Latest
TIMBA BASS: Part 2 – Analysis of clave-based bass movement on “Con La Conciencia Tranquila” (audio + transcriptions)
by Michael Lazarus
In Part 1 of this series I outlined the mayor trends in the bass
movement for the title track of Paulito F.G.’s classic timba album Con La Conciencia Tranquila. Now we’ll see how these trends permeate throughout the record and also discuss some variations.
Mi Tentación – BASS – Audio track 7
Tune your bass to an A 440Hz with Audio Track 1.
Listen to the bass & piano montuno with Audio Track 7.
Here we see further use of the emphasis on the backbeat, accentuated by
the space left on the fourth beat of each 2-side. It’s really nice how
the bass movement mimics the coro melody. Note how it links to the
clave.
Llamada Anónima – BASS – Audio track 7
Listen to the bass & piano montuno with Audio Track 8.
In a similar manner as with Mi
Tentación -where the same rhythmic figure is employed on every 2-side-
Llamada Anónima uses the “leading up to the ponche” on every 3-side.
Also notice the big fat low B on the one (1) of the last measure in
this coro chord progression. Note that the open space (no music) during
both strokes of each 2-side makes for extremely funky,
call-and-response, bass movement in relation to the clave.
Para Volver – BASS – Audio track 9 & 10
Listen to the bass & piano montuno with Audio Track 9.
Listen to the bass & piano montuno variation with Audio Track 10.
Further proof in my proposition that the bass movement in timba music
seeks to reinforce clave, the bass rhythm in Para Volver simply mimics
the clave, albeit in a very tasteful way. Notice how the clave is
emphasized by NOT playing on beat 1 of each 2-side -letting the note
carry over the bar from the previous measure. These spaces are
indicated below with a small red arrow.
De La Habana – BASS – Audio track 13 & 14
Listen to the bass & piano montuno with Audio Track 13.
Listen to the bass & piano montuno variation with Audio Track 14.
Akin to Llamada Anónima, the bass
movement in the main coro and mambo sections of Paulito’s anthemic hit
De La Habana make excellent use of space over the 2-side to reinforce
the “leading up to the ponche” trend over the 3-side. These key spaces
in the first and third 2-sides of the 8 bar phrase are noted by the red
arrows below. The red box indicated 2-side alignment with heavy
emphasis on the backbeat stroke.
Con La Conciencia Traquila was
selected for this analysis 1 because it was the earliest
chronologically released album, within my collection, where several key
trends in Timba were easily recognized as a collective -the presence of
the gears, the song by song micro-composing of percussion parts, the
reinforcement of clave by the bass, the classically and jazz influenced
piano parts, the mid-mambo conga fill, etc. After further
transcriptions and analysis of numerous albums within the genre, it
became clear that the relation between the bass movement and clave was
a consistent and marked general trend. Clearly different bands and
players had idiosyncratic variations and touches, but the main idea
remained throughout. .
My next article will kick-off reviews and analysis of the bass movement within other timba bands. Stay tuned mi gente.
credits:
– Audio tracks used by permission from Pyrale Music.
– Transcriptions used by permission from Kevin Moore, editor-in-chief of http://www.TIMBA.com
– Article excerpts from TIMBA Style Bass Vol.1, an eBook I published on www.latinpulsemusic.com
– All content ©2009 Michael P. Lazarus
Check out our top 10 favorite basses on Instagram this week…
Click to follow Bass Musician on Instagram @bassmusicianmag
FEATURED @kilianduartebass @meridian_guitars @adamovicbasses @marleaux_bassguitars @jcrluthier @sandbergguitars @ibanezuk_official @dingwallguitars @torzalguitars @ariaguitars
Check out our top 10 favorite basses on Instagram this week…
Click to follow Bass Musician on Instagram @bassmusicianmag
FEATURED @bacchusguitars @franz.bassguitars @mendesluthieria @ramabass.ok @meridian_guitars @adamovicbasses @shukerbassguitars @fantabass.it @andys_vintage_guitars @valdesbasses
Check out our top 10 favorite basses on Instagram this week…
Click to follow Bass Musician on Instagram @bassmusicianmag
FEATURED @murraykuun_guitars @ja.guitars @combe_luthier @overloadguitars @kevinhidebass @franz.bassguitars @indra_guitars @petercrowdesign @baboomin_bass @jcrluthier
Check out our top 10 favorite basses on Instagram this week…
Click to follow Bass Musician on Instagram @bassmusicianmag
FEATURED @sandbergguitars @benevolent_basses @rayriendeau @olintobass @wonkorbasses @bite.guitars @adamovicbasses @maruszczyk_instruments @skervesenguitars @ramabass.ok
Photo: Self-portrait by Melissa Auf Der Maur
Melissa Auf Der Maur is a Canadian bassist who played with Tinker, Hole, and The Smashing Pumpkins. She released her own work and is a photographer with photos published in Nylon, Bust, and National Geographic. She released her ‘90s Rock Memoir “Even The Good Girls Will Cry” on 17 March 2026.
