This POLICE Tango is a Fingerstyle Guitar Technique Workout

Did you know that the song Roxanne from the Police is a tango? The Police were known for their reggae influences, and when we hear those opening chords of Roxanne we might think reggae is the groove we're hearing. However, those Roxanne chord "stabs" fall on the downbeat, and the hallmark of reggae (guitar wise) is the accented upbeat.

For example, here is a typical (even quintessential) reggae guitar pattern: 

In the above example we can see the staccato chord hits occur in between the beats (on the "ands" of each beat). However, Roxanne does this:

Here we see the reggae groove flipped upside down, marking every beat in the measure like a metronome. This is completely consistent with a tango rhythm which, while quite syncopated at times, has a directness to it that clearly marks each beat (to the benefit of the tango dancer). 

Combining the Roxanne Guitar Riff with the Bass Line

The bass part of Roxanne has a tangoesque vibe to it also, with a two note riff starting on the "and" of 1 and immediately falling onto the 2nd beat, following the staccato nature of the guitar part. Now, combining separate parts of pop songs into a single fingerstyle or classical guitar context can be challenging, but also super fun AND a terrific technique exercise. Let's look at what the guitar and bass parts together would look like, starting with the opening chord of the song, G minor:

(The dots above the note stems indicate we are playing staccato (an easier to read version that eliminates the clutter of 8th rests on the staff.)

The above example may take some time to perfect, but once you're comfortable with it, all we need to do is "plug in" some chord shapes and we have the entire intro to Roxanne - with the guitar and bass parts combined. We're using our index, middle and ring fingers (i, m, a) to play the guitar riff on the treble strings, and the bass riff with our thumb (p). Let's walk through an entire tutorial here to get you playing this great tango guitar exercise disguised as a rock song: