Summary

Bossa Nova Bass Lines (1) sheet music

Bossa Nova Bass Lines (1/2)

In Brazil, the word bossa is old-fashioned slang for something done with particular charm, natural flair or innate ability. As early as 1932, Noel Rosa used the word in a samba:

"O samba, a prontidão e outras bossas são nossas coisas, são coisas nossas."
("Samba, readiness and other bossas are our things, are things from us.")

The phrase bossa nova means literally “new trend” or “new wave” in Portuguese. To read more about the history of the Bossa Nova, please refer to the Wikipedia.

In order to explain in a documented way the function of the bass in this style, we must make a brief comment on its origin: Bossa Nova was born in the ’50s, from the fusion of Brazilian music with Jazz, and it spread and consolidating in the following two decades, even attracting the attention of numerous musicians from other cultures.

One of the major innovations of bossa nova was the way to synthesize the rhythm of samba on the classical guitar.

According to musicologist Gilberto Mendes, the bossa nova was one of the “three rhythmic phases of samba”, in which the “bossa beat” had been extracted by João Gilberto from the traditional samba.

The synthesis performed by Gilberto’s guitar was a reduction of the “batucada” of samba, a stylization produced from one of the percussion instruments: the thumb stylized a surdo (1); the index, middle and ring fingers phrased like a tamborim.

In line with this thesis, musicians such as Baden Powell, Roberto Menescal, and Ronaldo Bôscoli also understand the bossa nova beat as being extracted from the tamborim play in the bateria.

They have also “played” with Bossa Nova from Ella Fitzgerald to Estopa, through Stan Getz, Charlie Parker, Sting, etc.

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(1) The surdo is a bass drum or a large floor tom-like drum used in many kinds of Brazilian music, such as Axé/Samba-reggae and samba, where it plays the lower parts from a percussion section. The instrument was created by Alcebíades Barcelos during the 1920s and 1930s as part of his work with the first samba school in Rio de Janeiro, Deixa Falar. It is also notable for its association with the cucumbi genre of the Ancient Near East.

Surdo sizes normally vary between 40 cm (16 in) and 65 cm (26 in) diameter, with some as large as 73 cm (29 in). In Rio de Janeiro, surdos are generally 60 cm (24 in) deep. Surdos used in the northeast of Brazil are commonly shallower, at 50 cm (20 in) deep. Surdos may have shells of wood, galvanized steel, or aluminum. Heads may be goatskin or plastic. A Rio bateria will commonly use surdos that have skinheads (for rich tone) and aluminum shells (for lower weight). Surdos are worn from a waist belt or shoulder strap, oriented with the heads roughly horizontal. The bottom head is not played. Surdo drummers beat the drums using hard or soft mallets.

Although there is a free fusion between the two styles, what has apparently happened is that Brazilian musicians have taken advantage of the harmonic and melodic richness of jazz to use it over their own native rhythms, which are already rich enough.

Despite this, Bossa Nova is not “Jazz with a Bossa rhythm”, but rather it has its own harmonic and melodic personality, although it is fueled by Jazz.

Some scholars of this genre claim that the rhythm of Bossa Nova is the same as Samba, but slower. Without trying to determine one thing or another, what can be seen is that both rhythms are significantly similar, but with a difference in speed.
Samba is the Brazilian rhythm par excellence, and perhaps the main representative of the country’s folklore.

But the important thing, in our case, is the instrumental formation with which this style was originally performed: the Escola do Samba.

The Bass Line

In this formation there is no bass, it is composed only of percussion and wind instruments, so what we try to do is fulfill the function of the surdo player.

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The “surdo” of a percussion instrument, the largest in the “school”, and the one with the deepest sound.

In Bossa Nova, and also in Samba, (only at different speeds), the “surdo” plays this rhythmic pattern:

As we see, the pattern is composed of a dotted quarter note, followed by an eighth note, and this formula is repeated successively.

But apart from the duration, there is a very important difference between these two blows.

To hit the surdo head, it is common for the player to use a piece of hose instead of a stick (yes, common irrigation hose), well, to play the dotted quarter note, the player simply hits the head, but to play the eighth note, you do it with your other hand resting on the head. This results in a completely dull sound, more similar to hitting a piece of wood than a head.

This expression is what we should try to imitate. To do so, we must mainly control the volume (finger pressure) with which we play each note:

On the other hand, playing the dotted quarter note as a “normal” note, and the “muted” eighth note, will give even more similarity to the surdo sound.

To play a muted note, we will rest our finger in the same place where the normal note would go, but without actually pressing the string, or rather, pressing it so gently that we do not come to rest it on the fretboard (the fretboard is the part of wood where the frets sink).

The degree of “muting” of this eighth note is different depending on the player, some bassists play it completely muted, and others hardly mute it, although they do play it much shorter and softer.

So that you can practice this rhythm and the muting of notes, we have prepared a simple exercise.

In this first installment, we will not go into more complex fingerings, and we will always use finger 1 for the first note and 3 or 4 for the second. In this exercise the important thing is the rhythm, and trying to get the correct accentuation for the notes (stronger and softer).

Regarding the second note, we can use finger 3 or 4 interchangeably, since it is a type of position that allows it. If you are used to using finger 4, you will find it more comfortable, otherwise, you can use finger 3 without problems.

To listen: One of the best ways to learn to play a style is by imitating those who do it well, it is difficult to determine who does it well and who does it badly, but it is good to keep in mind that the main distribution of Brazilian music that is has made in the world comes, curiously, from two countries: Brazil and the United States.

Thus, it could be said, or rather, it is openly said, that there is a more “American” (North American) way and a more Brazilian way of playing Bossa Nova.

This difference is impossible to describe, but we will notice it when we listen to it, especially in the drums.

Taking this into account, it is interesting to listen to authors and performers such as Antonio Carlos Jobim, perhaps the main exponent. Joao Gilberto, Elis Regina, Eumir Deodato, Baden Powell, Artrud Gilberto.

In more recent years, Brazilian musicians such as Djavan or Gilberto Gil have also played this style a lot.

In the field of Jazz it is also common to find Bossa Nova performed by North American musicians, although there may not be an exclusive interpreter of this style, almost all Jazz musicians have at some point played songs such as “Chica de Ipanema”, “Blue Bossa”. “, “The Shadows of Your Smile”, “Desafinado”, “Black Orpheus”, etc.

Below we show the same score with tablature for electric bass.

Bossa Nova Classics

Vocals: Laura Vall Guitar: David Irelan Drums/Percussion: Mike Papagni Bass: Thomas Hjorth

Video edited by Laura Vall and Thomas Hjorth Audio mixing and mastering by Laura Vall at Freya’s Garden Studios, Joshua Tree, CA.

SONG LIST 00:00 – Samba Em Preludio 04:50 – Tarde Em Itapoã 10:00 – Tristeza 14:17 – Eu Sei Que Vou Te Amar 18:33 – Aquarela Do Brasil 23:14 – Tuyo 26:22 – Upa Neguinho 28:55 – Once I Loved 34:25 – Fotografia 37:40 – Berimbau