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(MED. SWING ♩=80 )
53
Jazz Piano · Brazilian Comping
Bossa Nova
Syncopated RH stabs over root-and-5 LH, twelve keys
Play exercise
The LH plays the bass as root (half note) then
5 (half note) — a steady two-note pulse per bar.
The RH plays the chord on three syncopated positions in each bar:
the "and of 1" , beat 3 , and
the "and of 4" . The chord stabs push against
the LH's regular pulse, creating the forward lean that defines
Brazilian feel.
The voicings are the rootless 4-note A/B-form chords from
the rootless exercise (#3) — the harmonic language is identical, only the
rhythmic placement is different. Once the rhythm is automatic,
you can swap voicings freely (drop-2 also works beautifully in
bossa context, as Antônio Carlos Jobim's own piano playing
demonstrates).
LH Root (half) + 5th (half). Steady pulse, no syncopation.
RH Chord on "+1", beat 3, and "+4". Syncopated stabs.
Jump to
C F B♭ E♭ A♭ D♭ G♭ B E A D G
3
2
X
O
O
O
C
2
1
1
X
X
O
D
m
7
3
2
1
O
O
O
G
7
3
2
1
X
X
O
F
1
3
1
1
1
1
3fr
G
m
7
3
2
4
1
O
O
C
7
1
3
2
4
X
X
B
1
3
1
2
1
X
3fr
C
m
7
1
3
1
2
1
1
F
7
E
1
2
3
4
X
X
1
3
1
1
1
1
F
m
7
1
2
1
3
1
X
B
7
A
1
1
1
3
X
X
1
3
1
2
1
X
B
m
7
1
3
2
4
X
X
E
7
D
4
3
1
1
1
X
E
m
7
1
2
3
4
X
X
1
3
1
2
1
1
4fr
A
7
G
4
3
2
1
X
X
A
m
7
1
3
1
1
1
1
4fr
2
3
1
4
X
X
D
7
1
3
2
4
X
X
B
C
m
7
4
2
1
X
O
O
1
3
1
2
1
1
F
7
E
3
1
2
O
O
X
1
3
1
1
1
1
F
m
7
B
7
2
1
3
4
X
O
2
1
3
X
O
O
A
1
3
1
2
1
X
B
m
7
2
1
O
O
O
O
E
7
D
1
2
3
X
X
O
2
O
O
O
O
O
E
m
7
1
3
X
O
O
O
A
7
G
4
3
2
1
X
X
2fr
A
m
7
2
1
X
O
O
O
D
7
2
1
3
X
X
O
The Daily Drill
Lean forward
3 min Play just the LH alone (root and 5 in half notes). Then just the RH (the syncopated chord stabs). The rhythm pulls against itself — the LH is grounded, the RH is constantly pulling ahead. 10 min Hands together, ♩ = 100. The hardest part is feeling the chord on "+1" — every other Western music makes you hit beat 1, not the half-beat after. Bossa delays the chord. 3 min Try the same exercise with drop-2 voicings in the RH instead of rootless. Jobim's own piano comping used drop-2 voicings constantly. The voicing shape changes; the rhythm doesn't. 4 min Apply: comp the first eight bars of The Girl From Ipanema — Fmaj7 (two bars), G13 (two bars), Gm7, G♭7(♯11), Fmaj7, G♭7 — with this rhythm. Two bars per chord at the top, so the cell simply repeats inside each harmony. Where the syncopation comes from The bossa pattern's three off-beat chord positions (+1, 3, +4) trace out a polyrhythm against the LH's straight half-note pulse. The first two chords (on +1 and 3) span a dotted quarter note (3 eighth notes); the next two (3 and +4) span another dotted quarter — a 3+3+2 grouping within 4/4, inherited from samba's tamborim patterns (not, despite the common myth, from the Cuban son clave). Brazilian bossa softens the grouping by avoiding accent and never letting either hand dominate. Played by ear, the +4 chord often anticipates the next bar's harmony and ties over the barline; it's written here as a clean stab so each bar stays self-contained. The result is a hypnotic, forward-leaning groove that doesn't feel like it has any strong beats at all.
Steady bass. Floating chords. The whole island, in two hands.