Chords for The Girl from Ipanema - Piano Bossa Lesson by Antoine Hervé (en)

[G] _ [C] _ _ _ _ _ _ [D] _
[Em] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [Dm] _
_ [Gm] _ _ [A#] _ _ [F#] _ _ _
[C] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [F] _ _ [C] _ _ [F#] _ _
[C] _ _ [D] _ [F] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ Hello.
In the _ 1950s in Rio de Janeiro, [G#] there were young musicians who created a new wave of
music called Bossa _ _ Nova.
A guitar on the beach, a few friends, some whiskey were all that was needed.
They began _ writing songs on beautiful poems about beautiful girls _ and about the beautiful
and paradise location of the bay _ _ of Rio de Janeiro.
What's interesting for us here is how we'll be imitating a guitar on the piano.
We'll also be playing some upright bass so as to have a small orchestra in your hands. _
A fundamental element of Bossa Nova is rhythm.
There's a bass rhythm which we'll use as reference and [B] around which we'll be doing some rhythmic variations.
First of all, there's the [F] bass, _ [C] _ _
[F] or an F major.
[C] _ _ [F] _ _ _
[C] _ _ [F] _ _ [C] The bass [F] imitates the sordo, [C] the bass drum used [F] in samba.
_ _ [C] _ _
[F] _ As you can see, this note is played very [C] staccato.
_ [F] There's no need _ [C] to play loud.
[Fm] Bossa [D] Nova is a very relaxed kind of music.
First, we have four chords on the beat followed by three chords off the beat, which gives _ _ _ _ _ [Gm] us_ _ _ _
_ _ [D] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ So I'll [F] be putting both hands together along with the bass which goes like this.
[C] _ _ [F] _ _
[C] _ And [Dm] here we go. _ _ _ _
_ _ [C] _ _ [F] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ It's like being relaxed in front of the sea.
[C] The weather is beautiful.
[Dm] The sun is [C] setting and we're feeling good.
[F] _ A bit more legato _ _ _ _ _ _ and some variations. _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ But my bass is always solid. _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[C] Alright, [N] so on this chord, F major 6, I'm going to begin playing the melody for Antonio
_ Carlos Jobim's famous song, The Girl _ from Ipanema.
Harmonically, Bossa Nova music is fairly rich and complex.
It's inspired by jazz but also by romantic music, most notably Chopin.
We have a few jazz chords.
The first is F major 7.
So we're going [F] to try to make things simpler since we're going to be playing bass notes
as well as chords just like a guitar would, [G] as well as a melody just like a singer would.
Us pianists can do this since our instrument is like an orchestra.
This is one of the big challenges of being a pianist as well as one of the great pleasures
of the instrument.
Here the melody goes.
_ [E] _ [G] _
_ _ [E] _ _ [Gm] _ _ I'll use the bass [F] note F _ and two other [Am] notes, _ _ _ _ for example the 3rd and the 5th A and C.
And the [Gm] melody is on _ [C] the 9th.
That was Jobim's invention at the time and it sounds like [F] _ this. _
[C] _ _ _ [F] _ _ _ _ _
[D] _ So here we'll change the chord.
It's a G7.
[G] _ _ I'm [Em] going to use B, E and G on top [Dm] which becomes F, [Em] B, E.
_ _ [Dm] _ _
_ The right hand always has three notes.
[Gm] It's well enough for us.
And now G minor.
_ [A#] _ _ _ _
_ [F#] _ The G is [C] flat 7 flat 5 since we have a C natural.
_ _ And here I'm going to do what we call a turnaround _ in [Am] jazz.
_ _ _ [D] A minor, _ _ [C] D7, while always keeping [G] the C, G minor [C] 7, C7.
I can also add the B flat and here's the turnaround again [Am] repeated.
_ _ [D] _ _ [Gm] _ _ [C] _
_ [Am] _ _ _ [D] _ [Gm] _ _ _
[C] _ [Am] Repeated.
_ [D] _ _ [Gm] _ _
[C] _ _ [Am] _ _ [D] _ _ [Gm] _ _
[C] _ _ [Am] _ _ [D] _ _ _ [Gm] _
_ [C] _ [Am] _ _ [D] _ _ [Gm] _ _
[C] _ I strongly recommend that you play the turnaround in several keys and transpose it.
The turnaround is the base of jazz chords.
_ [F#] The bridge modulates to G flat major.
_ It's very simple.
All you need to do is play G [F] flat on the base and [A#] F and a third.
F is the 7th, B flat is the [F] 3rd and the F on the melody is also the [A#m] _ _ _ _ _ [F#] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [C#] _ [F#m] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [C#m] _ _
_ [A] _ _ [F#m] _ _ [F#] _ _ [Em] _
_ [Bm] _ [Am] _ _ [E] _ _ [Am] _ _
_ [Dm] _ _ _ _ [Gm] _ _ [Dm] _
_ [A#m] _ _ _ 7th. _ _
[A#] _ [Am] _ _ [Em] _ _ _ [G#] _ _
[Am] _ _ [Gm] _ _ [Dm] _ _ [F#] _ _
_ _ _ [G] _ [C] _ _ _ _
_ _ [D] _ [Em] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [Dm] _ _ [Gm] _ _ [A#] _ _
[F#] _ _ _ [Am] _ _ _ _ _
[C] _ _ _ _ _ [F] _ _ _
[C] _ _ [F#] _ [C] _ _ [D] _ [F] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
[G] There you are.
This approach to bossa nova may take you some time to master
since you need to spend a little while assimilating the basic rhythm on F major.
And then there's the turnaround after which you can add the melody and the chords.
It takes some patience but the result _ is well worth the time and effort. _
[C] _ _ _ _ _ _ [D] _ [Em] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [Dm] _ _
[Gm] _ _ [A#] _ _ [F#] _ _ _ [Am] _
[F] _ _ _ [C] _ _ [F#] _ [N] _ _