Cuban tres

Guitarists often want to play the Cuban tres tumbao. Here is an exercise to help you understand the tumbao played by the tres player. G minor.

This was recorded in about 2004 at my house in Buena Vista with Leonel "Guajiro" Gonzalez schooling me on the Cuban tres. He is playing an old standard.

Leonel talks about playing timba on the tres. This is an advanced lesson, but take your time and practice.

In this lesson Leonel discusses the roots of the Cuban tres, Changüi, Nengon, and Kiriba with examples of course!

In this video Leonel talks about the mambo and how to play it on the Cuban tres. This is a somewhat advanced lesson, so make sure your fingers are ready!

Leonel discusses the origins of the Cuban tres, its tuning and shows a few patterns both traditional and modern son.

In this lesson Leonel "Guajiro" Gonzalez talks a little more about the history of the Cuban tres guitar. Its role and what music styles feature the Cuban tres.

Leonel talks about the guaira pattern and how to play it on the Cuban Tres. This very typical guajira pattern can be easily be changed to a major key.

In this lesson Leonel talks about picking and gives two exercises to develop independence between the right and left hands on the Cuban tres.

In this lesson Leonel shows how to adapt the cha-cha-chá to the Cuban tres. Although cha-cha-chá is not normally played on the Cuban tres, it has been done and can be adapted for either ensemble or solo playing.