Rhythm and instruments
Most of what separates the styles on this site is decided by two things: which repeating pattern the ensemble is built against, and which percussion instruments are in the room. This guide covers both.
Latin hits, non-stop
Most of what separates the styles on this site is decided by two things: which repeating pattern the ensemble is built against, and which percussion instruments are in the room. This guide covers both.
Clave is a two-bar pattern that acts as the timekeeping reference for Cuban-derived music. Son clave places three strokes in one bar and two in the other; rumba clave shifts the third stroke of the three-side later, which changes the whole feel of the piece.
A piece is described as three-two or two-three depending on which bar comes first. That direction is fixed for the arrangement, and an arranger who reverses it mid-piece has to write the change deliberately. Once you can hear clave, salsa arrangements stop sounding dense and start sounding aligned.
Dembow is the reggaeton pattern, and it works differently from clave. Rather than being a reference the ensemble plays against, it is the actual drum part, repeated bar after bar with small variations.
The pattern is one bar long, which is why reggaeton feels more circular than salsa. Where clave sets up a two-bar question and answer, dembow simply turns.
Tumbao describes two related things: the conga pattern in Cuban dance music and the bass figure that goes with it. The bass tumbao deliberately avoids landing on beat one, anticipating the chord change instead.
That anticipation is why a salsa bass line feels like it is pulling the band forward. It is also the hardest part of the grammar to fake, and its absence is usually the first sign that a record only sounds Caribbean on the surface.
Drums carry the cycle: congas and bongo in Cuban-derived styles, tambora in merengue and in the Dominican side of bachata, tambor alegre and llamador in cumbia, and timbales sitting across the top of a salsa arrangement.
Scrapers and shakers carry the continuous layer: the guira in merengue and bachata, the guache in cumbia, maracas across many of them. Bells mark the structure, with the campana usually signalling that the arrangement has moved into its montuno section.