A Felicidade - Bossa Nova Guitar Lessons #7 and #8: Third Basic Phrase

Bossa Nova Guitar Lessons #7 and #8: Third Basic Phrase
in:
A Felicidade (Antonio Carlos Jobim - Vinícius de Moraes)
as played by Roberto Menescal on Orfeu Negro soundtrack from 1959.

This song is important for several reasons. It was recorded at about the same time João Gilberto recorded his first bossa nova album. Agostinho dos Santos was among the first singers that figured Gilberto's singing style, as well as Roberto Menescal picked up the new way of playing guitar accompaniment. It was also probably the first bossa nova song that crossed the world as it was played in the opening of Black Orpheus movie that got Palme d'Or in Cannes in 1959 as well as the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 1960.

This video shows two variations of the third basic bossa nova phrase, the first contains 3+3+2+2+3+3, while in the second variation beat groups 3+2 are replaced with 2+3 which results in 3+2+3+2+3+3. Few notes about the playing A Felicidade:

1. The whole song is played with staccato. In the third basic phrase the strings are muted by planting the right hand fingertips on the strings at the moment of playing the next note. The thumb mutes the bass, while i,m,a mute high strings.

2. Agostinho dos Santos sang the song mainly on offbeats and there are no chord changes on the last beat of the phrases. When João Gilberto recorded the same song later, he sang on different beats. In Gilberto's version it would make sense to syncopate some phrases with chord changes on the last beat (beat 16) in relation to the rhythm of the melody.

Enjoy playing A Felicidade!

[bossanovaguitar]

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[pnojazz]

Bossa Nova and Jazz was the greatest idea - EVER!

[rpoc]

The fast chord changes at the bridge is quite tricky! Last year I started at lesson 1 and god I was so frustrated that I couldn't even get it listenable after 6 months. But right now that I am familiar with the vocabulary, I am able to roughly learn this song in few days, I'm so happy that I didn't give up half way! Thank you for your work!

[palindrome]

This is the best bossa nova tutorial I have ever seen. Clear and correct. Very good work. Thank you sir!

[merlina]

Que hermosa película. Hay que ayudar a las personas autistas, no sabemos que tesoros encierra su mente, sus habilidades y sus sentimientos, es necesario comprender les y caminar con ellos, ellas, integrarnos e integrarlos. No discriminarles.

[George-Sanders]

please could you make a video for manha de Carnaval from this film, I love this song and I can't find a good complete set of chords to the original. I am a great fan of your channel and consider you a master! thank you in advance.

[sebb]

Hi there, thanks for the video. Is it important to master the muting with the right hand ? I finally got better with left hand muting and i find it easier to feel the rhythm with left hand muting. Will the right hand muting be an important part of the next lessons ? Cheers !!

[arthurherrera]

I’m learning this song and I feel like the original version is not exactly like this one. Am I correct or my missing something? I feel like the next court after the C major seven with a G and the base is a D minor seven in the original recording

[dongu.s]

the amount of chords and the speed at which they change makes this thing impossible. i just cant do it

[chad]

Do you have a lesson for the rest of the song?

[dunstanmorey]

Payment sent - I'd much rather send you the money direct. I'll keep my ad blocker on😄