3 Cool Bossa Nova Vamps

First off, what is a vamp? If you are not familiar with this term, a vamp is a short section of music that repeats over and over. Usually it is either 2 or 4 bars that are repeated over and over. Each of the three vamps I am going to give you works great as Introduction, a solo section or an ending for a song. **Do not use the same vamp as the intro, solo section AND ending, as that would be overkill and bore your audience!**

In this tutorial, I’m not just going to show you the chords, but I am also going to include voicings that sound great over each progression, plus what linear pitch material (scales or modes) work to improvise with.

“The Jobim”

Antonio Carlos Jobim was one of the great composers of Bossa Nova and wrote many iconic songs like “Girl From Ipanema” and “Corcovado”.  This first vamp is one that shows up in his music, most notably in his composition “Wave”.

The “Up a Half Step”

The next one of the Bossa Nova vamps is something I call the “Up a Half Step” (no cool name for this one, folks!).  There are two different versions of this vamp, each one offering a slightly different harmonic texture.

“The Dindi”

 This Bossa Nova vamp is borrowed from the verse of Jobim’s luscious song “Dindi” (pronounced jinji).  The parallel major 7^th chords create a warm and open sounding harmonic movement that is deeply satisfying to hear and easy to play.

Free Download:  Three Cool Vamps for Bossa Novas