This is an old Cuban song by the artist Bola de Nieve, but what I’m covering here is the Josh Rouse version which is off his latest album “El Turista.” The Bola de Nieve version is on piano and it’s wild! I can play piano a little, but I can’t imagine anyone could play it like him. He doesn’t even look at the piano when he sings. It’s like he, the rhythm, the piano, and the performance are one. Amazing left hand. No one can match it. It’s like the rhythm has a life of its own.
This is the first song I’ve sung in another language. Spanish. Although I think he mixed in a little French with it. I still have to work on the pronunciation, but at least I’ve gotten to the point where I can get through it, and its FUN.
Figuring out the chords has been hard. The verse is straight forward: B7-F#-E. But then it gets jazzy crazy. I don’t think I’m doing it exactly right. I’ve tried to look at some Josh Rouse videos of him playing it, but his fingering looks weird from a regular tuning point of view. He may be using an alternate tuning. I asked on his message board if anyone knew, but so far no one has responded. The chorus is sort of a weird B chord that flattens a note in one bar and then goes to E major 7 to G and back to B or B7. The second time around it ends with a C#m7 and Fmaj7 before landing on the root B chord. When I get time I’ll try to draw out the fingering I’m using. I’ll make a video too.
If anyone out there knows how to play for reelz please leave a comment and let me know!
I’ll keep working on this song and when I feel I can play it a lot better I’ll make a new recording. I have a list of about 30 songs so far that grows every day, that I’m learning to play, so that eventually I can do a live show.
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