Maraca Accent Basics
There are 2 basic accents we can use for the Maracas. The first one is the golpe seco abajo or descending dry accent and the second is an accent up and down. With these accents, it is possible to mimic the majority of rhythms available.
Basic Descending Dry Accent
The first kind of accent, the dry descending accent, is conducted suspending each Maraca in an upward position and letting it drop precisely 10 centimeters from the starting point. The resulting sound should be a dry one, as it will normally mark the accent of each bar whilst playing the rhythm.
Up and Down Accentuation with the Maracas
The second accent is a double one which is done ascending and descending. This accent is done by moving the maraca from a bottom position upwards to obtain an initial sound and then descend with force to obtain the second sound. By doing so, the resulting sound resembles a «chak – chak»
Practice both of these accents in a repeated fashion for each of your hands until you are able to obtain the desired sounds as per the videos. It is important to set this up as a foundation upon which you will build as we move forward.
