Tres (instrument)

For the Italian commune, see Tres, Italy. Tres (Templi Resurgentes Equites Synarchici) is also the name of a fictional secret society in the novel Foucault's Pendulum. Très means "very" in French.

The Tres is a 3-course, 6-string chordophone which was created in Cuba. A later adaptation, the Puerto Rican tres, is a 3-course, 9-string instrument.

Cuban tres

In Cuba, among the criollo class, the Son was created as a song and a salon dance genre. Originally, a guitar, tiple or bandola, played rhythm and lead in the son, but ultimately these were replaced by a new native-born instrument which was a fusion of all three called the Cuban Tres.

The Cuban tres has three courses (groups) of two strings each for a total of six strings. From the low pitch to the highest, the principal tuning is in C Major: G, C, E. However, today many treseros are playing a step up A, D, F# or D Major.

Further reading

• Richards, Tobe A. (2007). The Tres Cubano Chord Dictionary: C Major Tuning 648 Chords. United Kingdom: Cabot Books. ISBN 978-1-906207-03-8. — A comprehensive chord dictionary instructional guide.
• Richards, Tobe A. (2007). The Tres Cubano Chord Dictionary: D Major Tuning 648 Chords. United Kingdom: Cabot Books. ISBN 978-1-906207-04-5. — A comprehensive chord dictionary instructional guide.
• Griffin, Jon (2007). El Tres Cubano with CD (Audio) (Book & CD) (Paperback). Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0825633249. — An instructional guide (in Spanish and English)

See also

• Stringed Instruments Tunings

External links

• Cuban Tres - The 3 string guitar instrument from Cuba
• The Cuban Tres
• The Tres in Cuba and Puerto Rico