• Eddie Torres Salsa
• Eddie Torres Timing Cd

I've been doing Salsa for two months now. At first I thought maybe I was one of those people who would never be able to hear the beat in the music.

Eddie Torres (born July 3, 1950), also known as 'The Mambo King', is a salsa dance instructor. Torres' technique developed from various sources including Afro-Cuban.

Well, I purchased a copy of Edie, The Salsa Freak's timing CD last month and after hearing it the first day, I picked up a little of the beat the following night. Tonight, one month later I heard the beat and followed it in every track that was played in the beginners class! I'm still having trouble with the faster more complicated music at the clubs, but I only know it is a matter of time before I hear the beat in those as well. 1) It would have been better if the CD had multiple tracks rather than the entire CD been one long track. 2) How about producing a timing CD2? Primarily Salsa with maybe some Cha Cha since these are the most common latin dances in S. I would like longer segments of music with each track increasing in pace and difficulty.

I also have the Mike Bello's timing CD. His is longer, but I prefer hers. She counts at just the right volume (Mike is too soft). Also, I like the way you count a little, then don't count, then start counting again - this is an excellent training concept.

Welcome to the forums, Robert! Working on timing isn't just for beginners.

There are many intermediate/advanced dancers that need work on timing. It's not uncommon to see people doing advanced movements, yet failing to hold the 4 and 8 beats. I've had instructors correct me in this area and I've been teaching for 10 years! I know that Edie's instructional videos are well known and are worth the investment. I would be curios to know which ones are the best sellers.

I dont know anything about Mike Bello. Could you tell us who he is?

Here is a link to Edie's Collection: The timing CD is at the very bottom of the page. I've been doing Salsa for two months now. At first I thought maybe I was one of those people who would never be able to hear the beat in the music. Well, I purchased a copy of Edie, The Salsa Freak's timing CD last month and after hearing it the first day, I picked up a little of the beat the following night. Tonight, one month later I heard the beat and followed it in every track that was played in the beginners class! I'm still having trouble with the faster more complicated music at the clubs, but I only know it is a matter of time before I hear the beat in those as well.

1) It would have been better if the CD had multiple tracks rather than the entire CD been one long track. 2) How about producing a timing CD2?

Primarily Salsa with maybe some Cha Cha since these are the most common latin dances in S. I would like longer segments of music with each track increasing in pace and difficulty. I also have the Mike Bello's timing CD. His is longer, but I prefer hers.

She counts at just the right volume (Mike is too soft). Also, I like the way you count a little, then don't count, then start counting again - this is an excellent training concept. I downloaded the free lesson from Salsa-Rhythms, and I wouldn't recommend it.

He doesn't dance to the standard 'on 1' nor the standard 'on 2' rhythm. Instead, he does the Eddie Torres rhythm. I guess there is nothing inherently wrong with that timing, but it's different from what the vast majority of dancers do around here. Also, when he demonstrates the basic step, he gives equal time to every step instead of doing the quick, quick, slow rhythm. I think that would be confusing to beginners who already have trouble with timing. EDIT: I just want to clarify that I only saw the free QuickTime movie on his web site, I haven't seen the eBook yet. I couldn't get the eBook reader to open the it.

I am sorry but what is wrong with giving equal time to every step? I know that some teachers do favour the 'quick, quick, slow' rhythm but from what I have seen, that can cause as much trouble/confusion (if not taught strictly) amongst beginners and later on as they then go on to thinking that it is a 3/3 dance and not 4/4 with the counts 3 & 4, 7 & 8 making up the 'slow' of the 'quick, quick, slow'. Beginners (and intermediate) I have danced with have forgotten the 'slow' and then have me racing around the track because they are doing a 3/3 count:? I've been doing Salsa for two months now. At first I thought maybe I was one of those people who would never be able to hear the beat in the music.

Well, I purchased a copy of Edie, The Salsa Freak's timing CD last month and after hearing it the first day, I picked up a little of the beat the following night. Tonight, one month later I heard the beat and followed it in every track that was played in the beginners class! I'm still having trouble with the faster more complicated music at the clubs, but I only know it is a matter of time before I hear the beat in those as well.

