“O Barquinho” is a beautiful bossa nova song by Brazilian guitarist Roberto Menescal , co-written by Ronaldo Boscoli. My favorite recording is by Brazilian singer Nara Leão. Roberto Menescal himself plays guitar here:
O BarQuinho Bossa Nova Chords
The harmonic structure of “O Barquinho” is interesting and quite unusual. The basic framework is a descending chord movement of major 7th chords connected by intermediate dominants. Here are the first six bars of the song in the key of G major:
This chromatic chord sequence ends in the sixth bar on the dominant chord of the key (D7).
By the way: The resolution of the intermediate dominants in semitone steps is explained by the principle of tritone substitution . This sounds complicated, but is fundamentally simple and a common technique in jazz harmony.
Now, instead of resolving to the tonic (G major), Roberto Menescal takes a brief detour and moves to the third degree of the key (B-flat minor). He completes the eight-bar chord progression with the standard cadence iii-VI7-ii-V7.
The intermediate dominants of the chromatic movement in the beginning are also supplemented with the corresponding second degree to a II -V cadence , resulting in a quite complex chord sequence:
In the above recording with Nara Leao, Roberto Menescal uses so-called shell voicings alongside some classic bossa nova chords to smoothly accompany the chord progression. You can learn more about these useful jazz chords here.
Although this is a very rare chord progression in popular music, there are certainly similar examples. In fact, two years before this song was recorded, the famous bossa nova guitarist Joao Gilberto recorded a song with a similar chord progression: “Brigas Nunca Mais” by Tom Jobim.
“Red Blouse” from Jobim’s later album “Wave” also plays with this chromatic chord sequence and you can even hear Jobim quoting the melody of “O Barquinho” in his solo.
The most famous example, however, is “Just The Two of Us” by Grover Washington Jr. The bridge of the soul classic also uses this striking chromatic connection.
O Barquinho Solo Guitar Arrangement
In my solo guitar arrangement of “O Barquinho” I made some changes to the song.
In addition to a significantly slower tempo than usual, I also changed the chord progression slightly. This makes the song sound more like a ballad than a fluffy bossa nova.
A major reason for the change in mood is certainly the special voicings I chose. Instead of the major 7th chord in root position, the song now begins on the first inversion, a G major 7th with a third in the bass.
The intermediate dominants are also in first inversion and without the Seventh, pure triads.
Diese Akkorde und das langsame Tempo sowie der moderne Klang der Godin Multiac Nylon-E-Gitarre ergeben ein sehr stimmungsvolles Arrangement, dass du dier hier anhören kannst.