Wave Chords

Easy tutorial for beginners with some explanations, the tab, the lyrics and the chords to play the Bossa Nova Wave by Antonio Carlos Jobim on guitar.

Wave with chords

Each verse of this Bossa Nova is played in the same way.

We will therefore only look at verse 1 and bridge.

Verse 1 of music

Here are the chords you will need to know to play this first verse.

The chords you need to know are many. So I advise you to look for a while and practice these chords before you start playing.

chords wave

When you master those chords, you can follow the next tab to play verse 1 :

Remember that the chords are written above the lyrics so that you can play them at the right time. Therefore, it’s better to play while singing. Chords that are to the right of a phrase (not above a word) are played between the two phrases.

lyrics wave
Tab text
DM9
Vou te contar
Bbdim7 Am D7b9
Os olhos já não podem ver
Gmaj7 Gm6 F#7#5 F#13 F#m
Coisas que só o coração pode entender
B7b9 E9
Fundamental é mesmo o amor
G°/A Dmin9 G13 Dmin9 G13
É impossivel ser feliz sozinho

Between verse 2 and bridge

At the end of verse 2 (which is played as verse 1), to make a transition to the bridge, I am used to play two different chords :

chords guitar
tab bossa nova
Tab text
G°/A Dmin9 G13 Dmin9 Dm Em
É impossivel ser feliz sozinho

Bridge of the song

Of the chords you have already learned for verse 1, you will need only one : the Am. The others are new chords :

tab guitar

When you have the chords ready, you can follow the next tab to play the bridge :

bossa nova
Tab text
Gm Am/Bb Am
Da primeira vez era a cidade
Fm Gm/Ab Gm A11
Da segunda o cais e a eternidade

Wave video with tab

Play an other bossa nova tab like the famous How Insensitive.

Wave lyrics

The song of Bossa Nova Wave is composed of three verses and a bridge.

The structure of the lyrics is simple :

Verse 1 – Verse 2 – Bridge – Verse 3

Verse 1

Vou te contar
Os olhos já não podem ver
Coisas que só o coração pode entender
Fundamental é mesmo o amor
É impossivel ser feliz sozinho

Verse 2

O resto é mar
É tudo que eu não sei contar
São coisas lindas
Que eu tenho pra te dar
Vem de mansinho a brisa e me diz
É impossivel ser feliz sozinho

Bridge

Da primeira vez era a cidade
Da segunda o cais e a eternidade

Verse 3

Agora eu já sei
Da onda que se ergueu no mar
E das estrelas que esquecemos de contar
O amor se deixa surpreender
Enquanto a noite vem nos envolver

Try to play in a jazz style the song All of me.

Wave history

Wave is a Bossa Nova song composed in 1967 by Brazilian Antônio Carlos Jobim, also known as Tom Jobim.

If Wave appears at first as a classic Bossa Nova song, sung by Jobim and Sergio Mendes, it quickly becomes a Jazz standard. In fact, already in 1969, less than two years after its release, the great Oscar Peterson recorded the song on his album Motions and Emotions. Ahmad Jamal, Paul Desmond, Stan Getz and Herbie Hancock would follow.

wave bossa nova

And if Wave quickly becomes a very famous jazz theme, it also follows its path as a song, sung by Franck Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald in English as well as by João Gilberto and Toquinho in Portuguese.

Bossa nova score for guitar

The following score is a “home-made” score that we created according to the above frameworks and explanations.

Summarizes everything we just covered. You can download it for free to play the Bossa Nova Wave by Antonio Carlos Jobim on guitar.