10 Latin Jazz Guitar Rhythms

Latin Guitar Rhythms

One of the styles that many players explore when expanding their knowledge of jazz is Latin jazz. With its
syncopated rhythms, driving grooves and fun chord progressions, Brazilian jazz guitar is one of the most
popular sub-genres of the music that we know and love.

To help you get your fingers, ears and head around the different grooves that make Latin jazz sound so good, here are 10
common rhythmic patterns that you can study which come from both the Brazilian and Cuban music traditions.

Though Brazilian jazz isn’t technically Latin music, such as salsa and other Cuban grooves are, we’ve included both
countries in this lesson since they are the most commonly used non-swing styles that you find in the jazz genre.

Since they are so popular, having an understanding of both Brazilian and Cuban grooves on the guitar will go a long way
in preparing you for any jazz jam or gigging situation.

For those of you that have studied Brazilian rhythms before, you'll be used to reading them in 2/4 time. But, to make it
easier to read for those with a jazz and rock/pop background, the examples in this lesson are written in 4/4 time.

So, grab your guitar, turn up your amp and let’s dive into 10 classic Latin jazz guitar rhythms!

Latin Jazz Guitar Rhythms 1 – Bossa Nova

We’ll begin with the first Brazilian based rhythm in this lesson, the Bossa Nova. While there are many variations of this
pattern that you can learn in your own study, this is a basic Bossa guitar pattern that will allow you to confidently and
authentically play any Bossa tune.

The key to playing this rhythm, and any Brazilian rhythm, is putting the accents in the right place. In this particular
pattern, the chord on the & of 3 should be accented, meaning that it is a bit louder than all of the other chords and bass
notes in the progression.
Now that we have learned a basic Bossa Nova pattern, let’s add in one more attack on the & of 4 of each bar, placing
the following chord a half beat early in each measure. When doing so, you can also add a slight accent to the new attack
on the & of 4 as well.

This is a tough task to get down, but it’s worth working out in the woodshed as anticipating chords is an essential
skill when playing Brazilian rhythms, and it will be the basis for our variations moving forward in this lesson.

Latin Jazz Guitar Rhythms 2 – Reverse Bossa Nova

You can also play a reverse version of the Bossa rhythm that you just learned, the second example from the previous
section, as you develop a second Bossa Nova rhythmic pattern to work on in the woodshed.

When practicing this pattern, which features the up beats in the first half of the bar followed by the down beats in the
second half of the measure, you can keep the accents the same as the first Bossa groove, only now it’s the & of 1 and
2 in this version.

Latin Jazz Guitar Rhythms 3 – Samba

You’ll now look at a basic Samba pattern that uses the first Bossa rhythm, paired with the reversed version of itself to
form a two-bar phrase.

That may be a bit advanced from a theory standpoint for some readers, reversing and pairing rhythms. So for now, just
check out the pattern and know that you can use it over a Bossa tune as a variation compared to the Bossa rhythm that
you just explored.
Latin Jazz Guitar Rhythms 4 – Reverse Samba

Again, you can take the samba rhythm you just learned, which was a bossa 1 and bossa 2 combination pattern, and
reverse the order of each bar. When doing so, you play the reverse bossa first followed by the original bossa pattern
in the second bar to form the longer, reverse samba pattern that you see below.

Once you have this pattern under your fingers, try playing over a Brazilian jazz tune and switching between both of the
samba rhythms that you have learned up to this point in your studies.
Latin Jazz Guitar Rhythms 5 – Partido Alto

This next rhythm is a variation of the samba groove that you just studied, and is called a Partido Alto. Here, you will play
a variation of the reverse bossa in bar one of the phrase, followed by the original bossa rhythm in the second measure of
the groove.

When playing this pattern, try accenting each up beat over the two-bar phrase as you develop an authentic
Brazilian swing feel when practicing and applying these patterns to your comping ideas over any Brazilian Jazz tune.

