The guitar tab (chords and melody) for Jobim’s “Meditation” is available for download as a PDF.
Meditation
“Meditação” (“Meditation”) was composed in 1960 by Antônio Carlos Jobim with lyrics by Newton Mendonça during the formative years of bossa nova in Rio de Janeiro. The English lyric was later crafted by Norman Gimbel. First recorded by João Gilberto, the song’s gentle harmonic motion and inward mood helped define the genre’s understated elegance.
On early recordings, Gilberto’s softly syncopated nylon-string guitar—mic’d closely for intimacy—carried the rhythmic pulse, a hallmark of bossa nova’s break from samba’s larger ensembles. The tune gained international notice through Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd in the early 1960s, becoming a jazz standard admired for its poised melancholy and supple, guitar-led texture.
Video
In the video below, I perform the piece as transcribed.
Guitar Tab
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