The Cuban Rumba Clave

Learn this essential rumba clave

The rumba clave is a very important aspect of Cuban music. Cuban music is generally based around a rhythmic pattern know as a clave, which translates as ‘key’. This key to the music acts as a reference point around which everything is based. This includes not only the percussion but also the melodies and dances. The rumba clave can be played as 3:2 or 2:3. You will see below that there are five notes across two bars. One bar has three notes and the other has two. You can switch which way around you place those bars thus creating either 3:2 or 2:3. This is explained in the video.

It might not always be heard literally in the music, but it is always in the mind of the performers and therefore affects how they phrase what they play. And therefore it is very useful for a drummer to become familiar with the rumba clave if you want to accurately play Cuban styles of music.

But wait – I hate Cuban music and don’t need to learn it!

I get that you might not want to play Cuban music ever in your life. But it is still a really useful thing to learn. This pattern can still enrich what you have to offer as a funk, pop, metal, rock or any other style of drummer. Learning musical influences from other cultures can add something into our playing that we couldn’t offer otherwise. Just think of David Garibaldi’s ride bell patterns for funk band Tower of Power or some of the rhythms within the heavy metal context from various Sepultura drummers over the years.

So if you want to enrich your drumming knowledge, or become a serious Cuban musician, the short video below is worth a watch. Once you are totally comfortable with this simple pattern you can start building more complex patterns around it.

Download the sheet music here.

You might also like to learn about another essential Cuban clave know as the Son Clave.

Faster Hands in 7 Days FREE Drum Course

Improve your drum hand speed in a week to get Faster Hands

We all want faster hands on the drums but so many drummers I see are missing the basic aspects of drumming that will take them to the next level.

Many of those drummers are not lazy. In fact it’s the opposite. They are putting in the work but they are missing the fundamental techniques that will allow them to play faster and smoother. This leads to inevitable frustration and despondency.

In effect they are wasting their time!

By clicking below you can gain access to a FREE ‘7 days to faster hands’ drum course that will guarantee to raise your speed by the end or your money back (yes it is free so not the best guarantee ever!). But seriously, it will make a difference in a really short space of time.

But more than trying to create unrealistic miracles in a short space of time, it will also set up long term habits that will help you find your full potential as a drummer long into the future. And that is way more important.

It will show you:

1. The fundamental techniques to play at your best level
2. How to properly grip the sticks
3. How to prepare yourself properly to drum
4. How to make the stick do the work so you don’t have to
5. How to set your drums up for optimum speed
6. How to apply this around the kit
7. Exercises to develop control as well as speed
8. How to take this on into the future to become awesome!

And more than that you will also get a ton of other great free drum resources to make you a better drummer such as playalong tracks, articles, exclusive video lessons and more. And it’s all free!

Watch the video to get a feel for what the seven day course entails and then scroll down to get the course immediately.

Start today and build your hand speed up

So let’s start the course today. Do it now and begin your 7 day process to get faster hands. This time next week you’ll be enjoying the results and thinking about how you can take it to the next stage (by the way, the course helps with that too as we’ll be checking speed progress over the next 12 months).

So click the big blue button below. Let’s get started!