Bass Musician Magazine - SPECIAL August 2013 Latin Issue | Page 46

Bass Musician Magazine [education]

BASS LINES
Locked with the
Drums Part II
by Jaime Vazquez
In this issue, we will continue studying and exploring the interaction
between the bass and the drums. (Click here to view part I). In
Latin music, the drums have become increasingly integrated, often
by imitating the rhythmic patterns of the Latin percussion. In these
styles of music there is something known as the clave; the clave is
a rhythmic pattern used to measure the way that we will be playing.
But don’t worry, for now we will concentrate on getting locked with
the drums.
Fig. 1 The Songo is played in cut time. Notice that the bass is
playing together with the ride or the bell on beat 1 (first bar). Also,
the bass is punchin