Cuban rhythms

[Ray]

I was at a recording session last night and one of the tracks was a latin thing. I'm a complete latin novice!

The drummer on the session suggested we play it in a cuban style! "Eh? How does that go then?" I thought!

He explained the rhythm to me - where you might play root/five (or root/passing note) on one and three respectively in a bossanova for example, you play on beat four of the previous bar and the upbeat between beats two and three.

It took a couple of minutes to get my head around it but when I did... what a groove!!

I'm definitly going to be checking out some more cuban music.

BTW, the drummer was Marc Cecil from Robin Jones Latin Jazz Sextet and King Salsa. Top bloke and amazing drummer.

[Bilbo]

They are great grooves and it takes a lot of time to nail them. Its not so hard to play a groove with the accent on 4, but when you start actually playing compositions with complex changes, adding fills, accents, changes of groove etc, you really have to get into that way of hearing stuff to be able to make the music work.

But, yes, its great stuff and really refereshing if its new to you.

[lowdown]

This is a great buy.

[url="http://www.musicroom.com/se/ID_No/030950/details.html"]http://www.musicroom.com/se/ID_No/030950/details.html[/url]

Cant beat the real thing - listen to as much as possible.
Me and my wife have had about half a dozen trips to Cuba.
And seeing and hearing it played in the real environment is a real thrill and education.

Ray, i am just over the creek from you - Canvey
Not quite Cuba.


Garry

[leftybassman392]

In my other job as a guitarist I had an American friend take me through some Latin stuff. He's a jazz player who specialises in South American music. It was a revelation! Looks so simple and sounds great when you do get it right, but takes more work than you'd think (as I'm sure Bilbo would confirm).

[Bilbo]

[quote name='leftybassman392' post='608456' date='Sep 25 2009, 10:32 AM']Looks so simple and sounds great when you do get it right, but takes more work than you'd think (as I'm sure Bilbo would confirm).[/quote]

Yes and no, Andy. If a player has dealt with the core competences of playing and isn't just playing by aping his or her idols, the transition is not too hard but it does require a change of mindset which can throw some people (I have struggled to get deps for some Latin gigs because of it).

I am playing on a couple tracks that are of this type on www.myspace.com/albinocubana - nearly but not quite (but the same is true of the whole band so I can't be held entirely responsible for its shortcomings)

[leftybassman392]

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='608465' date='Sep 25 2009, 10:51 AM']Yes and no, Andy. If a player has dealt with the core competences of playing and isn't just playing by aping his or her idols, the transition is not too hard but it does require a change of mindset which can throw some people (I have struggled to get deps for some Latin gigs because of it).[/quote]

Perhaps I should have made the point that this stuff was acoustic fingerstyle guitar playing - think Jobim. I do take your point though about mindset being a big factor in coming to terms with it. Your average punk/metal player will definitely struggle!

[YouMa]

I have recently got in to a lot of 70s south american stuff,bands like banda black rio and azymuth there is some awesome south american bass players,i have tried to play it but the timing is quite hard,i was wondering if there was a particular scale or mode that is common in latin music.

[leftybassman392]

[quote name='YouMa' post='608751' date='Sep 25 2009, 04:20 PM']I have recently got in to a lot of 70s south american stuff,bands like banda black rio and azymuth there is some awesome south american bass players,i have tried to play it but the timing is quite hard,i was wondering if there was a particular scale or mode that is common in latin music.[/quote]

Minor key stuff invariably uses the Harmonic minor.

[The Funk]

[quote name='leftybassman392' post='608749' date='Sep 25 2009, 04:16 PM']I do take your point though about mindset being a big factor in coming to terms with it. Your average punk/metal player will definitely struggle![/quote]

Your average player from other genres can struggle with it too - like me!

It takes a little getting used to. I haven't played it very much over the years so it's always an adjustment. The rhythm fits perfectly with the music though!

[XB26354]

I've played quite a bit of Latin (the rather gross umbrella term for Cuban, Afro Cuban, Salsa, Merengue, Guaguanco etc) music over the years.

A lot of Cuban, Latin and South American music is felt in cut time with a '2' pulse - so it is written with four quarter notes to the bar but the pulse (or metronome) clicks every half note.

The basic pulse of Latin music is the clave. It is a five-note rhythmic device that serves as the pulse (like a metronome on beats 1,2,3,4 in rock).
Read about it [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clave_(rhythm)"]here[/url]
The basic unit of bass in Cuban and Latin music is the tumbao, named literally after the low-pitched drum that plays this rhythm.
It is formed by playing a note tied over the and of beat 2 and on beat 4 (which can itself tie over beat one of the next bar).
Note the big shift from western music - [b]the bass part seldom lands on beat 1 or 3[/b]. This alone can stump new learners!
For practicing you'd be much better advised to use a drum machine or sequencing software to program a clave and practice tumbaos with that instead of a metronome on beats one and three. I've attached a very basic tumbao as an example.

Search out some classic latin music such Tito Puente, Eddie Palmieri, Tito Rodriguez, up to Los Van Van and Bobby Valentin.
It won't do you any harm at all to learn some basic percussion parts too - in fact it is almost impossible to play without understanding the layers of rhythm and how they interact.
I agree that Funkifying the Clave is a great book but it's not really for learning Latin music, more for how to put a modern, funk-derived spin on traditional rhythms and forms.

I found these two books really useful - wish I'd seen them when I started playing in a 15-piece Latin band (reading too, God!):

The True Cuban Bass by Carlos Del Puerto (Sher) - great for a history of Cuban styles and the background behind the development of the music. It's in English and Spanish too!
The Latin Bass Book by Oscar Stagnaro (Sher) - a great all round primer for playing latin and South American Music. Oscar's feel and time placement is awesome, and the 3 recorded CDs are superb. Includes more obscure Peruvian and Bolivian styles...

I'd also give a nod to Brazilian Music Workshop by Antonio Adolfo, and the Salsa guidebook by Rebeca Mauleon - not necessarily bass-oriented but well-worth a look.