Bembe is a 6/8 religious rhythm played in Cuba.

In a bembe you have several drums that hold down the rhythm. The bottom drum plays the lead part, soloing off of the "1". Over the next few months I'm going to reveal how I went from playing a very simple 'part' to being able to improvise out of the part. This is especially for the drummer that wants to learn to improvise out of a 'part'. We'll discuss at least 3 different ways to play lead and the permutations that arise from these variations.

Today we'll start off with the basic patterns and then follow up with variations in future posts.

I think everyone will find this very interesting!

Bembe Low Drum - Bottom #1 | 1 | + | a | 2 | + | a | 3 | + | a | 4 | + | a | | T | · | B | B | S | · | B | B | · | M | M | M | | R | L | R | L | R | L | R | L | R | L | R | L | Middle Drum | 1 | + | a | 2 | + | a | 3 | + | a | 4 | + | a | | B | F | S | B | T | T | B | F | S | B | T | T | | L | L | R | L | R | R | L | L | R | L | R | R | High Drum | 1 | + | a | 2 | + | a | 3 | + | a | 4 | + | a | | T | S | · | T | S | · | T | S | · | T | S | · | | R | L | · | R | L | · | R | L | · | R | L | · | Clave/Bell | 1 | + | a | 2 | + | a | 3 | + | a | 4 | + | a | | X | · | X | · | X | X | · | X | · | X | · | X | Key T = Tone, Open B = Bass, Bass Tone, Heel S = Slap F = Finger, Touch, Toe · = Touch, Tacit X = Clave/Bell Strike R = Right Hand Stroke, Primary/Strong Hand Stroke L = Left Hand Stroke, Weak Hand Stroke

Posted by: Richard Taylor / 12:58:00 PM          
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