The güiro, the maracas and the clave play. Press Play and listen for one long scrape and two short ones.
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The güiro is a hollow dried gourd with notches cut into its side. A thin stick is drawn across the notches, which gives a dry scraping sound. In a salsa band the güiro is often played by one of the singers.
The basic güiro pattern is one long scrape and two short ones. The long one falls on a beat, the two short ones on the next beat and the “and” after it. On the dancer's count the long scrapes sound on 1, 3, 5 and 7, and the short ones on 2, 4, 6 and 8 and right after them.
Maracas are a pair of rattles filled with seeds or shot. In salsa they play the same pattern as the güiro, or even strokes on every eighth note. Their sound is softer and higher: the güiro scrapes, the maracas rustle.
The güiro and the maracas play no accents: they fill the gaps between the drum strokes with an even rustle. Listen for the highest, “sandy” layer of the sound. To hear what it adds, switch on the whole rhythm section and then switch the güiro off: the rhythm becomes drier and more angular.
▶ The whole rhythm section with the güiro
The long scrape of the güiro falls on the odd beats, the same ones the campana marks. It helps to keep an even step when the drums get busy: the güiro pattern hardly changes from the beginning of a song to the end.
This is how the parts of the rhythm section fall on the dancer's count: eight beats over two bars, steps on 1-2-3 and 5-6-7. Clave 2-3: two strokes in the first bar, three in the second; in 3-2 the pattern starts from the second bar, and both bells and the cáscara shift with it. The timbalero plays the mambo bell instead of the cáscara in the loud sections, together with the bongo bell.
| Count | 1 | & | 2 | & | 3 | & | 4 | & | 5 | & | 6 | & | 7 | & | 8 | & |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clave clave | ||||||||||||||||
| Bongo bell campana | ||||||||||||||||
| Mambo bell campana | ||||||||||||||||
| Congas tumbadoras | ||||||||||||||||
| Bongos martillo | ||||||||||||||||
| Güiro güiro | ||||||||||||||||
| Maracas maracas | ||||||||||||||||
| Cáscara cáscara | ||||||||||||||||
| Piano montuno | ||||||||||||||||
| Bass tumbao |
One long scrape and two short ones for every two beats. On the dancer's count the long ones fall on 1, 3, 5 and 7, the short ones on 2, 4, 6 and 8 and the “and” after them.
The güiro is a notched gourd scraped with a stick; its sound is dry and sharp. Maracas are rattles that are shaken; their sound is soft and rustling. In salsa their rhythm is the same or very similar.
The güiro has two: Long, short, short, and Long only, just the long scrapes on the odd beats. The maracas have three: Like güiro, Eighths, even eighth notes, and Quarters, a stroke on every beat.
On the home page the maracas are off, so that a beginner can make out the other parts more easily. Press the Maracas card to add them. On this page they are already on.