I hope to be auditioning with a working Salsa/Merengue band next week. Any tips for this style of music?

Originally posted by jive1
I hope to be auditioning with a working Salsa/Merengue next week. Any tips for this style of music?

Well these are two very differnet and distinct styles. Salsa is characterised by the Tumbao in the basslines - so the chord change is anticipated on the 4th beat of the preceding bar and the 1st beat of the bar is avoided.

In fact virtually nobody in the band is playing on the 1 - so you need to be very aware of rhythmic accuracy and knowing where you are placing beats in the bar. So a normal salsa bassline will have notes on the 2-and tied to 3 and the 4 tied across the barline.

Merengue is a squarer rhythm with very fast short notes in the bass - a two feel, but very staccato. It depends on complex conga rhythms but is much more straightforward for bass.

My tip - is to lock in with the piano player - who will be playing rhythmic Montunos - and try to ignore the percussion!! ;)

haha ignoring the percussion is the big thing for me. I did a gig a few weeks ago with a percussion group and they wanted me to play some kind of cowbell on some african tunes. And I thought it was hard ignoring everything else when I played bass... yuck.

Bruce, are you sure he's not just talking about a new cooking job he has? :eek:




I couldn't resist.;)

Originally posted by eljuapo
Bruce, are you sure he's not just talking about a new cooking job he has? :eek:




I couldn't resist.;)

I don't have the job yet, that's why I'm audtioning. Thanks Chef Bruce, I won't let the percussion get in the way of my cooking.