Latin Jazz Guitar Rhythms 6 – Baião

The last Brazilian groove that you’ll explore in this lesson is the Baião, which is rhythm from the North East of the country
and one that is commonly used in Brazilian music.

Two items to look at with this rhythm are the bass notes, which are played on as a dotted 8th-note followed by a 16th-
note tied to a quarter note on beats 1 and 3 of each bar. When working on this rhythm, try playing just the bass notes in
the beginning until you can get that automatic in your thumb on the guitar.
The second item to look at is the switch from the first chord to the second chord of each bar on the & of 2, so a half
beat before the chord actually occurs in the changes. Again, work on the chords separately to get this pattern down before
pairing it up with the bass notes in the woodshed.

Latin Jazz Guitar Rhythms 7 – Salsa 1

The next rhythm that you’ll learn comes from the Salsa music of Cuba, and is also referred to as a 2/3 Clave Montuno.

This is a highly syncopated pattern, so take your time with it and feel free to focus on one bar at a time until each one
is comfortable, and you can glue them back together after that.
Latin Jazz Guitar Rhythms 8 – Salsa 2

The next Salsa rhythm that you’ll learn is a variation of the previous Salsa rhythm, only this time it is a 3/2 Clave
Montuno. As you can see, the pattern is very similar to the one you just learned, though this time it starts on the upbeat of
the first bar, rather than the downbeat. This is a small item, but as you can hear it makes a big difference in the overall
sound of the rhythm across four bars.

Latin Jazz Guitar Rhythms 9 – Salsa 3

The last two Salsa grooves that you’ll study in this lesson focus on fingerpicking chord shapes in your lines in order to
add a bit of variety to your salsa phrases.

This first pattern uses a fingerpicked 8th-note line to open the first and third bars of the phrase, with syncopated single
notes and double stops filling in the rest of the pattern.
Latin Jazz Guitar Rhythms 10 – Salsa 4

The final salsa rhythm is a reversal of the groove that you just learned, with the upbeat syncopations starting the phrase
and the fingerpicked chords placed in the second and fourth bars of the phase. Once you have these two fingerpicking
examples under your fingers, try combining exercises 9 and 10 from this lesson as you explore these Salsa grooves
further.

This is a short introduction to Latin guitar. We'll have a look at two guitar techniques used in Latin music and a rhythmic
pattern called the clave. The first technique is a guitar chord pattern in combination with a bass line, the second
technique is called a montuno, a frequently used accompaniment technique in Latin music.
Bossa Nova Chord Patterns

Bossa Nova and samba have a very typical bass line and chord rhythm. The bass line is played on the beat, while the
chords are played mostly on the off beats.

Here' s a first guitar chord pattern that's used frequently in bossa and samba. Play the pattern finger style and legato (let
the notes flow into each other so the pattern doesn't sound 'broken'). The chord I used in this example is a Dm9, but you
can of course use any chord you like.

The bass line switches between the 1 and the 5. This bass line can be used for every chord except for half diminished and
diminished chords. Those chords have a b5, so play the b5 in the bass instead of the 5.

Here's the same chord pattern but with the root of the Dm on the E string:
Here's another chord pattern usable in latin music. This pattern alternates between a m9 and m6 chord (b7 to 6):

Montuno

A montuno is another accompaniment technique used in latin music. It is usually played by the piano, but can be adapted
to the guitar. You can define a montuno as a repeated pattern of notes or chords with syncopated moving inner voices
and a differently syncopating bassline. Montuno's are typically 1, 2 or 4 bars in length. They can also be used as a vehicle
for improvisation.

Here's an example of a montuno adapted for the guitar:

This montuno goes from Gm7 to C7 (II V). The two lowest voices contain the guide tones of the chord progression. Let
every note sound as long as possible and don't play laid back, but don't rush it either (the anticipations ask for a steady
timing).

The Clave

The clave is a two measure long rhythmic pattern and forms the rhythmic foundation of latin music. Latin musicians
don't think '1 2 3 4' like we do, they have the clave as a reference for their music. The clave is often played by two wooden
sticks, called the claves and functions as a time keeper. The clave is not always played, but it is always implied throughout
the music.

