African · soukous · 4/4 straight

Soukous guitar (sebene)

140 bpm Loop: all
16ths
Kick
Snare
Hi-hat
Open hat
Guitar
Bass

Mixer

Strums

1
↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑
2
↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑

Soukous sebene — the fast instrumental section of Congolese rumba, where the lead guitar runs bright sixteenth-note arpeggios high on the neck while the band cycles I–IV–V–I. The line here is a simple triad arpeggio per chord, alternate-picked (down on the sixteenth, up on the e and a), half a bar per chord.

How it sits: the drums are a dance kit — kick on all four beats (four-on-floor), snare on 2 and 4, hi-hat eighths opening on the and of 4. The bass is busy and melodic, eighths that leap root–fifth–octave and walk into each chord. Real sebene guitarists layer two or three of these lines; this is the top one.

Listen for how the guitar never rests: the sixteenths are continuous and light, and the accent comes from the top note of each arpeggio, not from strumming harder.

Practice: slow it to 100, keep strict alternate picking, and only speed up when the e/a upstrokes are as loud as the downstrokes.

Sources

  • standard practice; no transcribed source

Keyboard

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