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Gareth | SambaG

@samba.g.official

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In 🇸🇪 from 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Short king 👑 Silvering fox 🦊 Infinitely curios 🤓 English humour 🥸 Music lover 🎵 Samba teacher/ pupil 🥁

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Day 60. Beija-Flor Ijexá: Tam and Agogô

This is a famous pattern from the northeast of Brazil, and Beija-Flor used it at the beginning of their show. I’ve used that tamborim pattern with some added accents which the surdos played. It’s a nice, quick, simple rhythm idea. I just added a small syncopated phrase at the end.

We used this rhythm at the Samba Festival Coburg this year. It’s a fantastic way to start the show, and it worked brilliantly with the wonderful choreography from the dance group who joined us, Vai! Dance and Art from Malmö. by @samba.g.official

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13 hours ago

Day 59. Você Já Sabe: Because Why Not 🤭

This is a ‘samba arrangement’ of the new song by Anitta, and I’ve seen a few great choreographies in the last week. I thought it would be fun to make up a tamborim pattern.

The original doesn’t have a samba feel to it. It’s a lot more pop, with a carioca funk feel. I’m definitely not the target market for this type of music, but I still find it super interesting! I love the tension of the push and pull between the straight and triplet feel it. by @samba.g.official

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3 days ago

Day 58. Viradouro 2024: 3 Patterns

This was the first Viradouro i directed at an Encontro, and I absolutely loved it. There are some amazing phrases in this song, and some of the same phrases and ideas show up again in Viradouro 2026.

These three patterns use three techniques I hadn’t used before: one for fast triplets, one for slower triplets, and a slow carreteiro. They take a little practice.

The subida was particularly challenging for me, because there are so many offbeat notes in a row.

The slow carreteiro is in section 2. It uses the same up and down sticking as a carreteiro, but with eighth notes instead of 16ths, so it’s just slower. It creates nice accents, so it’s something familiar but different at the same time. by @samba.g.official

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4 days ago

Day 57. Tijuca 2010: Two Patterns
Subida + The Perfect Phrase

This one is also from one of the Swedish Encontros. I love this one so much. It’s such a wonderful song, with a fantastic tamborim pattern. Very classic, with a few tricky bits in it.

I’ve included the subida, which is a perfect question and answer phrase. It starts off with straight notes and then ends in triplets.

Then comes one of my favourite phrases of all time. Again, another perfect question and answer phrase. It’s also a real technical challenge, because one of the patterns starts with a carreteiro on the offbeat, which is very unusual. This one took some practise. by @samba.g.official

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5 days ago

Day 56. Odd Times: Airto Moreira’s Tombo in 7/4 (Pt. 1)

We’re living in odd times, so why not odd time signatures too? Today’s video is inspired by Airto Moreira’s “Tombo in 7/4”. I’ve taken the intro idea, played on the record by a jazz fusion group with drums, guitars, keyboards, bass and various percussion, and arranged it for shaker (or chocalho), agogô, tamborim and surdo.

The song also hides one of the most famous bits of Brazilian music ever written. You’d never guess it from this intro. That same section also appears in Airto’s “Celebration Suite”, and it became the basis of Bellini’s “Samba de Janeiro”.

I’ll be coming back to this song many times. It’s packed with ideas, and not just for samba. There are different rhythms, Airto’s innovations and some seriously complicated harmony. I’ll tackle the famous part too. by @samba.g.official

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6 days ago

Day 55. Tijuca-R: Section 2 Idea from 2003

This is the final part of the Tijuca 2003 ideas. Here I’ve taken one of the phrases from section 2 and turned it into a section 2 repeating pattern.

It’s all about the accuracy of hitting the 4th 16th, the “R” beat as it’s called. That’s why it’s called Tijuca-R. It’s all about that one beat.

I’ve also created a chocalho and agogô pattern, so you can use this in any section 2 samba.

It’s a nice one, but technically challenging. Getting everyone tight on those 16ths that don’t start on the first beat is tricky. by @samba.g.official

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7 days ago

Day 54. Beauty from the (Original) Beast

This is the first part of the section 2 pattern in Tijuca 2003, the one that comes just before the beast.

