Chtimulato wrote:Listening and listening. And listening.
...
As mentioned in another post, recordings of Arsenio Rodríguez with Papa Kila, Cachao with Yeyito, Machito with José Mangual, Tito Puente with Johnny "Dandy" Rodríguez, Fania All Stars with Roberto Roena, and so many others. Everything is there. Clap the clave along, and/or try to play a "straight" martillo along, and you will see the light...
Chtimulato wrote:The "regular" martillo fits only with the 4/4 clave. Which doesn't mean there's no bongó on a 6/8 or 12/8 tune, but it's playing something else.
As I said in another answer, the matching of clave and martillo is a matter of habit. You've got to listen and listen to get used to it.
To answer your question, a clave player who wants to suddenly "jump in" has to know the martillo pattern (logical). And a bongó player (like every other musician, not only in latin music) has got to know "where he is" while playing. And if he plays variations when the clave player wants to "jump in", the clave player's got to know the played variations, or at least listen to the other instruments.
Try to play the clave while listening to these tunes :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sJyaGf3mQE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVt2by_EOT4
There are tons of others, but I had these two in mind by now.
As a beginning, just the clave along. Then, when you feel it, try the regular martillo. The variations will come later on, don't worry. Once you can play the regular martillo, you'll discover them.
If you can film yourself with a phone or a camera and post it here, we can tell you more. Which will never be as good as a "real life" teacher, but will be better than nothing.
Chtimulato wrote:Usually on the "one", which should be here the first note of the pattern (the dotted one). According to the way the clave pattern is written down here, you'll have to play the whole martillo pattern twice to match with the clave.
Never mind.
Here is something I wrote down during a masterclass some... 25 years ago.
It's the regular martillo pattern (in French), written down with the onomatopeia taught to the Cuban kids when they learn to play bongó, "pi-ca-pa-no-pi-ca-tum" (1 & 2 & 3 & 4) :
[img][img]http://pix.toile-libre.org/upload/thumb/1579124419.jpg[/img][/img]
Try to sing it along while playing, it can help a lot.
Chtimulato wrote:I forgot : the square is the right hand, and the dot the left one.
Chtimulato wrote:No, you're wrong, sorry. You've got to play TWO whole martillo patterns to "fill" the clave pattern.
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