I Need Help with Claves

[CharlyG]

I thought I was picking up the Son Clave well enough. I can feel both the 3/2 and the 2/3 but I am having trouble related to what is being played on the drums while he is counting out the clave. So, here's the vid:

http://www.ehow.com/video_2385008_pl...-drums-32.html

[midgard]

Hi CharleyG,

He is playing a rhythm called Tumbao, which is used in a ton of latin music, especially mambo. And then he is voicing the clave over the top of it. Charted, it looks like this:

          |1e+a|2e+a|3e+a|4e+a|
          ---------------------
High Drum |HTST|HTOO|HTS | DOO|
Low Drum  |    |    |   O|O   |
Clave     |X  X|  X |  X |X   |

H - heel
T - toe
S - Slap
O - open tone
D - drop

Hope this helps! It is actually a really good exercise to play the tumbao and either say or tap the clave with your foot. If you have a foot pedal and bell it is even cooler, because you can play clave AND the tumbao at the same time.