by Tumbas » Thu May 05, 2011 4:20 pm
I started a Latin Funk band with a friend back in 1980 called Azabache.
Mostly original music but we included some covers that we liked at the time and did a sweet version of Paul Ortiz's Tender Love.
I basically used traditional rhythms. What I found was that if I broke up the patterns or played just parts of them, placing emphasis on different beats within the pattern, I could use rumbas... guaguanco or iyesa and such to fall into the Funk grooves. I would also create hybrids of them - Guaguanco, Columbia, Yambu', with Iyesa, Bomba, Plena.
Take them and experiment. I'm sure you'll be able to find some sweet grooves to lay in there. The important thing is to look for the empty pockets in the grooves and put something in there. Lay back or lean forward. Be less busy but "Funk Hard".
For me it was easy to break up the patterns since I was playing all the percussion - Pailas, Pailitas, Tumbas and Bongo. So I would break up my groove playing part of a pattern for the conga in one measure, maybe wait a measure or half a measure and do a paila fill, back to conga and finish with a bongo fill... never etched in stone.
When I found a groove that worked with the song, I would lock it in. Doing it this way was actually less work for you and really lots of fun.
Hope this helps...
Anibal