Chord & FretReggae · vamp menor — Cavaquinho
What is the Reggae · vamp menor progression?
The Reggae · vamp menor progression is F#m → E (vi – V), in the key of A. Read as harmonic function it moves tonic → dominant, arriving home on a cadence. Play one chord per bar and let it loop.
Four chords, a whole story: F#m (vi, home) → E (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 F#m — 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. Outside Brazil the cavaquinho is a newcomer to these styles, but its short, percussive strums fit reggae's off-beat chop nicely and add a thin, bright layer. Its home chord F#m keeps its lowest note on F#.
Cadences — Harmony comes to rest here — hear every cadence type and train your ear · use it in Chord & Fret
Save this progression in Chord & FretReharmonize — Want richer substitutions? Reharmonize the progression in a tap · see it in Chord & Fret
Learn each chord of the trip
This is one shape of F#m. In Chord & Fret, you open every position of all 2 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
Want this in any key, no math? In the Chord & Fret app you drag and the whole neck rewrites itself — App Store and Google Play.