Guira..?

[b0ng0]

are theyre any fellow dominican Guira players out there?...

[MedinaNYC]

Whats up bongo...i play a little guira y tambora here and there...just gotta learn how to play the accordian and i can start my own percio ripiao band...you play?

[b0ng0]

medina,
nice to see im not the only one , i play guira, i was learning tambora, but i wasnt getting any merengue gigs, so im trading them for sum bongos...
merengue tipico & perico ripiao are the best, u play merengue & bachata?

[MedinaNYC]

yeah, well i should say i try, i got the basic merengue and tipico ritmos down, but nothing crazy,thought i love me some meregue tipico

[Miguel7]

Saludos a mis amigos de la Republica Domincana

Although I am not from the Dominican Republic I do play the guira and a little tambora (mostly merengue derecho and majao, still learning pambiche lol).

Living in NY and FL over the years, I've heard a lot about Puerto Rican vs. Dominican merengue, and that apparently there is a difference in how they play the guira. So does any1 here know what that difference is? I love bands like Unción Tropical and Giovanni Rios, but I don't hear much difference in how their guireros play.

Also can u tell me what is the accordion's role in the traditional style? (i.e. do u play the melody with it or play chords that accompany the vocals?) I ask because I got a keyboard with an amazing accordion sound and I've been wanting 2 experiment with the true Dominican merengue sound. I can play both modern and traditional style on the piano but since I've never played an accordion I have no clue lol.

Thanks

[b0ng0]

hey miguel7,bendiciones

uncion tropical- the guira player is puerto rican, hes the singer, felo... and for giovanni rios the guira player is dominicano... i honestly dont know if there is a difference btwn the whole PR/DR guira playing, all i know is that the dominicanos don't play around when it comes to guira playing...a friend of mine was teaching me guira, i used to play it by swinging my whole arm and i was informed that its the improper way and i was just tiring myself quicker, the trick to guira is all wrist movement, and resistance... also having a good cepillo/peine helps

[Miguel7]

Hey thanks 4 the info. about Unción Tropical & Giovanni Rios' bands. I kinda hear the same sound in both their guiras, so maybe the person who told me about there being a difference was comparing modern merengue / merengue de orquesta to merengue típico / perico ripiao.

But either way, your friend was right about the things that make a difference in playing. I used to swing my arm a bit too (lol) but in watching some of my favorite bands, their guireros really do use more wrist-action type moves. I guess that's how they can play and sing at the same time. I don't know how good my cepillo / peine is but it works.

Another interesting topic about the guira: do you let yours ring? I have a bigger guira and if I hold it right (or wrong lol) it "rings" so loud it's almost like a campana / cencerro! So I tend to muffle that ringing noise by putting my hand right on the guira instead of just grabbing the handle. How do u handle that (or do u have one of those nice little LP merengue guiras that are narrow and have less ring)?

[b0ng0]

miguel,

i have the big LP pro guira, and yes it does ring if you just grab the handle, for me it depends where im playing, if im playing at church i usually dont have a mic, so i just grab the handle so it'll be louder, if im at a gig nd i have a mic then i put my hand inside the handle and it has a cleaner sound.... i would really like to get an authentic DR made guira, i heard theyre lighter in weight, and they sound a lot better than the mass produced LP ones....