, and the upper structure of the chord played on the other strings. Gilberto played fingerstyle on his nylon string guitar, picking bass notes with the thumb of his right hand and strumming or plucking the rest of the strings with his fingers. His melding of what many called "jazz chords" with the rhythmic style of samba made a lasting mark in bossa nova music theory.
Today, a basic bossa nova chord chart might use the following strumming pattern, which combines four-tone seventh chords with the distinctive syncopated rhythm sometimes called a bossa nova clave. Note how jazz guitar chords (a classic ii-V-i progression) meld with the distinctive right-hand technique that underpins bossa nova guitar rhythms.
Want to Learn More About Music?
Become a better musician with the MasterClass Annual Membership. Gain access to exclusive video lessons taught by the world’s best, including Ringo Starr, Metallica, Carlos Santana, Sheila E., Timbaland, Herbie Hancock, Tom Morello, and more.