In today’s lesson I’m going to show a basic approach to playing the salsa beat on the drum set.
The first thing I want to talk about concerning playing salsa on drum set is interpretation. Most of what we do on drum-set really is about interpretation. You are presented with a song. You may have a drum chart handed to you. Then it’s up to you to figure out how to interpret the song and/or the drum chart. This is completely different than playing snare drum on a drumline. In that situation your job is to play exactly what’s written on the sheet music note for note. But on the drum-set you need to be able to quickly figure out what needs to be played to give the other players in the band a smooth ride.
With that in mind, lets look at a scenario where you might need to be able to play Salsa on the drum set. When you first are presented with a song, the bandleader or the drum chart may just tell you it’s a Latin tune. To determine if the piece is basically a salsa song, look at the bass line on your drum chart or check on the bass player’s part. See if the bass line is the basic Salsa pattern demonstrated in the above video. If you see that bass rhythm written either on your drum chart or on the bass player’s music, you know it’s probably a Salsa piece, regardless of what it says on the drum chart.
So now that we’ve determined that it is a Salsa piece what are we going to play? In this scenerio I’m assuming we are probably playing with jazz musicians. We’re playing in high school jazz band, college jazz band, maybe a military band or something like that. We are probably not actually playing in the Caribbean with Caribbean musicians. If we were playing with Caribbean musicians, the rhythms they played might be much more traditional and much more specific. So what we played with those musicians would probably also have to be much more specific. But what I’m going to show you here are things that will work for most situations. Things you can learn quickly so if you have to play some salsa next week with a jazz band, you will be ready.
A quick note here. I did another lesson on the Samba drum beat. The first few steps I’m going to show you for the Salsa drum beat are going to be the same. This works to your advantage because if you’ve already mastered the beats I presented in that lesson, what I’m going to show your here will be that much easier for you.
Salsa Beat On Drum Set In 5 Steps
Step 1: Play a basic right hand syncopated pattern. Play this on the high-hat or ride cymbal.
Step 2: Play quarter notes with your bass drum along with the basic right hand syncopated pattern.
Step 3: Break up the right hand pattern a bit, and add some notes on the snare drum with your left hand. Leave out the bass drum for now.
Step 4: Add the bass drum again on all 4 beats.
So through step 4, this is exactly the beat I described in my beginning Samba lesson. This same beat will actually work for Salsa. If you’re a beginner and you need something to use immediately, go ahead and use it. If you’re ready for something a bit more advanced the next step is for you.
Step 5. Replace the quarter notes on the bass drum with the basic salsa bass ostinato. This is more advanced so it will take more practice. But it will give you a much more authentic and cool Salsa feel. So it’s worth working on.
The other thing you can do after you’re comfortable with the beat is add the high hat with your foot on quarter notes. You can then try putting your high hat on all the off-beats. Both are demonstrated in the video.
After you can play the basic pattern practice improvising with it. Start by adding a few notes with the left hand. Add a few with the right. Eventually you should practice 1 measure of fill while maintaining the Salsa bass ostinato. Then eventually solos. The goal is to get very comfortable playing over the Salsa bass ostinato.
This gives you a good foundation for the salsa beat for drum set. Please feel free to email me at brad@bradallendrums.com with any questions you may have.
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