Kenny Dorham
Blue Bossa chords
Blue Bossa by Kenny Dorham is an intermediate song in Dm, played with no capo. The whole sheet is 7 chords (Dm7, Gm7, Em7b5, A7, Fm7, Bb7, Ebmaj7) across 2 sections: A (first half) → A (second half). 2 of the 7 shapes are open chords. Shapes that use a barre: Dm7, Gm7, Fm7, Bb7, Ebmaj7. It sits at roughly 150 BPM.
By Chiye · Updated
Hardest change in the sheet: Ebmaj7 → Em7b5, once.
- Difficulty
- Intermediatebarre shape Dm7
- Key
- Dmwith no capo
- Tempo
- 150BPM
- Tuning
- Standard (E A D G B E)low to high
- Chords
- 72 open, 5 with a barre
- Sections
- 2each with its own progression
Chords in Blue Bossa
Frets read low E to high E, x means leave that string out.
Chord sheet
One chord per bar in this practice sheet. Follow the time signature shown beside each section; dots mark the remaining counts in the bar. Tap a bar to hear its chord, or loop the section to practise the changes.
Chord accompaniment only. Follow the section notes for this arrangement’s timing. Songs whose words are public domain →
A (first half)4/4 · ♩=150
A (second half)4/4 · ♩=150
Printable one-page chord chart
How to play Blue Bossa
This arrangement is in D minor. Its first eight bars start on Dm7 and Gm7, then use Em7b5, A7 and Dm7 for a minor ii–V–i. A7 supplies C#, the leading note that helps return to D minor.
The second eight bars change to Fm7, Bb7 and Ebmaj7. That is ii–V–I in Eb major, a new key area a semitone above D. Eb major is not the relative major of D minor; that would be F major. The last Em7b5 and A7 lead back into the D-minor opening.
Learn the open Dm7 and Em7b5 grips first, then add the Gm7 barre. For the Eb-major passage, Fm7 and Bb7 have different root strings even though their shown barres both begin at fret 1. Ebmaj7 is at fret 6, so this set does not stay in one fixed fret position.
Start with one chord per bar, then add a quiet bass-and-chord accompaniment. Loop each half separately before joining the full sixteen bars. Keep the final A7 in time so the first Dm7 lands without a pause.
How to practise Blue Bossa
Four steps computed from this sheet: the order the shapes are easiest to learn in, the changes that really occur in the progressions above, where each chord turns up, and the tempo ladder up to the speed marked here.
Learn the shapes easiest first
A7 (x-0-2-0-2-0, beginner) → Dm7 (x-x-0-2-1-1, intermediate, needs a barre) → Gm7 (3-5-3-3-3-3, intermediate, needs a barre) → Fm7 (1-3-1-1-1-1, intermediate, needs a barre) → Bb7 (x-1-3-1-3-1, intermediate, needs a barre) → Ebmaj7 (x-6-8-7-8-6, intermediate, needs a barre) → Em7b5 (0-1-0-0-3-x, advanced)
2 of the 7 shapes are open chords, so start there and leave Dm7 until the others change cleanly.
Drill the changes this sheet actually uses
Em7b5 → A72×A7 → Dm71×Dm7 → Gm71×Ebmaj7 → Em7b51×
These counts come from the progressions on this page, so they are the changes you will actually play, not a generic list of pairs to practise.
Know where each chord turns up
- Dm7A (first half)
- Gm7A (first half)
- Em7b5every section
- A7every section
- Fm7A (second half)
- Bb7A (second half)
- Ebmaj7A (second half)
Climb the tempo ladder
Start at 90 BPM and move up only when a full pass is clean: 90 → 113 → 135 → 150 BPM. The tempo marked on this sheet is 150 BPM, and the last step is the one that always feels like a jump. Stay at 135 for longer than feels necessary.
Practise each section's chord changes slowly, then play the sheet through at a steady tempo without pausing between sections.
Playing Blue Bossa with a capo
This sheet needs no capo. Each card shows what you would finger at that capo position so the song still sounds exactly as written. Useful when the shapes above are awkward, or when you want to sing it higher without learning new chords.
No capoas written
Dm7 Gm7 Em7b5 A7 Fm7 Bb7 Ebmaj7
2 of 7 stay open
Fret 2
Cm7 Fm7 Dm7b5 G7 Ebm7 Ab7 C#maj7
1 of 7 stay open
Fret 5
Am7 Dm7 Bm7b5 E7 Cm7 F7 Bbmaj7
3 of 7 stay open
Fret 7
Gm7 Cm7 Am7b5 D7 Bbm7 Eb7 Abmaj7
2 of 7 stay open
Working out a different key? The capo calculatordoes the same arithmetic for any chord set.
More songs built on the same chords
If Blue Bossa clicks, these use the closest set of shapes, so the chords you just learned keep working.
More intermediate songs to learn after this one: Father and Son, 500 Miles, Shallow, The One That Got Away.
These chords across the songbookHow often each chord in Blue Bossa turns up across all 104 songs on this site, and what it most often moves to next. The counts come from the sheet library itself, not from theory.
29bars of this chord across the songbook
6songs use this shape
Most often followed by G7, 13×.
12bars of this chord across the songbook
3songs use this shape
Most often followed by A7, 1×.
2bars of this chord across the songbook
1songs use this shape
Most often followed by A7, 2×.
49bars of this chord across the songbook
15songs use this shape
Most often followed by Dm7, 10×.
5bars of this chord across the songbook
3songs use this shape
Most often followed by Bb7, 3×.
10bars of this chord across the songbook
3songs use this shape
Most often followed by A7, 3×.
10bars of this chord across the songbook
3songs use this shape
Most often followed by Bb7, 1×.