Rhythmic Alterations Gear changes – Music

A rhythmic change does not always mean a whole new gear: sometimes (part of) the rhythm section plays a short figure, an efecto, in the middle of a gear. In a real gear change the percussionists and the bassist switch patterns together.

🥁 Efectos

A rhythmic change does not always have to be a whole new gear. Kevin Moore calls an efecto a rhythmic figure that (part of) the rhythm section plays in the middle of an ongoing gear, or to connect two gears. Other names: bloque, break, punches, cierre.

• Fixed or live: some efectos belong to one song, others to a band's style, and some are called live.
• Songo con efectos: a gear in which the songo groove keeps being interrupted by such figures.

🔀 From gear to gear

In a real gear change the percussionists and the bassist switch patterns together. Typical steps are:

• from marcha abajo to marcha arriba (the bells come in);
• from marcha arriba to a bomba or masacote (the groove gets heavier and barer);
• from a gear for couple dancing to a gear where dancers go solo, and back again.

💃 For dancers

Listen to the bass and the percussion: when they switch patterns together, what happens on the dance floor changes too.

📝 Sources

• Kevin Moore – Beyond Salsa for Ensemble, Vol. 1 (sample, timba.com)