A Luiz Bonfá Fingerstyle Technique

In this lesson, I’m going to demonstrate a Brazilian guitar technique that Luiz Bonfá invented.

Luiz Bonfa does a fingerstyle technique on “Manha de Carnaval” and “Sambolero” and during parts of “Uma Prece” (A Prayer) on the album, Solo in Rio 1959. With this technique, his thumb becomes the bass player, and his index and middle fingers are the rhythm section. That leaves his ring finger for the melody.

So, here is how it works.

  1. The Ring Finger: The ring finger plays the melody notes on strings 1, 2, and 3.  Now, when the ring finger is not playing the melody, it can help out the “rhythm section” by joining in on the 3rd string.
  2. The Thumb: Furthermore, we have the thumb (flesh only) playing the 6th string on beat one of each measure.
  3. The Index and Middle Finger: Finally, the index and middle fingers come into play by striking up on the 4th and 5th strings of beats two and four. This will cause the fingernails to create a rhythmic brushing sound, which is like a rhythm section.

Brazilian Guitar Technique Tab

As an example of this technique, we will use a melody over an A chord to an F#m chord and then back to A.

brazilian guitar technique

The video below demonstrates the fingerstyle guitar technique described above used in the song, “Sambolero.”

Manha de Carnaval

This performance of “Manha de Carnaval” (also known as “Black Orpheus”) also demonstrates the technique.

This fingerstyle technique and a lot of other techniques can be heard in Bonfa’s playing. If you like this, check out Luiz Bonfa’s guitar playing on Solo in Rio 1959.

Bio on Luiz Bonfá

Brazilian guitarist, Luiz Bonfá, was born in Rio de Janeiro on October 17, 1922. At the age of 11, he took up the guitar and studied with Isaias Savos, an Uruguayan classical guitarist. In the late 1940’s and early 50’s, he played a samba-influenced style of music that predated Bossa Nova. In the late 50’s Bonfa, along with João Gilberto, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Vinicius de Moraes, and others, helped pioneer the sound of Bossa Nova. Bossa Nova gained worldwide popularity in the 1960’s and remains popular with Jazz musicians today.

Luiz Bonfa is best known for the music he composed for the 1959 film, Orfeu Negro (Black Orpheus in English). “Manha de Carnaval” is one of the most recognizable songs on the soundtrack.  

Luiz Bonfa died in Rio de Janiero on January 12, 2001, at the age of 78.

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