Written by the editor of the world's largest Cuban music website, www.timba.com, and the author of the popular "Tomás Cruz Conga Method", "Beyond Salsa Piano" is a series of method books and historical/discographical guides chronicling the role of the piano in Cuban music. After the 5 introductory volumes, Volume 7 is the second of a series of books on specific Cuban pianists, using note-for-note transcriptions from MIDI files. Iván "Melón" Lewis is one of the greatest timba pianists, having recorded and played with The Issac Delgado Group and Manolín, el Médico de la Salsa.

This book presents an encyclopedic selection of all the basic rhythm parts used on timbales and drums in Latin music (salsa, timba, Afro-Cuban folkloric rhythms, rumba, danzón, chachachá et al). The central premise is for the student to master each rhythm by singing and tapping before attempting to play it on an instrument, so as to avoid bad habits of technique during the critical period when the rhythm is being memorized and internalized.To accommodate as many learning styles as possible, each rhythm is presented in eight ways: two types of standard notation, two types of graphic or "box" notation, full speed audio, slow motion audio, and two speeds using a special "task-by-task" learning method where the rhythm is learned one stroke at a time against a steady rhythmic accompaniment.Each rhythm is first presented as a single part in its historical context and then in the combinations of two and three parts at once that a percussionist would be expected to play in various group situations.One group of audio files (107 tracks) is available as a free online download, with the link provided in the book. The remainder (the more advanced files) are available as a separate downloadable product.The book will also be useful for those who can already play drums and timbales but need to quickly learn the necessary rhythms for salsa and timba, but for true beginners, our strategy is to learn to sing and tap all of the basic rhythms before taking your first lesson and there's a very important reason for doing it this way: As with golf or tennis lessons, learning to play a musical instrument is about physical movements, dexterity, timing, coordination and body language - the types of things that are easier to demonstrate than to explain and are easier to master when your brain stays calmly out of the way as your body goes through the learning process. If your brain is struggling to learn what to play, it interferes with your body's natural ability to learn how to play. To put it another way, if you're concentrating on mastering the pattern of a new rhythm, you won't be able to give 100% of your effort to tone production, posture, hand position, and feeling the groove, and you're likely to develop "bad habits" that are hard to unlearn later. But if you've already learned to sing, clap and tap the rhythms before you take your first lesson on drums or timbales, you'll be much more likely to succeed, and - just as important - you'll be much more likely to enjoy the process.

(this page sells the book only - audio files are a separate downloadable purchase - the book also contains a link to a smaller free download of audio files)Beyond Salsa Bass is the companion series to Beyond Salsa Piano, launched in 2009 and now spanning 12 volumes. As of 2013, three bass volumes have been released: Volumes 6 and 7 on Alain Pérez, and this book, Volume 1: For Beginners. Included are bass tumbaos for each of the piano tumbaos (aka, montunos) in Beyond Salsa Piano, Vol. 1, but the bass volume is more than twice as long and contains many additional bass tumbaos and other exercises. The book begins by categorizing the 16 most common Latin bass tumbaos by their rhythms and then proceeds to tell the history of Latin music from a bassist's perspective, with notation for bass tumbaos from each era covered: changüí, rumba, son, danzón, big band and son montuno (a very detailed study of Arsenio Rodríguez). Audio files are not included with the book. Available online are both a smaller free audio download and an extensive paid audio download.

Doubling as a history and music appreciation course, each volume of the Beyond Salsa Bass series is significantly longer than the corresponding volume of Beyond Salsa Piano. At 440 pages, Beyond Salsa Bass Vol. 3 is by far the longest of the 26 Beyond Salsa books and the first to extensively cover New York and Puerto Rican salsa and pre-salsa as well as Latin jazz. Its audio product (separate purchase) has 616 tracks (a generous selection of 60 free audio tracks is also available by download). The book includes a bass tumbao for every piano tumbao in each of Volumes 3 and 4 of the Beyond Salsa Piano series, but it also includes hundreds of bass tumbaos from and historical analyses of areas of Latin music not covered in the piano series: Puerto Rico, New York, Latin Jazz, the Cuban descargas and additional aspects of the Cuban music of 1959-1989, i.e., from the Cuban Revolution to the Fall of the Berlin Wall. In addition to exercises in music notation, the bass series delves far more deeply into history and the biographies and discographies of individual artists than either the piano or percussion series. The bass series could be thought of as a thorough general history of Latin popular music, told from the perspective of the bass student.

The only comprehensive book ever published on how to play bass in authentic Afro-Cuban, Brazilian, Caribbean and various South American styles. Over 250 pages of exact transcriptions of every note Oscar plays on the 3 accompanying CDs. Endorsed by Down Beat magazine, Latin Beat magazine, Benny Rietveld, etc.

The only complete method book on Salsa ever published. Numerous musical examples of how different Afro-Cuban styles are created, what each instrument does, text explaining the history and structure of the music, etc. "This will be the Salsa Bible for years to come." Sonny Bravo, Tito-Puente's pianist.

Play Congas Now is a step-by-step method that teaches all the fundamentals of conga playing. You will learn hand positions and techniques, basic reading skills, different styles of rhythms and patterns, tuning and maintenance, drum set and school jazz band applications, and a brief history of the conga drums. The accompanying CD includes all exercises and has play-along tracks to practice with. The styles covered in the book are Afro-Cuban, Puerto Rican, Dominican, pop, rock, funk, and R & B rhythms. Play Congas Now is a must for the beginner who wants to get started on congas or an intermediate player who wants an excellent practice tool to refine his or her skills. Book jacket.