Ijexá · Guitar
Ijexá guitar rhythm: finger block on the beat
The ijexá guitar rhythm in 2/4: the thumb plays the bass (B) and the i-m-a fingers answer with the chord as one block (A). Beat by beat, one mark per sixteenth note, with · where there is no stroke: AA·B A·B· | A·B· A·B·. Play the audio here in your browser, set the tempo anywhere from 50 to 200 BPM and follow the grid, which marks every subdivision.
Sound summary
Ijexá is played with a bass-and-chord figure — 2/4, straight (even subdivisions) — for the guitar: the thumb plays the bass (B) and the chord (A) answers right after. To the ear: A A — B A — B — A — B — A — B —.
How to count it
The meter is 2/4: 2 beats per bar, counted in sixteenth-notes (four per beat). Count out loud: 1 e & a, 2 e & a. Keep the beat with your foot and follow the grid: each box is one subdivision.
The rhythm grid
B = bass (thumb) · A = chord block (i-m-a together, no sweep) · — = no stroke
The thumb bass and the i-m-a block follow the two-voice violão notation (Silva & Madeira 2021).
How to play it
Right hand
Split the right hand in two: the thumb drops the bass (B) on the pulse, then the chord (A) fills in — fingers or a down-stroke. The chord (A) is a finger block (i-m-a), not a sweep: the thumb never plays the bass strings along with it. On the rests, let the thumb and fingers settle on their next strings — ready, without cutting the sound early.
Left hand
The fretting hand holds the chord firmly through the whole pattern — it owns the harmony while the right hand owns the rhythm. Change chords at the last instant of the bar, the hand already moving toward the next shape.
Example in Dm
On DmDmDmDm, the bass (B) lands on D on the low string, the chord’s root: sound it on the beat and let the Dm chord (A) complete right after. Use the diagram and the audio example.
Common mistakes
- Bass and chord landing together. The bass (B) comes first; the chord (A) answers after. If they collide the groove disappears — separate the two hands in time.
- Running the subdivisions. The faster the pattern, the easier to push ahead — lock the tempo on the metronome before speeding up.
- Freezing the arm on a rest. It should keep going in the air, off the strings, and land on the next hit — the continuous motion is what holds the time.
Guided practice
- Start from the low end. Play just the B with the thumb, slow, watching each one land in place.
- Isolate the chord. Drop the bass and play only the A hits, feeling where they answer.
- Add the two voices. Bass then chord, always in that order, slow, until it plays itself.
- Close with the metronome. Go slow first and raise the BPM only once the pattern comes out clean.
You already get the logic of the groove. Now put it in time: hear the pattern, follow the count and practice slowly until the bass and the chord sit apart in time. In Chord and Fret, the Metronome and the Rhythm Trainer help with that drill, free.
Open the trainer →Variations & related patterns
With the strum steady, take it to Ijexá progressions, putting rhythm and chord changes together. In Chord and Fret’s Progressions by Rhythm, the progressions come with diagrams and audio, free.
See the genre’s progressions →