6/4 grooves/ claves

Hi

I'm interested in whether people know any cool claves or rhythmic motives that are in 6/4. By this I don't mean two sets of 3/4, I mean 6/4 which has a different feel.

Although, cool 3/4 rhythms are quite rare so maybe those too.

Any links to resources appreciated!

[Slax]

I don't have any exact examples but here's what I do.

I grab some sheet music, write some lines from my head in a time signature and then program the drum machine to play in that time sig and play along with what I wrote. (Making changes to what's written when needed).

I feel that helps quite a bit getting comfortable with all different time signatures and coming up with some cool jams/riffs.

[bongomania]

Get the 6/8 cowbell pattern ingrained into your subconscious. It makes improvising and writing in 6/4 super easy.

[tinyd]

Originally Posted by bongomania

Get the 6/8 cowbell pattern ingrained into your subconscious. It makes improvising and writing in 6/4 super easy.

+1 to that. The interesting thing about the 6/8 bell pattern (and a big help for bassline construction) is that the first half of the pattern is pretty much on the beat, whereas the second half is all off the beat. So this should give you a starting point for some interesting lines.

[mambo4]

you might also explore bembe bell patterns, which I think are mostly 12/8

here is a page-o-afrocuban rhythms rife with midi examples

Hi

Thanks for those posts

Actually I'm really well versed with 12/8 and 6/8 already - my band plays a lot of 12/8 sega patterns and zimbabwean patterns and I spent several months looking at standard bell (agbekor) patterns in 12/8 and their displacements (rhythmic modes!) as well as 5 note patterns and cross rhythms and lots of other stuff - I agree that it's all awesome.

The only thing is that 6/4 is different - 12/8 or 6/8 are both compound rhythms and the feel is in triplets. 6/4 usually is duplet time - in other words, six beats subdivided into quavers and semiquavers. No triplet feel.

If anyone knows any 6/4 bell patterns that would be great.

[Corporate Boy]

Bump... to see if any anyone else has some info on these grooves. Any good books out there?

[slybass3000]

Yoiu might want to check The Latin Bass Book by Sher music.

It has a segment on the Zamba which is based on a 3/4 or 6/4 feel. It is written in 6/8 in the book but it is really a 3/4 feel,


Sly

[chicagodoubler]

+1 for the Latin Bass book. Nothing else can touch it... besides playing with a salsa band.


Danilo Perez told me of a 6/8 clave but I'm not sure I've ever actually heard a drummer play it:
http://www.formedia.ca/rhythms/1clave.html



Dig on some traditional Cuban stuff, esp the Orisha groove:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santeria


Cheers for one of the most fun and ambiguous grooves on earth!

[JimK]

Originally Posted by afromoose

If anyone knows any 6/4 bell patterns that would be great.

Check out Rebeca Mauleon's The Salsa Guidebook-
http://www.rebecamauleon.com/pub.html

She has rhythm patterns for many of the percussion instruments used in Latin-style music.
I know back in the day (when I was more serious about practicing)...using the various rhythmic patterns to come up with a bass figure was something that got me outside of my box.
An ago-go pattern can easily be used to construct a slap/pop thing....other times, I would mentally assign a certain string to the hi-sounding bongo & a different string for the lo-sounding bongo, or a different plucking finger may be assigned accordingly, etc.

101 Montunos is also great. Some of her Left-Hand 'bass' figures also forced me outside of my comfort zone.

[bongomania]

Originally Posted by afromoose

Actually I'm really well versed with 12/8 and 6/8 already...
The only thing is that 6/4 is different - 12/8 or 6/8 are both compound rhythms and the feel is in triplets. 6/4 usually is duplet time - in other words, six beats subdivided into quavers and semiquavers. No triplet feel.

^^^^^