There are 2 types of claves: the son clave and the rumba clave. A clave has a weak bar (the one with 2 notes) and a
strong bar (the one with 3 notes).

Son Clave

2-3 son clave:

3-2 son clave:

Rumba Clave

2-3 rumba clave

3-2 rumba clave

BLUE BOSSA GUITAR CHORD STUDY

written by Matt Warnock
One of the most common non-swing rhythms that jazz guitarists explore when learning how to comp
over tunes is the Bossa Nova groove. While many of us learn to play Brazilian Jazz tunes in our
practice routine, learning how to pay an authentic Bossa or Samba groove on the guitar can be
tricky, especially for those players who didn’t grow up in Brazil.
To help you get a handle on how to play an authentic and cool-sounding groove over any Brazilian Jazz tune
you are learning, we’ve put together a fun to play and engaging chord study featuring a popular
Samba/Bossa groove that you can get under your fingers and apply to your playing today.
What’s in This Blue Bossa Chord Study

You can see in the Blue Bossa chord study below that there is text below many sections of the tune to
indicate a certain chord shape or Bossa technique being used at that part of the tune.

To help you understand these concepts further, here are short background descriptions for each of the
important chord and Bossa concepts covered in the chord study below so that you can understand the
building blocks of this exercise.

m9 Chords – Whereas jazz guitarists prefer m7 chords for minor sounds, it is very common in Brazilian
music to use m9 chords instead. These m9 chords, 1-b3-5-b7-9, have a bit of a “softer” sound than m7
chords, and help create the smooth sounding quality that we associate with Bossa music.
7b13 Chords – Here, there is a bit of voice leading at play where you are moving from the E note on top of
the Dm9 chord for example, to the Eb on top of the G7b13 chord, to the D on top of the Cmaj9 chord. This
type of half-step movement on top of chords is commonly found in the playing of many Brazilian guitarists.
Maj9 Chords – Again, this is a softer version of the Maj7 chords that many jazz guitarists prefer to use for
their Imaj7 and IVmaj7 chord voicings.
m11b5 Chords – Here, you are replacing the 3rd of Dm7b5 with the 11thin a commonly used alternate shape
for a m7b5 chord. When adding this chord into your playing, you can play the m11b5 to the m7b5, or vice-
versa, in order to create some melodic movement on top of the chord changes.
Bossa Bassline – During the chord study you will notice that the thumb plays bass notes on 1 and 3 of
each bar, mostly the root note but sometimes the 5th or a chromatic note can be added in to create
movement as well. When playing these bass notes, you should accent the 3rd beat in order to create a more
authentic Brazilian feel with this chord study.
Anticipated Chords – You will notice that between bars one and two, and the first and second bars of each
two-bar group, the chord in the second bar is played on the & of 4 in the first bar. This anticipated chord
movement is common in Brazilian music, and it will be one of the hardest parts of learning this chord study,
or any Brazilian tune on the guitar. So, take your time, isolate these moments and work them on their own
before going back and trying to work the study as a whole.

Syncopated Accents – As was the case with the accented 3rd beat in the bass notes, you will want to accent the up beat chords a little
in order to create the swing feel that you hear in Brazilian music. You don’t have to play heavy accents, but just making the upbeats a
little louder than the downbeats will help get the authentic Brazilian feel you hear on classic recordings.
 Blue Bossa Backing Track

To help you work on this tune further in the woodshed, here is a short backing track that you can jam along
to as you continue to explore these chords and rhythms further in your jazz guitar practice routine.

Further Reading

 Brazilian Jazz Guitar

 Blue Bossa ‘Karaoke’ Style Backing Track
 Take the A Train Jazz Guitar Chord Study

Here’s a simple (for beginners) chord comping arrangement of Besame Mucho, a Bolero composed
in 1940 by Mexican songwriter Consuelo Velázquez. The most famous jazz guitar recording of
Besame Mucho is on Wes Montgomery’s album Boss Guitar.