Every beginner needs to be taught the clave and the beat from the get go. The longer you put it off the more you're capping them, resulting in frustration when they are attempting to understand the flow of any partnerwork (even basic turns) that they are taught. All of the best instructors I've taken lessons with have started from day one on where to find the 1 and what is clave. Without that, you're doing 6 simple steps that are absolutely meaningless. Knowing the timing is also about finding the tempo (i.e. the frequency of 1) even though they a dancer may not be focusing on it. When I was able to find the 1, it didn't take long before I found the 5 and then I could just jump into any part of the bar and be on time.
Your brain is naturally wired to decipher patterns more accurately than any piece of software...assuming you're not deaf. It is wired to find the pattern and hear where the 1 is. It just requires a teacher to challenge their students to pay attention to it and then realize how the pattern fits the timing and adjust to the tempo. It takes some time listening to lots of music to eventually be able to get timing but with some discipline it will become automatic.
The Eddie Torres timing cd is like the holy grail of salsa timing. Mark Bello also has some ok dvds out there, but he also uses the Eddie Torres cds in his presentation. Both will break down the different rhythms and show you how they work together. I personally found Mike Bello's Rhythm DVDs really helpful and especially his discussion of something called implied clave.
Personally, I just listened to a lot of salsa, and constantly asked myself "Where is the 1?" and once you can find the 1, then start asking yourself, "Where is the 5?" Understanding how the clave fits into the beats, and then hearing the clave rhythm even if the instrument isn't necessarily being used are also keys to hearing the beat.
First we should start by saying clave is a rhythm that has 5 beats in it within the two musical bars and while it comes in many forms the most common are 2/3 clave and 3/2 clave. I find that most salsa (particularly older salsa is 2/3).The 2/3 clave doesn't start on the 1 beat. It starts on the 2 beat. That throws some beginners off.
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2/3 clave means that in the first (of the two musical bars) the clave is played twice, and in the second bar, it's played 3 times. Obviously it's the opposite for 3/2 clave. For an example of clave listen to this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOmxXw2aFbo around 15 seconds into the song you can hear a new instrument comes in with a 5 beat count starts playing. That's the clave and it's the foundation for the entire song. It provides the tempo and keeps the rest of the rhythms together.
Try to hear the pattern of the bass, the clave, the güiro, the conga, and the cowbell in this song. Now if you listen to that song again from the beginning again, the first thing you hear in the song is the bass. If you hear the repeating pattern, try practicing hearing the first beat of the bass's pattern. That bass goes throughout the song. The longest bass note is the note that starts the pattern and it's on the 1 beat. This note is very prominent and you can't miss it. When the clave comes in, once again you'll notice how it's split into two parts. For the clave these beats are 2,3 5,n(6.5),8. If you focus on having your feet match the 1 of the bass and the 2,3 of the clave where, the rest should just work. Sometimes you might have to interpolate where the beats are based on those you already can hear.
Later in the song at the 4 minute mark, the piano comes in. It also has a repeating pattern that clearly starts on 1. The great thing about the bass, the piano and the clave in this song is that each clearly shows you where the pattern begins and ends. But not all rhythms allow you to distinguish by themselves where the pattern starts and ends. For instance at about 2:45 in the song, the cowbell is faintly heard playing all 8 beats (the "full count" as we call it) and then at 4:15 changes to playing cord beats on 1,3,5,7. Still the clave and the bass are there to give you guidance and to know where the pattern starts and thus you know where your feet need to be.
If you want some other shortcuts to tell where the 1 is, there are a few things that you can listen for (although they aren't in the above mentioned song). Typically if you have a new instrument or if a new vocal section joines the band, it often (but not always) starts on the 1. Often there is a bell in a lot of salsa songs, and the typical rhythm for that is on 1, 3, 5 & 7. These aren't necessarily set in stone and there are plenty of times that the band will do something different, but they are common patterns.
I should also mention that this process isn't easy and takes some effort and a lot of listening. It's a personal journey and while I can show you what helped for me, it doesn't mean your mind works the same way. I believe this is the greatest single thing a beginner can do to improve their salsa, is heavy listening to the music. I'd also recommend listening to some salsa stations...non stop. Good streaming stations can be found at www.batanga.com or at www.shoutcast.com or www.hardsalsa.com
You may also find these articles helpful: www.salsa-merengue.co.uk/revealit/musicsal.html
www.geocities.com/sd_au/clavetheory/clavetheory4.html
Either way don't get discouraged. It took me months to comfortably be able to lead on time and I did it by listening to a ton of salsa music and constantly challenging myself to find the patterns within and find where they started and ended. It takes time, but the good thing is that you don't have to do it passively, and it's fun to listen to salsa music anyway, as if you needed an excuse ;)
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