The mbira, the 22-pronged thumb piano of Zimbabwe, seems an unlikely source for intriguing guitar music, but this instrument has inspired a unique and beautiful guitar tradition. The song "Shanje" (which means "jealousy") has long been a standard in the mbira repertoire.

The ideas presented in this lesson come from Joshua Dube, the current lead guitarist for Thomas Mapfumo and the Blacks Unlimited. Over a 20-year period, the Blacks Unlimited have adapted most of the core mbira repertoire to electric instruments.

The feel for most mbira music is 12/8. Shaker percussion (known as hosho) plays patterns that lay down a firm 4/4 downbeat and lighter answers on the two in-between beats. If you're playing with a drummer or using a drum machine, start with a four-on-the-floor bass drum and two closed hi-hat beats between each bass drum hit.

Ex. 1 shows the basic, two-bar pattern and the underlying chord progression for "Shanje." Most mbira guitarists play with a flatpick and rarely -- if ever -- strum chords. Knowing the song's harmony is helpful, however, when it comes to improvising. Though you can play the basic pattern in, say, the seventh position, I play it in the twelfth position because variations involve replacing sections of the basic pattern with improvised passages higher up the neck. If you're already in the twelfth position, there's less jumping involved, as Ex. 2 illustrates. In bars 2 and 4, note the F# over a Dm chord. This somewhat "out" major-minor sound is quite deliberate.

Ex. 3 is a more elaborate variation. Play each phrase strongly and insistently, but use dynamics to distinguish the high, lead-like melodies from the lower, accompaniment-like ones. For instance, in the second half of bar 4, really jump on the high G. When you get these parts rolling, you can play them interchangeably and make up your own variations, always returning to Ex. 1's basic pattern between excursions.

If you find someone in the growing ranks of American mbira players, see if they know "Shanje," and try to fit these lines into what they play. You should be able to hear the fit, but if you can't, it may be because they know a different version of the song. Such are the vagaries of African traditional music!