What Is the Cuban Tres?

Series Summary

The Cuban tres is a 6-string musical instrument which combines the sounds of a guitar, tiple and bandola. The tres has three groups of two strings in various pitches, which in C major are tuned to C, G & E, but alternate tunings are often used as well. The musical sound of the tres is prevalent in the Cuban Son musical style and is used in many Afro-Cuban bands. Arsenio Rodriguez helped to popularize the instrument in the 1940s, 50s & 60s.

In this series of free videos you'll learn the basics of playing the Cuban tres. Expert Arie Pytel shows you how to shop for the instrument, how to tune the tres, how to play G scales and chords as well as C scales and chords. He also demonstrates the Clave rhythm and how to play montunos, negnon, sucu sucu, guantanamera, and chan chan musical styles.

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Arie Pytel for Expert Village and today we are talking about the Cuban tres. For those of you who are not familiar with the instrument this is a instrument that originated in the oranta province or eastern province of Cuba. It is best know for playing syncopated rhythmical lines called montnos and different types of son music. Son being a generic term for verses types of songs in Latin America but in this case we would be talking about specifically about Aruba and Changui, Punto Guajiro, etc. But we would not go to, to much detail we would be just showing you how you can get started with the Cuban tres. First, of all it is important to know that the tres originated from kind of a manufacturer of the Spanish guitar. Around the mid or 18 century. The biggest difference between the Spanish guitar and the Cuban tres is first of all the size of the tres. The tres is much smaller then your typical guitar. However, often times a 3/4 size guitar is used and converted to a tres. Then more importantly is the set up of the strings on the instrument which come in 3 courses of 2 strings. When we say courses we mean sets of strings so on the tres we have 6 strings total but we have 3 sets which are doubled up. Much like a 12 string guitar it has 6 courses of 12 strings. The tres has 3 courses of 6 strings. Each of which is doubled or tuned in octaves or unison depending on the string. Also since we would be focusing on the Cuban tres it is important to know the difference between the Cuban tres and the Puerto Rican tres. The Cuban tres essentially has a boxer or a more pear shape to it. While the Puerto Rican tres is more often more mandala like. Another thing about the Puerto Rican tres is that it may have 3 sets of strings per course. However, the tuning is the same and for the most part its used in music is essentially the same. So hopefully what we give you today will help you get started and be enough information for you to enjoy your tres at home."