doogietrueman
Verified buyer
04/20/25
Five stars. Es bueno
A fantastic course for those looking for Latin guitar lessons
Latin American Guitar Guidebook
Learn Merengue, Bossa Nova, Samba, Cumbia, Ranchera, Cueca, & Bossa Nova Guitar
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About this course
Latin America has a rich musical culture with the guitar often at the center of attention. The guitar parts feature intricate right-hand rhythms enhanced with rich harmonies and beautiful melodies.
Jesús Hernandez’s Latin American Guitar Guidebook explores this vibrant musical landscape by examining eight of the most popular styles from Latin America.
”We'll learn how to play the swinging rhythmic patterns of the Merengue from Venezuela and the Dominican merengue. We'll dig into the Cumbia, a courtship dance from Columbia, and the Vals from Peru, also accompanied by a Cajón. Mexico has given us the Ranchera, frequently played by mariachi bands. Many of these styles are made for dancing, like the Cueca, originating in Chile, Argentina and Bolivia. And of course, the Samba and the Bossa Nova from Brazil.”
Jesús Hernández is a Cuban guitarist, bass player, singer, Cuban Tres player and percussionist who wrote the highly acclaimed Buena Vista Cuban Guitar Guidebook. We’re thrilled to welcome Jesús to the family with his first TrueFire course, the Latin American Guitar Guidebook! You will likewise be thrilled as you join Jesús on this musical adventure through Latin America.
Jesús kicks off the course with a series of video lessons that focus on the different technical and musical elements that define each of the 8 styles featured in the course. In the second half of the course, you’ll play your way through a series of performance studies in each of those styles. Jesús will first perform the study and then break it down emphasizing the key concepts and techniques in play.
Jesús will explain and demonstrate all of the key concepts and approaches along the way. You’ll get standard notation and tabs for all of the key examples. Plus, Jesús includes all of the rhythm tracks for you to work with on your own. In addition, you’ll be able to loop or slow down any of the videos so that you can work with the lessons at your own pace.
Grab your guitar and let’s play our way through Latin America with Jesús Hernandez!
Jesús Hernandez’s Latin American Guitar Guidebook explores this vibrant musical landscape by examining eight of the most popular styles from Latin America.
”We'll learn how to play the swinging rhythmic patterns of the Merengue from Venezuela and the Dominican merengue. We'll dig into the Cumbia, a courtship dance from Columbia, and the Vals from Peru, also accompanied by a Cajón. Mexico has given us the Ranchera, frequently played by mariachi bands. Many of these styles are made for dancing, like the Cueca, originating in Chile, Argentina and Bolivia. And of course, the Samba and the Bossa Nova from Brazil.”
Jesús Hernández is a Cuban guitarist, bass player, singer, Cuban Tres player and percussionist who wrote the highly acclaimed Buena Vista Cuban Guitar Guidebook. We’re thrilled to welcome Jesús to the family with his first TrueFire course, the Latin American Guitar Guidebook! You will likewise be thrilled as you join Jesús on this musical adventure through Latin America.
Jesús kicks off the course with a series of video lessons that focus on the different technical and musical elements that define each of the 8 styles featured in the course. In the second half of the course, you’ll play your way through a series of performance studies in each of those styles. Jesús will first perform the study and then break it down emphasizing the key concepts and techniques in play.
Jesús will explain and demonstrate all of the key concepts and approaches along the way. You’ll get standard notation and tabs for all of the key examples. Plus, Jesús includes all of the rhythm tracks for you to work with on your own. In addition, you’ll be able to loop or slow down any of the videos so that you can work with the lessons at your own pace.
Grab your guitar and let’s play our way through Latin America with Jesús Hernandez!
What you'll learn
- Execute the tapao (muted) strumming technique
- Play the basic cueca accompaniment pattern in 6/8 time
- Execute the characteristic 'dirty' or muted strumming sound of merengue
- Play authentic merengue rhythm patterns on guitar
- Play contra tempo rhythmic variations for second guitar parts
Release date: 02/21/2019 • 1h 48m runtime
Sample lessons
Peruvian Vals
Style 1
Cumbia
Style 4
Milonga
Style 7
Venezuelan Merengue
Introduction
What's included
36 lessons • 17 charts • 8 Jam Tracks
Latin American Guitar Guidebook
Hi, I'm Jesus Hernandez and welcome to the Latin American Guitar Guidebook. Latin America has a very rich musical culture with the guitar often at the centre of attention. The music can be defined by the intricate right hand rhythms combined with rich harmonies and beautiful melodies. The musical atmosphere often has a romantic character, like the milonga from Argentina.
