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Hello
I am a beginner at piano.
I know a few chords, inversions and scales and I can play the guitar.
I am particularly interested to learn latin piano (salsa, bossa, latin jazz).
Do you think one can start straight into that style?
Which methods or techniques would you recommend?
Many thanks

I think that there are no rules. If that's your passion go for it and probably as you go you'll discover what else you need and the right supplements

2 great books I'm familiar with that can help you understand this style are:

--Montunos Y Tumbaos For Piano By Carlos Campos

--Salsa & Afro Cuban Montunos For Piano By Carlos Campos

good luck

I have just about all the Latin piano books. For salsa, I'd recommend highly Rebeca Mauleón books.

If you know your chords and scales, I think you could start to study Latin music. The challenge will be with octave reaches and the syncopation.


There is a member here named Cudo who is a fine Latin player. Hopefully he can chime in.

MAN!! THE FORUM IS FULL OF GREAT TOPICS TODAY!!!

I LOVE latin music, especially salsa, and have played it professionally for (how old am I?) like 8 (or something) years. So I think I can help.

Anyhow...

The above recommended books are all excellent.

My tip to you?

LEARN CLAVE!!! 2-3 AND 3-2

This is how you feel the beat in latin music, specifically salsa.

The books will probably tell you this, but learn the most basic piano montuno, and be able to tap the clave with your foot at the same time. This might take a little practice, but its so important to getting a handle on the rhythmic feel.

Listen to Eddie and Charlie Pamieri too.

Harmonically, just learn;

- classical I-IV-V7 progressions
- jazz ii-V-I's

If you can get a handle on the rhythm, yes you can jump straight into this style, no problem.

Did I mention clave?

Very good suggestions danshure! May add another: Learn some of the percussion parts. Even if you just tap them out. Learn the timbale part with the cascara in the RH and clave in the LH.

Learn the bass tumbao part. This is a bit tricky a first becuase the bass does not hit "one" very often.

Thanks all for the great suggestions.
So far i have looked at a few youtube videos.
I can speak spanish so i have access to latin teachers too.
I will try to get one of the books recommended although i much prefer videos.
Note my last name is Palmieri too, so i hope this can help :-)
First i need to learn one basic montuno/rhythm that can fit into most songs I would think. Is there a standard "shuffle" like that I can use over and over?
- danshure, can i listen to your pieces?

sure - do you mean a lesson of me explaining a basic piano part? i'd be happy to share, just let me know.

I was just thinking of a video with you playing, danshure.
But instruction video is fine too.
As I said, do you know any pattern that you can apply on most songs for example? I think that would be a great start to get the rhythm and the fingers flowing.

Sure, I will post a short instructional for basic patterns soon.


I did a little searching on youtube and was able to find something with me playing. This link starts the video where you can the keys the best, at 7:45

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-btlZtKJYQ#t=7m45s

But here's the whole thing.

I lost my voice today - must be all that teaching, so an instructional will come when I can talk!

But I did record this today;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu22OFOBti4

I won't embed it, I think I've hijacked the thread OT enough - but I will post a little tutorial soon, promise

thanks a lot danshure for the post.
Very nice performance and atmosphere at the festival.
And impressive impro. But I hope this is not the basis tutorial that you mentioned :-)
I hope you get well soon and can use your voice to show me/us the most common pattern that you can use over and over again to accompany salsa songs. That would be great. R Mauleon in her book mentions a standard pattern, paragraph 4.106.

I've got 101 Montuno's by Rebeca Mauleón and it's pretty awesome. She gives you a pretty good understanding of latin music and explains the importance of percussion and rhythm. Also just loads of really great montuons. Here's her page http://www.rebecamauleon.com/pub.html

i had a 6 months break, traveling with guitar only, no piano.
That means i am back with the Learn and Master Piano Method which suits me for the moment. But still looking for a decent latin video course, or some sort of structured course online. Thanks. Danshure, are you going to go through this tutorial?
Thanks all.

I've just released a method + video course (includes over 40 video examples of the montunos and exercises in the book) called:

The Gringo's E-Guide to Salsa Piano

It's a super easy, hands-on way to tackle the basics of montuno-playing without getting dragged into too much theory or history:

www.vanessarodrigues.com/salsa-ebook

Also, I agree with the other posters here, Rebeca Mauleón's books are excellent ... once you have a good handle on the basics, I highly recommend both of her books, The Salsa Guidebook and 101 Montunos.

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