Salsa Tabs

SalsaBass · #1 10-25-2002, 05:27 AM

Hola, Anybody interested in exchanging some salsa/latin jazz bass lines!!! or tips!

Bruce Lindfield · #2 10-25-2002, 06:28 AM

Well I play in a band that does Salsa gigs, but the first thing I would say is that with this type of bassline, what is undoubtedly most important is the ryhthmic placement of the notes, fitting in with the percussion and Tab is not going to help you with this, as it doesn't give the required information.

For repertoire, I would recommend "The Latin Real Book" which has loads of Salsa tunes and notates the basslines in quite few cases. For example, I really like "Indestructible", which I took from this book for our band to play.

For tips on playing bass in ths style, I would recommend Oscar Stagnaro's "Latin Bass Book".

wulf · #3 10-25-2002, 06:47 AM

The nearest I come to doing any Latin style music is one song with one band which has a sort of bossa nova feel... and anyone who knows about the music is going to see through my lines on that very quickly....

There are some good websites that give some insight into this style of playing, using little snippets of notation - I can't remember them, but a bit of searching through the archives would probably dig them up.

However, I'm sure there is a way in which a salsa bassline could be communicated via the medium of ASCII text. What would be the basic rhythmic figure of a beginning bassline from Salsa 101?

Wulf

Bruce Lindfield · #4 10-25-2002, 07:07 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by wulf
The nearest I come to doing any Latin style music is one song with one band which has a sort of bossa nova feel...

Bossa nova is very different from Salsa - especially in the bassline. So the vast majority of "Salsa" (a very loose term) uses the "Tumbao" for bass - locking in with the piano "Montuno".

This is still basically root-fifth - so there is little to be gained from Tabbing out the actual notes; but it is where they sit in the bar and how they interact with the conga patterns.

So the one is avoided except on the very first bar of the song (or any stops) and the bass line is usually on the "2 -and" and the 4 - but the 4 is tied across the bar line to the 1 .

Bruce Lindfield · #5 10-29-2002, 12:05 PM

No response on this - things get lost in here, but I was still wondering whether anybody thought Salsa Tabs were useful?

wulf · #6 10-30-2002, 02:28 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Bruce Lindfield
No response on this - things get lost in here, but I was still wondering whether anybody thought Salsa Tabs were useful?

Assuming that you've also had some instruction about the rhythmic feel, they could be useful, if done by someone who's thought carefully about the fingering of the different notes.

My personal view of tab is that it can accomplish two things:

Provide a way to communicate some elements of music via the medium of ASCII text
indicate suggested fingering for particular passages (like you might pick up by being able to watch someone else play the song)

On the other hand, a fully tabbed Salsa song would probably be a waste of time - a chord chart, short explanation of the rhythmic feel and maybe a couple of example tabbed measures would be enough to communicate to anyone likely to be able to play it.

Wulf

deepbob · #7 10-30-2002, 08:00 AM

as a rtyhmical player coming from a percussion background i gotta say seeing some salsa tabs would be great.

salsa is mostly difficult syncapated rythm tis true, but for theory fools like myself, having the suggested scales/chord progressions in tab format would be the one thing i'd need to construct salsa lines from my ear right now.

but i recognize, i'm in a unique situation, as most bass players beginning on salsa would not have a percussion foundation to work from.

but just to play devil's advocate =)

please don't fear the tab anymore than you would any other form of shorthand. it's useful to those who need tonal suggestions/guidlines, not rythmical ones. which funny enough, is exactly what all tabs are for anyway =)

but i understand and agree with the advice here that the trick to salsa is investing a lot of time in rythm, not the harmonic/melodic concerns.

would still love to see a couple salsa tabs here in this thread =)

wulf · #8 10-30-2002, 08:13 AM

Hey, deepbob - as a rhythmical player from a percussion background, perhaps you could enlighten me as to whether there is any form of 'tab' for percussion instruments. I'm sure I've seen something along those lines, but it sounds like you might be a man who would know.

Wulf

ps. SalsaBass - I seem to have helped hijack your thread a bit, despite not really knowing very much about salsa bass lines. However, if you'd be willing to throw a few in, I'd be happy to see them.