How to play a Salsa montuno (tumbao) on the piano - tutorial #1 

I’m so happy to find such an authentic tutorial of the salsa pattern. I hear it all the time in music but never really understood how it works. So thank you, now I can play the real thing on the piano!

Your explanations, examples, the way you use the technology, and your joyful presence make this is a great lesson. You are a gifted teacher.

I loved your teaching... I saw many others, but I stuck myself onto your pedagogy as you managed to put difficult concepts into simple logical demonstrations!

This is by far the best tutorial for keyboards ever. Period.

Thanks, Vanessa! You've helped yet another piano player make a break-through into Latin music!

Vanessa, great teaching and really clear explanations. You're a natural teacher.

Vanessa, you're awesome! I'm a retired Jazz and Salsa pianist. You do an outstanding job breaking it down. Le deseo mucho exito.

Outstanding - thanks! Great teaching style, perfect pace, helpful addition of the clave in the corner - just perfect. Cant wait to work on this and to learn more.

Thank you for explaining this rhythmic structure. The counterpoint between the comp and the 2-3 clave is so subtle yet so complex. You do a wonderful job showing that in the vid with the Clave insert - Thanks again

11 Years later you helped me a lot! Thank you mrs. Rodrigues

I watched this video 2 years ago a gave up my dream of learning salsa science after watching it. But in may 2017 I watched it again and got it, very nice video.

Thanks so much! Playing and dancing are very much related, it is so important to really feel the rhythm of this music inside your core, whether you are playing or dancing ... I'm glad you enjoyed it :)

Ok, so I've just discovered Vanessa Rodriguez and I'm already hooked. This is exactly the kind of straightforward, basic instruction any piano student can use to learn the correct way.Your'e awesome Vanessa!!

Thank you Vanessa ! I like your talent to teach us what you like. I'm pianist too (42 year's old), and enthousiastic visiting all your videos very soon. Big kisses from Brittany, France - Romy

You are wonderful! I love this video, your explanations are superb, you really have an understanding of these rhythms/chords. Thanks for this, I've learned a bunch!

Vanessa - You are a wonderful teacher! Your Joy of Music is so inspiring. You do not look like the MONSTER you are on the Hammond ! Thank-you.

Hi Vanessa - a wonderful NYC musician found your tutorial and sent it to me. I am recommending it to other musicians, too. We love the clarity of your explanations; plus, your time is amazing, girl!!

i agree with pablo - vanessa you have an infectious way about you - slightly like a learned professor and yet so much passion bubbling through too. very clear also - thanks

musically you sound like a native latina...you got the touch... keep it up we can use role models for our young people who want to follow the traditions of our people.

Im a salsa addict... This tutorial is just pushing me to play some montuno on my piano (obviously I need to learn first). You really seems to feel music on your soul, keep on it!

I am learning and applying some of them to my 5-string and 6-string bass guitars (not just playing 1 5 8 tumbao on the "and of 2 & 4"). So much fun ... Thanks for this!

This is the first salsa-based piano lesson that made sense to me - I think it is because you started with the explanation of the timing. Thank you!!

Thanks Vanessa, I'm a bass player that is starting to learn some piano and play a lot of Latin bass. Always wanted to learn montuno's on piano. Thanks for great instruction.

I'm just a guitar player here that's trying to improve my piano playing skills and you're an awesome teacher! I actually used this video in a guitar class that I was teaching last night to explain about Rhythm placement and how it's really important to be consistent to sound right in various genres. Thanks!

Thank you vanessa. That would help me to understand some concepts that I misunderstood. I'm not a piano player but I definitely would like learn how to play. It just that. Coming from Cuba I have been surrounded by a lot of musicians never ever heard such title. However. Tumbaos. Is very well known. When it come to piano players. Here in united States it's different. It's like same thing different names or techniques. To summarize thank you. A fan of your talent.

Thank you for your feedback, I'm glad you enjoyed it!

The drumming is good but it's a process like many things in life. I wanted to tell you that I love the organ trio video's. You guys are great! You are fun to watch! Looks like you're having a lot of fun! Best to you!

Hola y muchas gracias por sus comentários. Soy canadiense y vivo en Brasil, entonces mi español no es muy bueno ahora ... pero de verdad, mis videos son principalmente para explicar a gente de paises del norte (USA, Inglaterra etc) que no crecieron con la música latina ... pero estoy contenta de saber que gente latina también piensan que mis videos son útiles! abrazo

I love your simplicity, you explain very well. thanks for the video.

thanks for sharing Vanessa I am a long time pianist just getting into Latin so this is very helpful!

