Welcome to Rhythm Notes, a site dedicated to helping you level up your hand and stick drumming, today! You'll find a lot of lessons on the fundamentals of hand and stick drumming as well as videos …

The clave rhythm is a two-bar rhythmic cycle and the name of an instrument. This article explores the origins and influence of this sacred rhythm.

The kick pedal is the most import part of a cocktail kit. You can modify an existing pedal by considering a few key details. This post covers it for you.

This article focuses on the former, but you can find more articles on Rhythm Notes about how to play conga drums. Related: Conga Drums – A Guide for Beginner and Intermediate Players

1. Shoulder on the edge The shoulder of the stick on the edge of the cymbals is a technique that I talk about a lot on Rhythm Notes. Different drummers will use this technique with varying angles of …

A wide range of musical styles use bongo as both a support and feature rhythm section instrument. From R&B to funk and folk rock, bongo has been pleasing listeners for decades in the popular music …

Beyond the drum key below, you’ll need to know the each note duration, how to count rhythms and rests, and other notations that inform the musical performance.

The first exercise includes playing one of four conga sounds on each quarter note of a 4/4 bar. For example, play a heel, closed tone, open tone, and an open or closed slap.

It literally means “triplet,” and it refers to rhythms that are in groups (or cells) of three evenly spaced notes. This rhythm is the three-side of both the Cuban and Brazilian claves.

As your time becomes stronger, try to change the note value of the metronome click. For example, most of the time we think of the click as being the quarter note.