Skip to content
Chord & Fret

Pagode · ciclo do pagode — Cavaquinho

What is the Pagode · ciclo do pagode progression?

The Pagode · ciclo do pagode progression is A# → Gm → Cm → F (I – vi – ii – V), in the key of Bb. Read as harmonic function it moves tonic → tonic → subdominant → dominant, arriving home on a cadence. Play one chord per bar and let it loop.

Four chords, a whole story: A# (I, home) → Gm (vi, home) → Cm (ii, the stroll) → F (V, time to come back). Hit play. First pass, just listen. Second pass, follow with your finger on the names — and notice that by the second-to-last chord, your body already knows A# — home — is coming.

Cavaquinho

The cavaquinho is a small, bright four-string with no low bass, so it fills the upper-middle range and leaves the deep notes to others. This is the cavaquinho's true home: in samba, choro and pagode it is the rhythmic and harmonic center, driving the groove with bright, percussive chords. Its home chord A# keeps its lowest note on F.

Cadences — Harmony comes to rest here — hear every cadence type and train your ear · see it in Chord & Fret

Save this progression in Chord & Fret

Reharmonize — Want richer substitutions? Reharmonize the progression in a tap · open in Chord & Fret

Learn each chord of the trip

A# · Gm · Cm · F

A#, 3 3 3 3A#1111FA#DF

This is one shape of A#. In Chord & Fret, you open every position of all 4 chords in this progression along the neck — on any instrument, and hear each one. Open in Chord & Fret →

Metronome — Drill this change in time, with tap tempo and subdivisions · try it in Chord & Fret

This chord has a whole family that didn't fit the page. All of it is in the Chord & Fret app, pocket-sized, on the stores.