How to play cuban rhythms

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Dominique
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How to play cuban rhythms

Post by Dominique »

Fernando Aramis is a cuban artist living in Brazil (if I remember well) and he is teaching music.

This video is teaching the basis of the cuban son for the guitar. What make me to post it here is because he show correctly the rhythm of that kind of music. Such rhythms with an emphasis on the second and forth beats are very common in latin america, in reggae, african music and other genres of music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3if5ME ... ME5gGo&t=5

That gui have other videos, but this one is the most important because he explain the basis in it. The picking rhythm can take time to play right at decent speed, but when you get used to it, it is really fun to play. You can play a lot of different chords on it, and you can change the chords after 4 beats, use 2 chords into a mesure, or a succession of 3 chords of 2 beats in the middle of 4 beats chords song. That last combination is a little bit harder to play, but the result is very fun because the chords change will turn from beat 4 to beat 2, and from beat 2 to beat 4 with the 3 chords succession, resulting into a typical cuban music effect, which you will be able to play only with one instrument like guitar or piano. From my experience, it will be easier if you begin to experiment with different rhythmic chords successions from the beginning.
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Michael Willis
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Re: How to play cuban rhythms

Post by Michael Willis »

Dominique wrote:Fernando Aramis is a cuban artist living in Brazil (if I remember well) and he is teaching music.
Thanks, I'll have to watch that when I get a chance. I'm recently very interested in Latin American music. I admittedly have been listening to very mainstream stuff, like Coco soundtrack and Santana, but I really want to learn more, particularly about influence from Flamenco style.
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loxstep
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Re: How to play cuban rhythms

Post by loxstep »

If anyone was interested in learning cuban rhythms for drumset, I would highly recommend this book:
https://www.amazon.com/Afro-Cuban-Rhyth ... 0897245741

It's considered a classic among drummers. It doesn't just teach you a few beats. It shows you an entire approach to rhythm.
Dominique
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Re: How to play cuban rhythms

Post by Dominique »

Another classic book is Salsa Guidebook for Piano & Ensemble by Rebeca Mauleón

https://www.shermusic.com/0961470194.php

but without the understanding of the basis of that kind of rhythm as given by Fernando Aramis in his video, or given by others, it will be difficult to put in practice.

Also, if you want to incorporate Flamenco influences, you have to learn a few basis. The Cuban music that have most influence from Flamenco is the Musica campesina, but the flamenco influence can be found in any kind of music where it is guitar playing. A standard like Hasta Siempre, even if it is a cuban son, have a chord progression which is typical from flamenco: A- G F (D-6) E
We can find that chord progression in many songs, as example in Les mots bleus from Christophe or in Hit the Road Jack. Beside that, Flamenco music is very technical to play, it's like classical music but with a few key differences which make flamenco much more precise and rhythmic than classical music.

Juan Serrano - Flamenco Guitar Basic Techniques will show you the basis: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/ju ... c/19900688
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Re: How to play cuban rhythms

Post by Dominique »

Also what give the rhythm in flamenco is the hand claps. The have relatively complex patterns. A simple one is on 18 or 21 beats, where some of them are accuented. Hand claps is the first thing a child will learn. We can find similar rhythms in the traditional music of the Balkans, which is not surprising when someone know that the gypsies was coming from India, and that during their travel to Spain, they was living a few centuries in the Balkans.
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