Mariachi tradicional with other ensembles of the region, like "conjunto calentano", "conjunto de arpa grande", "conjunto de jaraberos" and "conjunto de son de tarima" of the so-called Mexican son. Mariachi tradicional Traditional mariachi is a string ensemble from western México. Unlike the popular mariachi, this ensemble generally does not include trumpets. It consists of violins, guitarra de golpe, vihuelas, harp and guitarrón or double bass, and in some zones a bass drum is used. This mariachi developed from the beginning of 19th century and from this ensemble derived the mariachi with trumpets. Its repertoire generally covered "sones abajeños", "sones arribeños", "sones costeños"
El Mariachi were simply condoms filled with fake blood and fixed over weightlifting belts. Rodriguez also noted the use of improvisation. The tortoise that crawls in front of the Mariachi was not planned, but was kept in as a good idea. Similarly, there is a scene in which the Mariachi buys a coconut, but Rodriguez forgot to show him paying for the fruit; instead of driving back to the place to shoot additional scenes, Rodriguez decided to build in a voice-over in which the Mariachi asserts that the coconuts were for free. Improvisation was also useful to cover up continuity mistakes: at