Taking cues from drums or percussions?

[Duce-hands]

So the rhythm section has grown by one to add a percussionist, and that has thrown me off a bit. I generally lock in the with kick of of the drummer and go from there. But with the addition of the percussionist, the sound has changed sonically. Question is how do I incorporate the percussionist whilst, maintaining the integrity of the groove with the drummer, or should I just say screw the percussionist and keep rocking with my drummer, or the heck with both of them and let them lock in with me, I'm the only one in the rhythm section that has to play notes, lol jk.

 

[mambo4]

It shouldn't matter who you try to lock with if everyone is in time.

Having spent some time playing Latin music, I'll say this:
You should shoot for thorough understanding of what both the drummer and percussionist are doing.
Have the drummer and the percussionist teach you the basic parts.
Learn how their beats fall against the count.

It wasn't until I learned the rhythms of the conga , clave, and piano
that I really started to feel how the bass tumbao fit in to Cuban music.

 

[bongomania]

^^^ True!

Particularly start with son clave, which is essentially a two-part 4/4 figure in which one half is played "straight" and the other half is played in 3 against the 4 (without changing tempo). The point is to create tension and release in the rhythm.

Even if your percussionist doesn't happen to be playing in that rhythm or even that cultural motif, it's a great start on finding your place with polyrhythms.

 

[Rev J]

Having played in this type of rhythm section (although in more of a Jazz/Fusion/Jamband Context) I say it is more interesting to bounce between the two for different parts of the tunes/jams. More often than that though the 2 players are locking in together to create one big rhythm that has alot of interconnecting parts so it almost doesn't matter. Or you can bounce between all three approaches. Locking into both parts at the same time can be fun too.

I've programmed grooves with the drums in 3/4 with 2 different polyrhytms (rim on the one, two, and three, kick on the one and the and of 2, and sixteenth notes in groups of 3 on the high hat) while the congas played in 4/4. Every 12 beats they came back to the same down beat. For the A section of the song I locked in with the congas and for the B section I locked in with the drum kit. It came out pretty cool.

Stay Brown,
Rev J

 

[Winfred]

Keep locking in with that kick. You'll get used to what the percussionist is doing (they're style) in time. Then you can play off of that a little.

But remember, the percussionist needs someone to lock in with too, and that's gonna be you and the drummer.

If you start changing things with your drummer, while the percussionist is trying to play with both of you, you'll all end up "ping-ponging" around.