The pattern
100 BPM · 4/4 · 16 step
| Instrument | Beat 1 | Step 2 | Step 3 | Step 4 | Beat 2 | Step 6 | Step 7 | Step 8 | Beat 3 | Step 10 | Step 11 | Step 12 | Beat 4 | Step 14 | Step 15 | Step 16 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kick | hit | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | hit | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | hit | rest | rest | rest |
| Clave | hit | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | hit | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | hit | rest | rest | rest |
How to play it and where it comes from
The most widespread rhythmic cell in Afro-American music: three hits in 3+3+2 eighths (1, the "and" of 2, 4). It is the "3" half of the son clave, the bass of the habanera, the heart of reggaeton (compressed into sixteenths in the dembow), dancehall, Afrobeats and modern trap. Put it on the kick/808 under a backbeat on 2 and 4 to get an instant "Latin" or Caribbean groove; in sixteenths (x..x..x.) it becomes the reggaeton snare figure.