LATINO

What are some common elements of Latin music?

Like the Al DiMeola type style of playing, is there maybe a site that outlines what chords/scales are commonly used? thanks.

Unfortunately the word “Latin” is an overused term in modern music, just like the word “Hispanic” is used to describe a group of people who can be subdivided into smaller groups which have nothing to do with each other. The truth is that there are many types of “Latin” music. There is samba, bossa-nova, salsa, merengue, bachata, cha-cha, tango and many others.

But I would say, in a general sense, latin music uses slightly less abstract chord changes when compared to jazz. Also, auxiliary percussion is used quite a bit. For example, it’s hard to get an authentic salsa feel without the congas in the ensemble. But this is a very broad description of latin music, as there are many different beats and styles and latin music is a very broad term which describes a great variety of genres.

That being said, I recently purchased a salsa/latin jazz fakebook published by Hal-Leonard. It has some great songs in that can give you a “primer” for “latin” music.

Scheila Gonzales awesome sax solo with LACarpool also see her with Zappa Band