Tumbao

The tumbao is the characteristic bass line of salsa and Cuban son. In its basic form it falls on the first beat, on the upbeat of the second beat —the most important strike of the pattern— and on the fourth beat.

Its distinctive trait is anticipation: the bass usually gets ahead of the coming chord’s root, instead of waiting for the strong beat where it “should” fall in music with straight phrasing. That anticipation is what pushes the piece forward instead of settling it into the beat, and it has to be coordinated with the clave for the ensemble to work.