Bossa Nova Guitar , some players who are born in the right country know how to play it because they got it genetically or by osmosis from growing up in the environment … think Brasil, Others need to learn it. I was looking around for a simple tutorial on playing Bossa Nova Guitar and found this site . Bossa Nova Guitar The tutorial has an mp3 audio track to follow and is written in standard music notation. In the 60’s Bossa Nova came to the fore with players like Joao Gilberto , Laurindo Almeidaand particularly the music of Jobim
Check out the Tutorial Bossa Nova it has a few reasonably simple chords
Even if your eading skills aren’t strong, just break it down and count it.
Acoustic Guitar Tutorial of How to Play John Butler’s – One Way Road.
It’s played on a National guitar on his lap, it is in G Major tuning DGDGBD and he uses a slide, with a mix of strumming and harmonics. This is a fantastic tutorial, complete with lounge chair
The right hand is finger picked and at a quick glance the underlying structure of the chords is G D E5 C, in the mid section it has sort of an a Am and Bm type of sound to it, the chords aren’t necessarily all played but are implied.. There’s some great riffs in it that are built around a G pentatonic scale with a little bit of a Bluegrass texture to it.
Here’s a Youtube of the great Brazilian guitar player called Joao Gilberto, famous from the sixties for his work with Astrid Gilberto and Antonio Carlos Jobim (also named Tom Jobim). This the classic song Girl from Ipanema, a tune that has been ruined by many 🙂 , but when played well it is a masterpiece. Like any tune, it’s what you do with it that counts. This recording was made 40 years after the original.
It is with great sadnes I received the news that one of thw orlds greatest musicians has died. Ali Akbar Khan the great Indian Sarod player died on the 18th of June. The great violinist Yehudi Menhuin once said “Ali Akbar Khan is the worlds greatest musician” . John McLaughlin studied with him. I studied with a student of Ali’s by the name of Ashok Roy. This line of Indian music runs back to Tansen the great court musician of Akbar the Great.
Quote from Collge website, “Our most beloved Khansahib passed away peacefully, surrounded by his family on Thursday evening. Khansahib had been a dialysis patient since 2004, and had been enduring numerous health issues ever since. The great Maestro had continued his music teachings publically at the Ali Akbar College until just weeks ago, and continued to teach music at home until the day he died.”
Regardless of what style of guitar you like, it would be very hard to deny the brilliance and beauty displayed in this Guitar Video on Youtube by Stochelo Rosenberg and Romane. They have taken aspects of what Django started and built it into their own unique style. It’s taken from an album called Gipsy Guitar Master. The other musicians are Contrabass: Marc-Michel Le Bévillonand on Accordion: Richard Galliano
I will continue to post about high quality guitar players, those famous and not so famous. So bookmark this site, or suscribe with the RSS feed.
Here’s a very interesting tune by the Nigerian singer that is now making a name for herself in Europe. Asa was born in France of Nigerian heritage, she returned to Nigeria at two but later returned to France. Her music is a mix of Reggae, R & B, pop and African. What separates her out from many of the other singers is her usage of a nylon string for rhythm playing. Her self titled album is excellent. This song, Fire on the Mountain is quite a sttement. I aknowledge to speak up about issues that are important to her and others.
This youtube acoustic guitar video is of the great musician Salif Keita from Mali in Africa. Salif is an albino desecendant of a a great leader of a warrior tribe. He moved from Mali to other parts of Africa and mixed his music with elements from the Ivory Coast and Senegal. He became successful after moving to France and had a sensational album called Soro in the 1980’s. His music is generally very percussive and is a mix of electronic as well as traditional. To hear him in this context is quite unique because watching it, you can analyse his style a little better than in the broader context of a band.
Bruce Cockburn has always been an exceptional guitar player with odd twists in his playing and has worked with numerous musicians of different styles. To hear Bruce playing with the Kora master Mamadou Diabate is a treat. The kora is a traditional twenty one harp like stringed African instrument. Mali as the birth place of the great guitar player Ali Farka Toure who played and recorded with Ry Cooder. Canada meets Mali, showing us how music can bring the world together in harmony.
World of Wonders.
For years now I’ve been a lover of both Indian music and the blues. Due to my studies with the Sarod player Ashok Roy I have played quite a few instrumentals in open tuning, I used to use the tuning B, F# , B , F#, B and E working from the Bass up, the bottom end of the guitar was tuned quite low. I found it very interesting playing in this tuning. My teacher used to sing the parts to me, I’d sing them back, then I’d transcribe it in the Indian notation and then play it back.
I first heard of Harry Manx a few years ago when he toured my local area. What I like about he is he has bridged the gap between Western and Indian music quite well. he plays the Mohan Vina, an instrument played by the musician Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt. The vina is a traditional Indian instrument in a similar vain to the sitar. I feel it is important to see what some of the musicians are doing that are playing a little outside the norm because when we hear new things they can create new possiblilities for other players. I’ve linked to two youtube videos of Harry Manx the Canadian player, one is blues slide and the other a mix of Indian and blues.
Can’t be Satisfied
How comfortable does he look playing?
The aim of this blog site is to inspire guitar players.
