Hi Everybody!

Here are videos and chord diagrams for one approach you might take to playing 'Ainda me recordo' on cavaquinho. The accompaniment to this tune on the play-along videos we've provided was done by Fabio Peron on bandolim, and he does a great job, but it's easy to see how a relative novice on cavaquinho would find it hard to emulate! 🤣 

This is a long and somewhat complex tune, but hopefully this material will make it seem it more accessible for you. Rather than just reading through the chords one after another, here are two suggestions:

1. See the chord diagrams as representing "voicings" (that is, ways of playing) specific chord types: major, minor, 7th, diminished, etc. You'll find that in this arrangement, there are only one or two ways of playing each chord type. 
2. If you have any theory background, put it to work making sense of the chord progression. Long strings of random chords are hard to remember! (Maybe this would make a good "special topic" at camp this year, huh?)

Here's the written material I've prepared. Please note that it does not cover the entire progression or exact structure of the tune, so don't try to use this instead of the chart we've provided to everyone. It's just a guide to the videos:

Speaking of videos... here are the three videos I've prepared for "Ainda", all of which are on the "Easy Cavaquinho" playlist on the Choro Camp New England youtube channel. (And yes, I know these aren't really "easy"! Just easiER!) The first video provides an intro to what you'll see in the other two. 

Explanation of levadas --

A section video --

B section video --

I hope you find this helpful!!

~Andrew