Cuban tres tablature ("tab")

E

El Conguero

Hi all,

Well, I got my new place and soon I'll be having my cuatro shipped here so I can get back to playing. I can't wait to get back into my lessons (I was on cuatristas.com learning how to play all those cool old-school Boricua genres like aguinaldos and seises), but I won't be able to bring all my instruments (probably just cuatro, guitar, bongos and some hand percussion stuff).

But I would still like to play salsa (or if you prefer, "salsa-like music" rhythmically speaking), and I was thinking: does anyone know of a site where I can get Cuban tres tablature (tab)? I know several montunos/tumbaos on the cuatro and they're easy to improvise on guitar, but I think it would be cool to see what the tres actually does/did. Since I don't know the Cuban styles near as well as the PR genres, I think this would give me a better idea of what can be done with the cuatro. The tres and cuatro seem to be very similar in sound and use, so I'd be interested to see what "tres lines" actually look like.

But if that's "way out in left field someplace" lol :) my "Plan B" would be this: do you know of any songs that would be a good example? I'm not talking about big-band salsa (since I won't have my keyboard, que lastima) but rather some of those old-school Cuban styles like son, son montuno, guaracha etc? From what I've read those used tres and guitar, so that might be closer to what I'll have to work with.

Thanks in advance ;)
 
IMO the coolest tres is in changüí. The Beyond Salsa piano series starts with some changüí tres patterns transcribed for piano since piano playing is derived from the tres. But as I recall you don't read music so I don't think that would be of any help. And check out the use of the bongo.

youtube.com/watch?v=N53o9rFn0EU

the sliding pattern on the bongo is called the bromido. I like it. Fisto uses it a lot.

youtube.com/watch?v=lboz0Tkz0gc

youtube.com/watch?v=3GNakIf79kY

Changüí tres has specific rules it follows. It opens the song by playing the main melody. The is plays the melody with the singers. Between each verse it pays a short "paso de calle" which you hear here. Then in the montuno is when it plays a tumbao. Unlike son which is tumbao the whole time. Also my understanding is that changüí tres players only use downward strokes on the strings, no upward strokes.

Traditional son
youtube.com/watch?v=n2Fr8Qd8aro
youtube.com/watch?v=4UYBzuntv3g
youtube.com/watch?v=Ti5jX3qRNpY

EDIT:
And Nengón, Kriribá and Regina are even older than changüí. You notice that in eastern Cuba (Oriente) there is a strong Haitian influence. Lots of orientales have french last names...Revé for example :)
youtube.com/watch?v=YaOzXgkwWxQ

youtube.com/watch?v=QgdglCgVjWA
 
Here are some more tres examples

http://salsablanca.com/ethno/
http://www.youtube.com/user/tresero2862?feature=mhee
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBOMca74maM
 
Wow, thank you! Que ejemplos tan excelentes! :D

It seems to me that son was more like what I was thinking about when I started this topic; plus, it looks like their set-up is more similar to what I have to work with. Theirs was tres, some kind of bass, bongos, and hand percussion, so if you swap the tres and bass for cuatro and guitar that's my situation exactly. So it sounds like I can still create that classic salsa "swing" even without my congas, timbales & keyboard (my keyboard was also my bass and horns lol). That means something to me because on top of missing home I've been missing my music. :)

But getting back to the tres, it seems that in son the tres plays tumbaos/montunos most of the time. Would you say that's usually the case? I definitely notice the similarity between the tres and piano, but as I've said before I really don't know as much about it as I thought. :) I knew salsa was rooted in son but I didn't think there were any bands still playing son.

BTW thanks also for the changui examples too.
 
to me this is a slightly modernized son montuno, replace the piano with a tres and have only one trumpet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k18fDY42Fnw

EDIT: I'm going to ask Ben Lapidus. If anyone knows where you can find what you're looking for it's him.
 
Thanks

timberamayor said:
to me this is a slightly modernized son montuno, replace the piano with a tres and have only one trumpet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k18fDY42Fnw

EDIT: I'm going to ask Ben Lapidus. If anyone knows where you can find what you're looking for it's him.
Click to expand...

Thanks Timbera. I have been away from SF goin' crazy w/moving and stuff but I'll definitely get in touch with this guy. I got your PM and I'm looking forward to seeing what he has to say. I already have diagrams of the tres and cuatro showing what note is where, so it will be easy to transfer tres tabs to cuatro.

But while on this topic, I think this link you showed me is exactly the idea of what I was thinking of - like u said replace the piano with the tres/cuatro and it would definitely still have that same feel, the same rhythms etc. That was the idea; that even without my full set-up I can still play my salsa. :)

PS: this song is hilarious! I love it - singing about cooking "el gran combo de la cocina, cocinando salsa para verte latina - arroz con habichuelas, viandas, lo que hay :D
 
Here is a little fragment of changüi. If you learn changüi, you will be miles ahead of most people when playing the tres.

changui-tres-web.jpg
 
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