Pattern: Salsa Percussion, Poncho Sanchez
10/04/25
Audio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0j23EFFzFF8
Mambo
Congas: Supertumba, Tumba, Conga, Timestamp 6:09
Supertumba: E Tumba: G Conga: C
Holding the conga:
- tilted towards the tumba
- held in between feet and thighs
Left Hand Sounds:
- (S) Slap: Hit Edge with Fingers and don't lift off, RH mutes
- (O) Open Tone: Hit edge with palm of hand and lift off, RH no mute.
Right Hand Sounds:
- (T) Tip: With hand tilted after heel or resting on drum, hit with fingers
- (H) Heel: With hand tilted after tip or resting on drum, hit with heel
Mambo Pattern: Basic Three Point Shuffle
Intro:
- Add an 'open' pickup on the '1' of the intro bar. The rest of the slaps and opens will start on the '+'.
| Intro | Repeat |
LH: | O S | O O | S | O O | S | O O | S | O O |
RH: | T T | H T | H T T | H T | H T T | H T | H T T | H T |
| 1 e + a | 2 e + a | 3 e + a | 4 e + a | e a | e a | e a | e a |
With a 2-3 clave it sounds like:
| Intro | Repeat |
23: | * | * | * * | * | * | * | * * | * |
LH: | O S | O O | S | O O | S | O O | S | O O |
RH: | T T | H T | H T T | H T | H T T | H T | H T T | H T |
| e a | e a | e a | e a | e a | e a | e a | e a |
With a 3-2 clave it sounds like:
| Intro | Repeat |
32: | * * | * | * | * | * * | * | * | * |
LH: | O S | O O | S | O O | S | O O | S | O O |
RH: | T T | H T | H T T | H T | H T T | H T | H T T | H T |
| e a | e a | e a | e a | e a | e a | e a | e a |
Mambo Pattern: Three Point Shuffle w/ Tumba
Now lets add the tumbas to the 3 point shuffle, which now makes it a 2 bar phrase when you add the tumba 'dora'.
Note: Tumbas are always played on the 3 side of the clave, no mater if the clave is 2-3 or 3-2.
| Intro | Repeat |
23: | * | * | * * | * | * | * | * * | * |
LH: | O S | O O | S | O O | S | O O | S | O O |
TB: | | | O | O | | | O | O |
RH: | T T | H T | H T | T | H T T | H T | H T | T |
| e a | e a | e a | e a | e a | e a | e a | e a |
Bongos: Timestamp 10:57
Bongos: Tuned Higher than conga
Holding the bongos:
- Tilted in between legs
- Higher drum towards dominant hand
Left Hand Sounds:
- (T) Tips: Hit with tips of 4 fingers
- (S) Thumb Side: Hit with meaty part below thumb side of palm
Right Hand sounds:
- (H) Tips: hit high bongo with tips of 4 fingers
- (L) Tips: hit low bongo with tips of 4 fingers
- (A) Accent: With tips of 4 fingers, hit the edge of drum for accent, using during improvisation
Intro:
- Add a 'low' pickup on the '1' of the intro bar. The rest of the slaps and opens will start on the '+'. This overlaps with other pickups on other instruments such as the conga pickups.
Mambo Pattern: Martillo
| Intro | Repeat |
LH: | L H | H L | H H | H L | H H | H L | H H | H L |
RH: | S | T S | T S | T S | T S | T S | T S | T S |
| e a | e a | e a | e a | e a | e a | e a | e a |
The same with clave.
| Intro | Repeat |
23: | * | * | * * | * | * | * | * * | * |
LH: | L H | H L | H H | H L | H H | H L | H H | H L |
RH: | S | T S | T S | T S | T S | T S | T S | T S |
| e a | e a | e a | e a | e a | e a | e a | e a |
The same with Congos
| Intro | Repeat |
23: | * | * | * * | * | * | * | * * | * |
Bongos
LH: | L H | H L | H H | H L | H H | H L | H H | H L |
RH: | S | T S | T S | T S | T S | T S | T S | T S |
Congas
LH: | O S | O O | S | O O | S | O O | S | O O |
TB: | | | O | O | | | O | O |
RH: | T T | H T | H T | T | H T T | H T | H T | T |
| e a | e a | e a | e a | e a | e a | e a | e a |
Mambo Pattern: Repicando
The next step is Repicando, which is just improvising over the basic martillo rhythm.
TODO: get accents
| Intro | Bar 2 |
23: | * | * | * * | * | * | * | * * | * |
LH: | L H | H L | H H | H L | H H | H L | H H | H L |
RH: | S | T S | T S | T S | T S | T S | T S | T S |
Improvising w/ Accent:
| Bar 3 | Bar 4
LH: | L L | H L | H H | H L | H H | H L | H H | H L |
RH: | T S | T A | T S | A A S | T S | T S | T S | T S |
| Bar 5 | Bar 6
LH: | H H | H L | H H | H L | H H | H L | H H | H L |
RH: | T S | T A | T S | T S | T S | T S | T S | T S |
| Bar 7 | Bar 8
LH: | H H | H L | H H | H L | H H | H L | H H | H L |
RH: | T S | T S | T S | T S | T S | T S | T S | T S |
| e a | e a | e a | e a | e a | e a | e a | e a |
La Campana/Bongo Bell