Freekin' cool, awesome video, sure takes years of agony away from trying to learn that from a jazz piano textbook. Thank you !!

I like the tutorial, and the vamp and solo at the end, nice right hand work and your timing and feel is impeccable.

Awosome Vannesa... thanks for this tutorial... Soy mexicano y me encanta la musica de tumbao!!

Thank you so much! I saw this about maybe 4 years ago. and enjoyed it then. Glad I found it again so I can learn how to put that "ritmo" tumbao in my fingers.

Thanks for posting this video. It helped me a lot. I've always wanted to try to play salsa rhythms on the piano!

This is such a great introduction to playing salsa piano! I've been playing piano all my life and always wanted to learn salsa but only just started trying to learn it now. This video was really easy to follow without being too slow like many other videos. Thank you!! :)

Absolutely fantastic video and what a great presentation!! Thanks so much!!

Your instructions are clear and helpful! te agradezco :)

excellent, vanessa I liked how you explained everything in detail, I think for that nesecitamos learn, your tutorials is a good alternative to start music lessons .. go ahead

Great help with the beat! Thanks Vanessa! xx

There is nothing more beautiful than a young lady playing a musical instrument and smiling at the same time, thanks a lot, you had made my day !!!

Thanks for your teaching, it is very clear. I try this on the guitar ! I love polyrythmic patterns, like in flamenco... Keep going on !

Holy smokes that part at 2:58 is really challenging for me to learn. I literally ripped your video to my PC & placed it on my video compositor and looped that part over and over like 20 times on my portable yamaha and I'm frying my brain trying to get the fingering coordinated.

Young lady you are awesome on that piano. You seem to know your stuff as far as salsa rhythm goes. You can be a great inspiration to the new upcoming salseros salsros. God bless you.

Vanessa you're awesome, I love your video, but I can't learn from it yet because I'm an infant with the piano. Respect!

WAOOOO!!! Vanessa, que buen tutorial, eres la mejor profesora de piano!!!

Awesome piano player Vanessa, I allways Love playing salsa with my Keyboard.

As a guitar player we've always wanted to know the 'secret of the clave', how to really listen to the technique and structure and then play rhythms along with it. Though I can get around the keyboard very little, but enough to form the chords, hearing and learning the progressions is a very valuable learning experience and inspires me to practice more. Thanks a lot Vanessa~!

Hello! The tumbao I'm playing at the end of the video is Fsus-F7; I realize it's fast in this example, but a hint: most tumbaos you use for Cm7-Cm6 will also work over F7, just change the bass note. Also, if you see my breakdown of the tumbao from Mi Tierra (search my other videos), that works for Cm-F7-Dm7b5-G7. Also, I will be publishing an e-book shortly with these tumbaos included, stay tuned :) cheers!

Very Clear. No confusion! (I like what you said about not getting yelled at by the Cuban guys! Nothing like a scowling Cubano!)

Vanessa Thank you for posting this...I play country/rockabilly piano....However all my life I have been hearing this cuban rhythm from movies to Ricky Ricardo- Lucy TV shows and have always wondered what it was....Thanks to RU-vid you have answered the basic compelling questions that have bugging me for 50 years.....

Olá! Obrigada por seu comentário! Estou virando brasileira - rs (sou do Canada mas moro no Rio) Este teclado é um Yamaha Clavinova.

That smile of yours made my day, eres muy agradable! Very instructional tutorial, muchas gracias bonita!

I really loved the Fsus to F7

Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it. Cheers!

Thanks so much! I love Salsa and I always wondered what that wonderful rhythm was called!

Excelent , many congratulations.......good pace and swing. I am impressed the way you touch, well beautiful

Very Good... You show it in a simple way for the beginers. Thanks so much...

God blessing you! Congratulations Vanessa !!

thank's for your explanation of Montuno's basic Rhytm... it really help me.. :)

Thanks for your feedback, I'm glad you found it helpful. Cheers :)

Vanessa, this is great! I finally found your channel.

hi Vanessa - hope all is well for you - well I stopped playing the montuno for a long time it seems and now i am going to try to learn it again.

Thanks so much! I've posted a few more videos since, talking about embellishing the montuno rhythm, playing in 3:2 clave, and also putting the right hand together with the bass line ... and I also explain a couple of well-known montunos from popular recordings ... enjoy :)

Si ya lo he buscado pero no lo he conseguido, quizas no he buscado en los sitios correctos. Lo que pasa es que tu forma de tocar me llamó porque tiene mucho corazón y eso le da un tumbao excepcional. Espero que coseches muchos éxitos en la musica. Saludos. Sinceramente Luis

that's a great vid :) i dance salsa and also dance&play other generes... that's the first time i try to play the montuno with my fingers rather than my feet ;) and u've been very helpful!

