Tango & flamenco · chacarera · 6/8 compound

Chacarera

126 bpm Loop: all
8ths
Kick
Rim
Guitar
Bass

Mixer

Strums

1
↓↑↓↓↓↑
2
↓↑↓↓↓↑

Chacarera — the Argentine folk dance from Santiago del Estero, and the textbook case of 6/8 against 3/4. The bar has six eighths; the bombo legüero feels them as two groups of three while the guitar accents them as three groups of two, and neither side gives way.

How it sits: the drums layer is the bombo — low skin hit (kick) on the two dotted-quarter beats, rim strokes on the wooden hoop (rim) on the pulses between, so the drum says 6/8. The guitar rasgueo accents the thumb bass on 1 and downstrokes on pulses 3 and 5 — quarter-note spacing, so the guitar says 3/4 — with upstrokes filling the gaps. The bass sits with the bombo: root on each dotted quarter, a passing note into the next. Am for the first beat, E7 for the second, every bar.

Listen for the shared downbeat and the disagreement everywhere else; mute the guitar and the pattern swings in two, mute the drums and it waltzes.

Practice: tap the bombo with your foot while strumming the three guitar accents.

Sources

  • standard practice; no transcribed source

Keyboard

Space
Play / pause
← →
Loop the previous / next bar
1–6
Mute layer 1–6
[ ]
Tempo −5 / +5
?
This sheet