FREE TRAINING
Back to Blog

How to Play the Brazilian Choro for Guitar

rhythm Aug 30, 2024

Choro is a Brazilian musical style that is the precursor to the Samba and Bossa Nova. It's characteristic rhythm can be described as an upside down Bossa Nova and is a very lively and syncopated beat every guitarist should know.

Most classical guitarists will have come across two songs that are exemplars of the choro: Heitor Villa-Lobos' "Choros no. 1" and the melodic "Sons de Carrilhoes" by Brazilian choro composer João Pernambuco. In these two compositions, you will see repeated instances of the following rhythmic figure, a 16th note followed by an 8th note followed by another 16th note:

 

This jumpy rhythm is our entryway into the choro. In this guitar tutorial, we learn how to play the choro rhyrhm using the chords from the classic Brazilian song Sons de Carrilhoes (The Sound of Bells):

You can get the full tabs and play-along videos and all my courses by joining my guitar membership.

FREE TRAINING

Learn the 3 Secrets to Nylon String Mastery With My In-Depth Workshop

In My Free Workshop, You'll Learn:

  • The 3 simple secrets that most people don't know about
  • The reason why most people fail at playing nylon string guitar correctly
  • The 3 most essential techniques that cover over 90% of what we do with the right hand
  • My Ultimate Exercise, designed to get you playing as efficiently as possible in only minutes a day
  • You'll also get my free 15-page Nylon String Quick Start Guide

We hate SPAM. We will never sell your information, for any reason.