Bemba Colorá in B

Bemba Colorá in B

José Claro Fumero's 1947 guaguancó was immortalized by Celia Cruz with La Sonora Matancera. The title — 'colored lips' — is a playful, irresistible taunt. The A section features rich upper-structure voicings (Fm9, F7#5, Bbm6, Ab13), while the B section pivots to a ii-V-I in Ab before a chromatic Db7-C7 cadence back to F minor.

Bemba Colorá in B

B major mixes barre and open elements. The B chord itself is a barre at fret 2, but E and A are comfortable open chords forming the IV and V. The open B string rings as the root, allowing creative drone-based arrangements. B is a intermediate-level key on guitar because the open B string rings as the root and the open E strings provide the 4th — useful for sus4 voicings and drone effects. This key mixes open and barre shapes, making it a good intermediate challenge that builds fretboard fluency.

Voice Leading

The bass line moves through B to B (ascending unison), B to E (ascending perfect fourth), E to D (descending whole step), D to C (descending whole step), C to B (descending half step), B to E (ascending perfect fourth), E to E (ascending unison), E to A (ascending perfect fourth), A to D (ascending perfect fourth), D to D (ascending unison), D to G# (ascending tritone), G# to G (descending half step), G to F# (descending half step), F# to G (ascending half step). A half-step bass movement creates a strong leading-tone pull that demands resolution. The predominantly stepwise bass motion creates smooth, connected voice leading. When the progression loops, the bass returns from G to B by major third.

Scales for Improvisation

B major pentatonic works because every note is either a chord tone or a safe passing tone — there are no avoid notes. For soloing, this means you can play freely without clashing. Over dominant seventh chords, B Mixolydian adds the flat seventh for an authentic blues-rock edge.