Son ClaveĪ great rhythm that accentuates every part of the son clave 6. This rhythm has a very small change that adds some tension to the martillo pattern 5. Unless you’re already rocking at rolls, start practicing this rhythm at 60 BPM or less to get the hang of it.
The hardest part of this rhythm is the roll starting on the 4th note. This rhythm accentuates the “and” of 2, and 4 which lines up with the son clave. If you’d like to see a demonstration of how the martillo sounds, check out my video here: With the basic martillo you can accent the notes on the clave, and make the rest of the notes quiet, or vice versa–make sure you spend the time to become super familiar with this rhythm. It’s a great fallback because it keeps the time and accents the proper notes in styles that are built around the clave. This is the basic martillo–and even though this has no extra frills added, this rhythm will work in a pinch if you are learning the bongo drums and don’t know what else to do. Make sure and review the bongo notation section at the top of this post if you’re unsure how to read the sheet music. The martillo is simply made up of straight eighth notes, but the notes are given variety by different techniques. MartilloĪhh… the Martillo–the fundamental rhythm of so many styles of Latin music. If you’d like a refresher on how to read Bongo Notation sheet music, check out my post here that goes over that for you.
