A Brazilian beginner who wants to learn brazilian...

haroldo_psf

Senior Member
When I grew up, I never cared for my country's music much... I was into rock and roll from the get go. Sure, when Carnaval came around I went out with the crowd and had a blast partying to the loudest Samba you can imagine, but that was about the extent of my interest in Brazilian music.

I never cared for bossa nova, pagode, baiao, etc...thought that was boring stuff for old people :D

Anyway... Now that I'm learning to play the drums, I was surprised to find out that Brazilian style of music is subject of study at music schools world wide. I really had no idea.

What surprised me even more is that now I'm growing some interest in it, specially Samba and Bossa nova, inspired by the couple of grooves in Tommy Igoe's Groove Essentials (I couldn't believe when I realized Brazilian style takes the majority of that poster in the World Section...).

Anyway, I tried the bossa nova groove, and it was like a different world, I could not find myself within the play along song at all, completely lost.

My question with this post is... I have been learning the drums for abotu 6 months. Of course, rock is was I practice all the time, and it is very familiar to me.

Is Brazilian style of music a more advanced thing I should not try at the moment, like Jazz and such? Am I tripping by trying this out now?
 
Samba and Bossanova grooves require more advanced coordination than typical rock grooves so it is more challenging to get down but honestly if you like it, then go for it.

The real hard part with world-grooves, in this case Brazilian, is getting them to actually feel like they're from Brazil but you're lucky, you don't have that problem! Even if you're not into it, you've been listening to Brazilian music since you were born and if you haven't, you have access to a lot of it, recorded and live.

I say go for it, also a teacher could do wonders here, look into it.
 
Brazilian drum set grooves are mostly based on rhythms that would more commonly be played by 3 or 4 different people.......so it requires some independence

but it is a blast to play ...and takes some of what I call....inner dance.....

learn the patterns first...then put them together.....u will have a blast
 
When I went to PIT way, way back when, it was required to learn a few basic brazillian beats.
I do recall it was hard, as it is a different mind set than rock.

But it is a great way to boost your coordination, and getting used to more syncopated rhythms.

And even in the rock world, every once in a while, you might stumble upon a song that is loosely based on a bossa-nova or has elements of a samba, and it's nice to be able to have that familiarity in your bag.
 
If you are now enjoying Samba and Bossanova try to listen to more music about it and enjoy the rhythm for sure you will catch up the sound in your drums, and remember the advice of other members here.
 
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