Special care must be taken when analyzing the kick drum in Cuban music. Drummers often play it not as a tumbao or conscious part, but simply as part of the orchestration of the overall drumkit. In many songo and timba tracks however, the kick drum part is so tumbao-like, and has such a logical interaction with the bass that it only makes sense to think of it as a tumbao - as if there were a separate percussionist playing just that part. Changuito was the primary pioneer of both styles. His playing, for example, on the album Disco Azúcar, is pure tumbao. Every song has a specific part which he plays consistently and with little or no variation. At the other extreme is the style he plays on our third tumbao, from the Guararey section of the suite. The bass plays bombo-ponche with a few variations, so we've only transcribed the kick drum.

xx0x 0xxx 0xx0 xxx0 2-3 rumba clave
xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx kick drum
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x0xx xxxx x0xx x0xx
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xxx0 x0xx xxx0 xxxx
x0xx xxxx xxx0 xxxx
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xxx0 xxxx xx00 xxxx
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xxx0 x0xx xxx0 xxxx tumbao 3 - MIDI example

In timba, we find both of these styles and everything in-between, with the various timbaleros of Charanga Habanera and Bombón of Pupy y Los Que Son Son playing the tumbao approach, and drummers like Yoel Páez (of Paulito FG and Issac Delgado) at other extreme, briefly implying a repeating part and then almost immediately changing or varying it.