For me it’s a beautiful example of a repeating section 2 pattern. It’s something I’ve noticed more than once with Tijuca. They keep a pattern repeating, but change it every few bars. Each of these variations could be a fantastic section 2 pattern by itself.

Compared with the beast I posted in Day 53, these parts are a lovely contrast. They’re so rhythmical and musical but also require a precise technical execution. by @samba.g.official

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7 days ago

Day 53. The Original Beast: Tijuca 2003, That Tricky Phrase

This is where the ‘beast’ first came from. It was a tricky phrase in Tijuca 2003, at the first Encontro I was at, in Uppsala in 2018. It’s a fantastic phrase.

It was also the first time I directed at the Encontro, and the first time I’d directed so many people. It was a baptism of fire, and I learned so much. It put me in really good stead for my entire directing career. A lot of that is thanks to my brother @scottinhoinho , who pushed me hard to be a better leader and not to try to explain so much!

I also managed to find the first video I ever recorded for the Encontro. So you see the old video from 2018, and me playing it today, side by side (well top and tail).

It’s really great to see that I was actually quite good back in 2018. I don’t know what happened 🙂 by @samba.g.official

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7 days ago

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#copenhagensambacongress #samba #dance #copenhagen taken in Copenhagen, Dennmark by @samba.g.official

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9 days ago

Day 52. Vira-Do-Oh! Failing the Beast, Part 2
(Reminder - the beast is the enredo’s hardest phrase)
This time I want to show where I got it wrong but didn’t realise. It was in the video I uploaded with the 7 sambas. It’s been popular 😊

The phrase comes from the seventh and final samba, Viradouro 2024 (Arroboboi, Dangbé). It’s really tricky, and it sits right at the very end, so it was a real pain to record. If I was going to make a mistake, it was always going to be there. Eventually I got the take, and I felt very happy with myself.

Then my mestre, Claudio, sent me a message saying something didn’t sound quite right. I said no, I’m 100% right. We checked it at rehearsal that night, and yeah, I was wrong.

It was just a single semiquaver (16th note), but it changes the feel of the whole pattern. Originally I had it on the “e” of the beat. It belongs on the “and”, and it’s actually easier to play there. I’m amazed Claudio picked it up.

The samba’s original tempo is around 150 BPM. I recorded the first video at around 135, because that’s the tempo we’ll play it at in the Encontro. Tonight I tried it at the original 150 to give myself the extra challenge of getting it right at full speed. I haven’t nailed it yet, but I wanted to get this video out anyway. It shows that I still have to keep working on these things every single day. by @samba.g.official

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10 days ago

Day 51. Vira-Do-Oh! Failing the Beast Part 1

What I wanted to show today is that I can’t always play a pattern the way I want to. Usually what I post is the final product, after lots of practice and a lot of trying for the best possible take. This time I’m showing that some days it just doesn’t work, and that’s all part of the process.

And the beast is an expression that goes back to the first Encontro I did in Uppsala in 2018. A really tricky phrase in Tijuca 2003 got that nickname. Now every year there’s usually one beast in the song. Often there are many more than that 🙂

In Viradouro 2026, this is the beast. It will need the most practice, and probably the most rehearsal, to get everyone playing it in sync. by @samba.g.official

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10 days ago

Day 50. Xangô, Salgueiro 2019: Subida and Tricky Chorus Phrase

I’m going through the songs we’ve played at the Encontro over the last 10 years, pulling out some of my favourite phrases while I reminisce.

One we got to perform was Xangô, the very famous Salgueiro samba-enredo from 2019. We also had Emerson Dias, the Salgueiro singer, with us for that Encontro. I’ve had the privilege of performing with him a few times. In the picture you can also see us with Digão (Rodrigo), the cavaquinho player and musical director of Mangueira. They joined us for a show at a samba festival. An incredible experience.

Section 1 is the subida, which for Salgueiro is quite a straightforward pattern, but it’s trickier than it seems. Watch out for the two fast 16ths together.

The chorus phrase is a really tricky one. It was the first time I’d come across a pattern like it. It uses the carreteiro technique, starting in irregular places in the beat, and then puts them all together. It took me a lot of practice to get it right. by @samba.g.official

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13 days ago