KB: Did you always want to be a singer-musician growing up?
I’ve played music my whole life. In school, I played trumpet and sang in a children’s choir, so music was always within me. My mother was the first female disc jockey on the Montreal airwaves; her record collection played a huge role in my inspiration and love of music.
KB: When did you start playing bass, and why this instrument?
When I was 19, the early 90s music explosion began to percolate in tiny clubs around the world. I was lucky to be a ticket girl at Montreal’s underground music club. In one year, I saw Hole, Sonic Youth, Smashing Pumpkins, White Zombie, and The Breeders – all had female bass players. That’s when the seed was planted. By the age of 22, I was the bass player of Hole.
KB: Which brands of basses have you used in your career, and which one are you using now?
The first bass that I learned on was a vintage Squier Precision. Hole was sponsored by Fender guitars, so I upgraded to Fender Custom Shop Precisions. That is all I play, but I have a cool vintage 8-string Greco that I use on recordings to thicken up guitar parts.
KB: What equipment do you use or have you used with your basses?
Ampeg SVT amps and cabinets, a couple of Sans-Amp pedals, and that is it.
KB: How did you become a member of Hole, and what is your fondest memory of that time?
Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins was helping scout a replacement for (RIP) Kristen Pfaff, Hole’s bass player. My band, Tinker, opened for them on the Siamese Dream tour, so Billy had seen me play and could vouch for me. Courtney trusted her talented friend, and that was it. I initially said “no thank you” due to my commitment to my photographic studies and the drama and chaos surrounding the band during the “Live Through This” album release. Courtney took it as a good sign that I said no, so convinced me to reconsider, and soon after, I accepted their invitation, in the name of helping put females in the male-dominated landscape of rock music. My fondest memory is every show we played as a mostly female band, symbolizing what a woman could do in a rock band. Every show had a purpose: get more women to play music.
KB: You are a photographer as well. What makes a great picture? Do you shoot in color or b/w?
I started shooting photographs at age 15. Initially only shot black & white and worked in the art school darkroom. In university, I took a color photography course, and shifted mostly and forever to that, because it was easier to process film on the road when I joined a rock band. I experimented with many cameras, point and shoots, manual, polaroids, medium format, and vintage finds. The trick to a good photograph is to shoot many and all the time – the magic is in the edit and selection process.
KB: Are there artists you would love to collaborate with or wish you had?
??I’ve been lucky to collaborate with some of my favorite musicians in my career. I would still love to collaborate with a new generation heavy electronic artist on an analog bass, heavy electronic drums, and synths collaboration project. Take me out of my usual zone, merging the past and future: my love of 80s dark new wave and new artists exploring that genre. It was very futuristic back then, and we are now, after all, living in the future. I am in the mood to play bass to heavy beats I want to dance to.
KB: What are your 7 favorite bass lines in music across all genres? And why these 7?
“Mountain Song” – Jane’s Addiction (love a rambling, rolling bass line – feels like the ocean waves)
“Black Top – Helmet” (was the first bass line I taught myself)
“Gold Dust Woman” – Hole from “The Crow 2” Soundtrack (it was my first bass line contribution to the band)
“Get Ready” – The Temptations (Motown just feels so good, because of the bass)
“Lucretia My Reflection” – Sisters of Mercy (makes me want to hit the dance floor and play bass simultaneously)
“Be My Druidess” – Type O Negative (full chord bass playing at its best by iconic, demonic, Peter Steele, RIP)
“Romantic Rights” – Death from Above (1979 – unique distorted overdriven tone, combined dance rhythm and melodic intelligence, all in one shot – also! Shout out to a bass & drum only band, which is awesome, and we should have more of, but the bass player needs to be a killer to fill that role.
KB: What are you currently up to?
Releasing my ‘90s Rock Memoir “EVEN THE GOOD GIRLS WILL CRY”. Visceral healing process, it was to get it out of me and write it, but I suspect the real magic will begin by putting it into the world and reflecting with others on what the magic of the ‘90s was all about. Powerful music decade that carried us into what is now a brave new world of digital corporate weirdness – may the past shed a light on our future. That’s my hope for this book release and tour.
Visit online:
Official Website
Facebook
Instagram
YouTube
Spotify
Gear News: Fender Unveils Highly Anticipated Vintera III Series
New Music: Oteil Burbridge & Lamar Williams Jr. New Single, Hush
Interview With Bassist Virginia Franks
Nathan East, Echoes of a Lineage – April/May 2026 Issue
Gear Review: Italia Leather Straps
Mar 2 Edition – This Week’s Top 10 Basses on Instagram
Mar 9 Edition – This Week’s Top 10 Basses on Instagram
Mar 16 Edition – This Week’s Top 10 Basses on Instagram
Mar 23 Edition – This Week’s Top 10 Basses on Instagram