Historically the Cuatro has been used to play folkloric and colloquial music from the northern regions of South America. It is also used in the Caribbean to play various kinds of traditional and festive music. Recently the Cuatro has taken a turn and is being discovered by many to apply to different kinds of genres and here is where we begin to experiment.
On this occasion, we’re going to play an easy song from U2 that consists of only 4 chords. These chords are D, A7, Bm, G as is depicted below the video.
U2 – With or Without You
Chords U2 – With Or Without You
The rhythm is a standard 4/4 based on 4 strums: Down, Up, Down, Up, where we get the second Down with a little bit more intensity to simulate the drums.
Rhythm / Strumming Pattern
Here we have a bit of a taste of what we can do with the Cuatro in it’s simplest form. There is a lot more that can be done, this is only the beginning. The accompaniment part, or the strumming of simple chords to play along with the songs, is only one element the Cuatro has to offer and we will take a look at the other features and possibilities the instrument has to offer.
After you learn and master the song chords and rhythm, feel free to follow the original video with your Cuatro:
D A7 Bm G D A7 Bm G
We’re glad you got to the last part of this introductory course, now it is time to practice how to play this song with your cuatro with these 4 chords.
