Named for a drink, but literally "fresh water". The opening of this song was all I had for probably 6 months or more, and laid dormant as a project called Fresh Water. I sat on it until this weekend when a breakthrough occurred. It became this uptempo salsa beat, as if that was what it was always meant to be. Gave me a chance to play some Latin drenched lead, which I love doing.
 
I hope you enjoy it. Details are on the Soundcloud page, but I'd be happy to discuss it further here.
 
https://soundcloud.com/mister-6-1/agua-fresca-1
 
(update) A newer mix has been posted ... see my last comment below.

Very nice. Good playing.

Enjoy it I did.
Mix sounds like Red Rocks. I'm from Denver. Consider that a 7 star rating.
Don't you love it when something like that happens? You know it's not quite right, but you can't quite put your finger on it. Then it hits you. You dial it in, and oh baby.
Great sound, nice tone and movement. I wouldn't change a thing.
Just plain nice.

Beautiful chords.  It is really a nice tune but the mix seems a bit bright to me.  I can't explain that, it just seems to pierce a bit.  I sure wouldn't go by my ears though.  The more I listened the more right it sounded.  Man what a great feel.

It most certainly bring to mind water, to me it's like the waves sliding up the shore. Mix sounds good, It doesn't seem to be too bright to my ears.  Nice lead playing too.

Well, this is pretty cool! You are hitting a spot that's all your own, I think, which is always good, very creative.
 
I am a little rhythmically confused, however, which is OK. When I try to lay a genre on this, I'm getting a little latin, but the second section seems to have a little New Orleans shuffle beat, and it's kind of a shuffle/latin/rock/jazz mix all the way through, for me. Nice territory, makes me want to listen harder!
 
In the beginning, the ride cymbal (I love me some ride cymbal!) is very cool and clear, but played with aggressive and busy pattern - maybe a simplification here would be a thought.
 
again, it's ok for the listener to head scratch a little and it puts your song in a neat spot!
well done . . .
 
cheers,
-Tom

New mix. Version 3.0.
 
https://soundcloud.com/mister-6-1/agua-fresca-2
 
I must first say I have missed all the comments here, and I apologize for not responding. It seems the subscription to this thread didn't send me notifications. Something was wrong, I know that. Thank you all for the helpful input. I agreed with the suggestion the ride was a little too crisp, and I hope that was addressed in this remix. Unfortunately, Soundcloud doesn't stream as cleanly as it could.
 
This time I played the lead with my trusty '64 Gibson SG Special. That's essentially "my" guitar. An SG has always suited my playing style best.

I listened only to version 3.0.  I think this sounds pretty good already, nice work.  Creatively, it sounds a little busy to me, but that's a style preference.
 
Some suggestions...
 
The drums seem out of place.  Sounds like you're playing latin rhythms on a swing jazz drum kit.  It sounds a little too "crisp", IMO.  What if you used some congas/timbales instead of the "jazz stick snare hits"?
 
One other thing I noticed is when listening at low volume the shaker seems to almost disappear, and that makes a huge difference, because there's not a lot of solidity to the bass/kick, making it hard to hear where the downbeats are supposed to be.  You have lots of off-beat accents on the snare and toms.  When that's all you can hear it makes the rhythm sound confusing.
 
Just my $0.02!

I intend to drop a Latin kit into AD2 some day, but it's not there yet. This is actually the stock kit from AD1. I haven't tweaked it that much.
 
The shaker only comes forward in the bass-less break. Is that what you are talking about?
 
Thanks for the input!