1) It would have been better if the CD had multiple tracks rather than the entire CD been one long track. 2) How about producing a timing CD2? Primarily Salsa with maybe some Cha Cha since these are the most common latin dances in S. I would like longer segments of music with each track increasing in pace and difficulty. I also have the Mike Bello's timing CD. His is longer, but I prefer hers.

She counts at just the right volume (Mike is too soft). Also, I like the way you count a little, then don't count, then start counting again - this is an excellent training concept.

Hi, here my experience with counting/timing cds. To be honest I had a lot of problem as I started to take on 2 classes. So I looked around for different cds. I will give a short comment about them. This is not complete (since I don't have time to hear all this cds now and give more detaisl) but I would like to share some few infos with you. There are some cd with only counting and other that explain more about the instruments and rhythm.

Eddie torres: This is a counting cd. He has got 8 Tracks: The first track he counts 1-8 during the whole song.

Then for the next songs he counts 2 and 6. Then he counts 6,7 (since the guy starts back on 1 in ET Style, starting on 6,7 forth gives the opportunity for the girl to start dancing with her right foot back. In the the next songs he counts the clave (3/2 and 2/3) ). The same songs are then played without the counting. My opinion: it is all about counting.

No more not less. The only instrunment he adresses is the clave. Jay and Candy: They have 3 songs played at 3 different speeds. For each song, you get following countings during the song for the different speeds: 1-8, then only 1 and 5, then only 2 and 6 and without counting. So you can use this cd if you dance on 1 or on 2. Salsa-rhythms.com: this is an ebook which explains in details which important instruments and rhythms are used in a salsa song. Each instrument (conga (tumbao rhythm), piano, bass, clave 2/3 and 3/2, Guiro/Bell) is played alone at different speeds.

They tell you when (on which counting beat ) the instrument are played. So this is a great tool to find for instance the 1, 2, 4 or whatever beat.

After the break down of the the instruments the bring gradually songs where the differents instrument are combined. At the end you get an entire song with a whole band. A Test song is also included.

Vita solo instruments serial podcast. Because if you recognize the rhythm of one instrument and since you then know when it is played (on which counting beat), you can easyly be in sync with the music. For me it is clear, precise and you get the most important things you need to understand the basic musical structure. No waist time with too much theory. Personally it opened a new world for me to be honest. Weak points might be: it is an ebook. So you need a computer and you need internet for registration before you can use the ebook. Mike Bello: has 2 Cds.

One where different instruments and rhythms are played alone and gradually combined. At the end an entire song is played. So a bit like salsa-rhythms. But he goes further in that he also gives the structure of a salsa song (intro, bridge.outro).

A booklet (paper) is there with different explanations. You get an introduction to on 2 dancing (modern/classic mambo et/power 2). The second cd is a counting cd. Each song is played 2 times (one time with counting and one time without) May be it helps. Timing and mambo and salsa.oh my.

Eddie Torres Salsa

The eBook being mentinoed here is strictly on timing. The course is the 5 Volume Timing Course which is in an eBook format. The clips that Neils speaks of have NOTHING to do with the Timing Course (which is what this thread was all about.) One thing that I must say is this. Neil, I really think you are doing a great service to the folks in your area.

As an instructor you must always look for resources and ways to help those in your sphere of influence. But to clarify, the eBook Timing Course is not related to the On2 DVD's available.

Hello Fernando, You're right. I made it clear in my first post that I was talking about the video clip from the website, not the eBook because I couldn't get the eBook reader to work. So, is the eBook purely about the music, or does it also teach the Eddie Torres timing? By the way, I'm not a dance teacher.

It's just that people see me (a gringo) dance, so they sometimes mention that they wanted to learn too, but would rather not go to a studio until they felt a little more comfortable. I think the first step to dancing is to understand the music, so I would be eager to find something that would be helpful to these newbies.

Eddie Torres Timing Cd

I just wouldn't want them to start by learning a timing that they would have to unlearn in order to dance socially. I have nothing against the Eddie Torres timing. It's similar to the way I dance Chacha (ballroom style), but there are a million people here who already dance on the one, and that's not going to change any time soon. Most people who dance Salsa can't even count music, so changing would be extremely difficult for them.