Bossa Nova Comping

Bossa nova is the friendliest entry point to jazz guitar, because the accompaniment pattern is fixed. Learn it once and it works on a whole repertoire.

The hand splits in two. Your thumb plays the bass note of the chord on beats 1 and 3, steady as a clock, all night. Your fingers play the upper three strings in a syncopated pattern that deliberately does not line up with the thumb.

Start with just the thumb. Bass note on 1, bass note on 3, nothing else, for a full minute. Then add the fingers on the and of 2, and again on beat 4. That is a usable bossa pattern and it is the version to learn first — the classical Brazilian pattern is two bars long and syncopated differently in each, but nobody will notice you playing the simple one.

The part that takes practice is independence. The thumb must not flinch when the fingers syncopate against it.

The simplified bossa pattern, one bar

Thumb on the low E string on beats 1 and 3. Fingers on the top three strings on the and of 2, and again on beat 4. The chord here is an open Em7.

e
B
G
D
A
E

-----------0--------0-----|
-----------3--------3-----|
-----------0--------0-----|
--------------------------|
--------------------------|
--0-----------0-----------|

Metronome

Start at 70 BPM in 4/4 — far slower than a real bossa — and get the thumb absolutely even before adding the fingers. Work up to 120.

Now apply it to a real bossa. This one runs at 120 BPM in E minor and the harmony moves quickly, which is normal for the style and part of what you are training for.

Don't chase every chord. Pick the two or three chords in the cycle you can reach comfortably, play the pattern on those, and let your thumb keep going through the ones you miss. A bossa part that holds its pattern while missing chords sounds far better than one that gets every chord and stops between them.

How Insensitive, E minor at 120 BPM. Hold the pattern even when the changes get away from you.