In this course, we'll learn how to play the swinging rhythmic patterns of the merengue from Venezuela and the Dominican merengue. We'll dig into the cumbia, a courtship dance from Columbia, and the vals from Peru, also accompanied by a cajón. Mexico has given us the ranchera, frequently played by mariachi bands. Many of these styles are made for dancing, like the cueca, originating in Chile, Argentina and Bolivia. And of course, the samba and the bossa nova from Brazil.
Naturally, there are many many more musical style in South America, and we hope to bring you more in future courses. This course comes with backing tracks for each style, and tabs and notation for every performance. I hope you'll enjoy it!
In this course, we'll learn how to play the swinging rhythmic patterns of the merengue from Venezuela and the Dominican merengue. We'll dig into the cumbia, a courtship dance from Columbia, and the vals from Peru, also accompanied by a cajón. Mexico has given us the ranchera, frequently played by mariachi bands. Many of these styles are made for dancing, like the cueca, originating in Chile, Argentina and Bolivia. And of course, the samba and the bossa nova from Brazil.
Naturally, there are many many more musical style in South America, and we hope to bring you more in future courses. This course comes with backing tracks for each style, and tabs and notation for every performance. I hope you'll enjoy it!
Latin American Music
If we talk about the music in Latin America, we often use the term "Latin music". This term has become almost a genre in itself. We do this to kind of catch the many styles of music that come from Spanish and Portuguese-speaking areas of the world, and specifically Latin America. I think we frequently see that the music industry sometimes defines "Latin music" as any recording sung mostly in Spanish, regardless of its genre or country.
In this course, I'll show you some of the many music styles of Latin America. I should tell you that it is impossible to talk or even to play all Latin American styles in one course. Brazil, Mexico, Cuba, Venezuela, etc. all have a gold mine of music. Some of them are not even known to the world, only in a region of a country. There are more than one languages in Latin America, not only Spanish. There is Portuguese in Brazil, Guarani in Paraguay, and a few others. And there are many, many music styles: cumbia, bolero, ranchera, corrido, cueca, merengue, Peruvian waltz, Venezuelan waltz, bossa nova, etc. Here I will show you some short examples of different Latin American styles - but there are many more!
In this course, I'll show you some of the many music styles of Latin America. I should tell you that it is impossible to talk or even to play all Latin American styles in one course. Brazil, Mexico, Cuba, Venezuela, etc. all have a gold mine of music. Some of them are not even known to the world, only in a region of a country. There are more than one languages in Latin America, not only Spanish. There is Portuguese in Brazil, Guarani in Paraguay, and a few others. And there are many, many music styles: cumbia, bolero, ranchera, corrido, cueca, merengue, Peruvian waltz, Venezuelan waltz, bossa nova, etc. Here I will show you some short examples of different Latin American styles - but there are many more!
Peruvian Vals
Here is some basic information about the Peruvian waltz (or vals) and how to strum it. We'll also discuss tapao or muting.
Venezuelan Merengue
Here's a basic Venezuelan merengue picking pattern.
Dominican Merengue
Here are some basic chords and picking patterns of the Dominican merengue.
Cumbia
Here we look at the bassline of the cumbia and how to combine it with chords.
Ranchera
This is the basic strumming pattern of the ranchera with and without the guitarrón. We'll also look at some ornaments.
+ 29 more lessons
Reviews
7 results
JavierDuchamps
Verified buyer
03/16/25
Jesús Hernández does a splendid job in this course. I like his style of playing, and his teaching is easy to follow, although a bit too compressed to my taste. As for the styles of music, I miss some more of them from Argentina, Paraguay and Brasil, and some lessons focused on specific representative songs of each style.
klaswestholm
Verified buyer
03/01/25
Inspiring and challenging Latin Guitar
I just glanced at this. Looks very exciting. I love this music.
carl3469
Verified buyer
03/19/23
Good variety
Course has a variety of Latin styles from different countries. It does not get deep into any one culture if you know anything about Latin music is that it comes from many different countries of the world and are very different in culture and music.
patweiss
Verified buyer
05/13/20
Clear, covers it all
Nice course,good teacher. Makes one want to play more guitar
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