Playing Tumbao and Montunos Together, Fingerstyle Salsa Guitar Studies/Lessons

Here’s some different examples/studies and info and links about ideas to learn how to play salsa guitar – specifically how to play a tumbao (bass line) and montuno at the same time.  

Learning music is a work in progress for me, but I hope I can help you on your musical journey – all the best!  

The first study: The chords are A minor, D minor, E major and D minor. It’s played in 2-3 son clave.

The second study: 3 examples in E major. Chords are E major, A major, B major, A major. 2-3 son clave.

The third study: D minor vamp – This is a great springboard for holding a tumbao and creating your own melodies and improvs, etc. 2-3 son clave. Drop ‘D’ tuning (Low E tuned to D)

The fourth study: 6 slight, progressive variations on tumbao and montuno in E minor. Chords are E minor, A minor, B major, A minor.

It’s very similar to the E major study above, because it’s in minor, some of the fingering are different – and there’s some more challenging variations at the end!

The fifth study: much more challenging – in D minor. Chords are D minor, A7, A7, D minor. 2-3 son clave. Drop ‘D’ tuning (Low E tuned to D).

Once you have some of these grooves down, you could use a capo and play them in other keys, too!

If you have any questions, comments, ideas, and/or suggestions, please send me a message, leave a comment here or at my YouTube channel (GuitarKitchen)

Ideas for Learning to Play a Tumbao and Montuno on Guitar

Understanding Clave, Tumbao and a Montuno as a “Groove Grid”

Some great ways to understand how montunos relate to the tumbao – and just how “salsa” music works in general:

• Hear how the montuno, clave, tumbao, etc work together
• Play each of different parts (by itself) to feel how each part works – and to hone getting each part to groove and sound good.
• Sing each part!
• See each part – that’s what they diagrams are for.
• Play 1 part, and sing another part
• This is harder – play one part, sing a part, and tap a part
• Dance and clap and/or sing the clave, tumbao, melody, montuno, etc

Here’s some diagrams showing how a sample montuno relates to the clave and tumbao (in a grid fashion).

Obviously, you should still check out recordings and all that good stuff, but this is a good perspective, imho!

Montuno and 2-3 Son Clave

Here’s a diagram of the montuno rhythm in green showing the clave in red with the chord changes (A minor, D minor, E major, D minor).

Tumbao and 2-3 Son Clave

Here’s a diagram that shows the clave in the red tao sign and tumbao in orange.

Basically part of the tumbao on the 2+ will play a D, on the first 4, it will anticipate the E major chord by playing an E and the second 4 it will anticipate the A minor chord by playing an A.

Please check out the scores below to see what I am talking about!

Here’s all three parts together, the montuno in green, the clave in red and the tumbao in see-through orange!

Tumbao and Montuno Demo for A minor, D minor, E major and D minor

Here’s a pretty rough demo of playing a salsa tumbao (bass line) and a montuno at the same time (on guitar).  It’s pretty fun play once you get the hang of it.  

I will be writing a lesson about this soon (2020 edit: I wrote it! Please keep reading!).  

Please check out the other salsa guitar lesson, too! I talks about clave and tumbao, too!

Tresillo Pattern

While you won’t be playing the tresillo pattern with these examples, I think it’s good to keep in mind when tumbao (IMHO). It’s basically tumbao with the ‘1‘ added to each measure.

Practice Studies/Examples of Tumbao & Montuno for Salsa Guitar

Tumbao & Montunos – Study in A minor

For more info on salsa guitar, please check out the How to Play Salsa Guitar lesson as well. Best wishes!

Sheet Music (PDF, Image, MIDI, Noteflight)- Tumbao & Montuno on Guitar – A minor/Dminor/E7/Dminor – 2/3 Son Clave

Check out the written version here on Noteflight. You can also play along here with the midi file.

Tumbao and Montuno Study (3 Examples for Salsa Guitar in E major, 2-3 Son Clave)

Here’s another lesson I added to teach more about tumbao and montunos together on guitar.  The principles talked about above still work here.  The chords are different: E major, A major, B major, A major.

Minor vamp study- Tumbao and Montuno in D minor – Drop ‘D’ tuning, 2/3 Son Clave

Estudio de Montuno and Tumbao in E minor – 6 Variations (2-3 Clave)

Challenging Montuno/Tumbao Study! (Drop D tuning, 2-3 Son Clave, Dmin/A7/A7/Dmin)

1. Practice this one really slowly and isolate the two parts.
2. Then (I would) play the tumbao and slowly add in parts of the montuno.
3. Practice the montuno on its own with the fingerings!
   • I added fingerings b/c to play both parts you would need to follow the fingerings.

Slow Backing Beats Practice Tracks with Son Clave (Congas, Clave, Bongo, Timbales)

Here some practice tracks that are pretty slow, so you can practice the tumbao and the montunos each on its own and together!

All the best and reminder (to you and myself), just be patient, focus on the groove and the cumulative practice will help you see some decent progress!

(Daily) Practice Makes Progress!

I try to practice a few things every day!

I find some fun practice routines that I can do in 5 minutes.

That way I know I’ll almost always have time to practice. All those little practice session do add up, if you’re willing to be patient. Here’s one way you could practice these montuno & tumbao for a 5 minute practice session:

A Suggested 5-10 minute Practice Session for Learning Tumbao and Montunos on Guitar

I need to find the other article about practicing every 6 hours for 20 minutes, but check out this article at JazzAdvice – it basically says – try to practice just a few minutes a day.

Discipline For Musicians at JazzAdvice

All the best and enjoy your musical journeys!

All the best to everyone and safe and beautiful travels on your musical journeys and adventures!

• How to Play Salsa Guitar!
• Tumbao & Montuno – D minor/A7 (for Guitar)
• Chill Latin Guitar Video
• La guitarra y la salsa
• Flamenco
• 30 Lessons in Jazz Guitar (Groove, Fundamentals, Soloing, Songs)
• Beginner’s Course
• Learn to Read Music on Guitar

Special Thanks

pdf2jpg.net for converting the Tumbao and Montuno sheet music to an image. And for planting trees! It’s something that can make a difference!