I love this lesson. I’ve returned to this video many times.

Yeah we're having a ball, those guys are great fun to play with! Best to you too! VR

This has helped me so much! Thank you Vanessa!

Wonderfully instructional, muchas gracias Vanessa

You're welcome and thanks for the comment. Have fun with Salsa piano! :)

Thanks! I'm guitar player, I'm just meeting with this kind of music now, nice video! I learnt from it ! :-)

Excellent, I'm happy to hear this! Thank you for your feedback

Hi Steve, thanks for your message! Very close ... it is indeed an arpeggio, but it's actually going up rather than down ... it might sound like it's descending because of the top C in the pinky, but the octave is doubled in the pinky and thumb, and the melody of the arpeggio goes up from the thumb playing the bottom C, up through Eb, G, then the top C (even though the Cs are always played by the thumb and pinky together) ... hope that helps! cheers

Thanks for the feedback, and for the suggestion ... I plan to do a video explaining this in more detail, but the main reason why the first one is a bit off and the second one is more right is that in every 2 bar phrase there's a 2-side bar and a 3-side bar (as in the 2 & 3 side of the clave), and the phrasing of the 3-side should be anticipated by 1 eighth note and not landing on beat 1. (I hope that makes sense)

Thank you! I'm glad you found it helpful.

Hi Vanessa - It took awhile but your instruction helped me learn enough to arrange and record a praise and worship song by Paul Baloche called Praise Adonai. It looks like I will get a chance to perform it next week - the piano, bass, drum set, percussion and horn parts are recorded (yeah Roland!) - I will sing and play a guitar lead over it - any way thanks again for your instruction - it was clear enough to help a novice of the piano get a satisfactory recording done. Craig

Thank you, very nice tutorial! Like your feel!

wao, you play the piano very good. congratulations! I play the trompet.

Thank you very much! this is very helpful.

You are amazing! Thank you for sharing your skills. I look forward to watching more of your videos and maybe getting a hold of a book if you have one :)

I have had quite a few requests for scores, exercises, and more videos ... so I am working on an e-book to include all of those things ... I'll keep everybody posted! Thanks so much! Vanessa

esta ¡¡¡¡¡ CHIDO !!!!!!! Felicidades

Gracias Vanesa. Tienes buena pedagogía eh visto varios vídeos pero pocos se le entiende.

Besides being adorable and cute Vanessa, your video is informative and helpful. Montuno is one of my favorite rhythms for piano. I play drums and I love to solo over this rhythm. Thanks.

Buenísimo el video! Aprendiendo "Sonero Mayor" de Willie Colón, y este tutorial me esta ayudando con el "montuneo" Gracias!

You're very welcome, thank you for your feedback

Me gusta, lo explicas muy bien. Voy a aprender contigo. Saludos desde Catalunya-España.

Excellent, tutorial sessions Vanessa Rodrigues my skill's are most definitely going to improve. Aim totally grateful and thankful as well. Most of all (El talento que tienes, proviene de un regalo de Dios en el cielo.)

Wow!!!!I'm really impressed..your video is really helpful and clear!!!I really like your style..brava!!))

Wow...excelente! Thank you immensely for this superb tutorial. I'm a salsa party promoter in Charlotte, NC, USA. Studying the evolution of Cuban Son and modern Salsa is my unabashed passion. My absolute favorite salsa piano work is Tirso Duarte's contributions to Charanga Habanera in the Michel Maza era of the late 90's. Duarte's mesmerizing creativity, Maza's brassy salsa god vocals, and David Calzado's airtight orchestrations...I've never heard the disparate elements of salsa come together so brilliantly. Are you familiar with this collaboration? If so, what do you think of it? Thanks again!

Thanks very much for sharing! and keeping it simple 👍

I totally remember you! Congrats again on running the marathon!! And I hope you find my tutorials helpful :) abraços do Rio!

Thank you!! Best wishes learning to play salsa, you'll have lots of fun with it I'm sure :)

Thank you Vanessa, that was very helpful. :)

Fabulous! Thanks so much Vanessa!

beautiful thank you i was looking exactly for this

Thanks so much, I'm glad you enjoyed it :)

Thanks so much for your comments, I'm glad you enjoy the videos and find them helpful. Cheers!

Thanks for your feedback ... yes it's true, this video is definitely aimed at more intermediate players; I will be publishing a salsa instructional e-book covering more basic material. cheers!