Salsa/Latin Jazz Bass

[potatoes]

Earlier this year I started listening to Dafnis Prieto - who is btw an unbelievably talented latin jazz drummer - and Hector Lavoe - who, along with Willie Colon, was one of the musicians who put Salsa (in its current form) on the map, as per my understanding. In recent weeks I have begun throwing chord charts together and am almost completely done with my first original salsa tune, complete with brass and percussion parts.

Being a bass player, I naturally wanted my part to stand out a bit and catch the listener's ear; however, my limited knowledge of this playing style led me to default to the seemingly standard method of playing perfect intervals along with the rhythm of the clave and emphasizing chord changes by approaching them via diatonic/chromatic steps.

Is anyone experienced in this style? Any pointers for someone new to the genre? Any books or specific pieces to read and learn from?

My other question concerns the brass parts I'm writing for salsa tunes in general. It seems I've been having trouble juggling the notation of bass, piano, trombone and trumpet parts to the point where the horn section plays almost exclusively chord tones, which will probably get bland quickly. Maybe I'll approach my next piece in a 4-part voice-leading context?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[mambo4]

copies form an earlier post of mine:
this keeps coming up! I played for 5 years in a salsa outfit, heres my best tips:

The bass tumbao in cuban music revolves around two specific beats in the measure:
namely, the upbeat "and" of 2 (called the bombo) and the downbeat of the four (the ponche)
Typically the bass anticipates the root of upcoming chord on the 4 (ponche), followed by the the fifth on the 2-and (bombo.)
This syncs up perfectly with the last 2 beats of the 3-side of the clave rhythm.
that's what is meant by a bass line being 'correct with the clave'.

-practice clapping the clave and singing the bass tumbao rhythm. great because you can do it anywhere, while walking your pace can be the metronome.

-Learn the conga tumbao. Even better: learn the rest of the rhythm section patterns. Piano montuno, the cascara on the Timbales, etc...they all interlock, and can guide you correctly when a simple Clave beat is absent.

-theLatin bass Book and True Cuban Bass as mentioned in other threads

-for the rest of the ensemble, Salsa Guidebook: For Piano and Ensemble by Rebeca Mauleon is an excellent overview.

-For suggested listening, Check out Cachao's "Master Sessions Vol I & II" or "Cuba Linda" for some tumbao mastery.

- I Eq'd my p-bass with a boost to the lowest mids (250-300 hz) and never worried about any high end.

[tinyd]

+1 on mambo4's advice. And as you're writing your own tunes/arrangements learning the percussion patterns is even more essential if you want your music to sound authentic. The way that all the patterns, both percussion and other instruments, interlock with the clave is everything and understanding this will give your tune a feel that will differentiate it from all the 'vaguely latin-sounding' mush that's out there.

[flypejose]

Mambo4 & Tinyd summed it all!
This lady also put it well on video:
The basics of Latin Music - YouTube

[b_ryceeeee]

Originally Posted by mambo4

copies form an earlier post of mine:
this keeps coming up! I played for 5 years in a salsa outfit, heres my best tips:

The bass tumbao in cuban music revolves around two specific beats in the measure:
namely, the upbeat "and" of 2 (called the bombo) and the downbeat of the four (the ponche)
Typically the bass anticipates the root of upcoming chord on the 4 (ponche), followed by the the fifth on the 2-and (bombo.)
This syncs up perfectly with the last 2 beats of the 3-side of the clave rhythm.
that's what is meant by a bass line being 'correct with the clave'.

-practice clapping the clave and singing the bass tumbao rhythm. great because you can do it anywhere, while walking your pace can be the metronome.

-Learn the conga tumbao. Even better: learn the rest of the rhythm section patterns. Piano montuno, the cascara on the Timbales, etc...they all interlock, and can guide you correctly when a simple Clave beat is absent.

-theLatin bass Book and True Cuban Bass as mentioned in other threads

-for the rest of the ensemble, Salsa Guidebook: For Piano and Ensemble by Rebeca Mauleon is an excellent overview.

-For suggested listening, Check out Cachao's "Master Sessions Vol I & II" or "Cuba Linda" for some tumbao mastery.

- I Eq'd my p-bass with a boost to the lowest mids (250-300 hz) and never worried about any high end.

Those Cachao master sessions are great man. I'm trying to get in to learning more about latin and brazillian styles because i just met a drummer this week that graduated from berklee and we were jammin and he was playing alot of those rhythms and i could feel it out and keep up but never took the time to actually learn those styles and after that jam i want to learn more about it. Do you guys think this book would be a good introduction to start with? BassBooks.com - Your Ultimate Online Resource of Educational Material for the Bass Guitar - LATIN BASS - ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO AFRO-CUBAN & BRAZILIAN STYLES

[bass12]

I don't know that particular book, but my instinct would be to go with Oscar Stagnaro's material. That man is an encyclopedia of knowledge when it comes to various Latin styles and he's not limited to Afro-Cuban and Brazilian.

[b_ryceeeee]

Originally Posted by bass12

I don't know that particular book, but my instinct would be to go with Oscar Stagnaro's material. That man is an encyclopedia of knowledge when it comes to various Latin styles and he's not limited to Afro-Cuban and Brazilian.

Just checked that Oscar book out on amazon. I'm probly going with that. lol