Clave Rhythm - Why It's the Key to Latin Music

The clave rhythm developed in Cuba from the African bell pattern brought to the Americas via the trans-Atlantic slave trade. The rhythm is used to lock in the many rhythms of Afro-Cuban music, as well as other Latin music like the bossa nova of Brazil. This video focuses on three claves -- rumba clave, son clave, and the Brazilian clave.
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[@JerryT21]

Its crazy how all my life 'I've played these Rhythms on tables cardboard boxes with my friends in the streets I never knew what we were playing , all feel and the environment around us ..

[@RhythmNotes]

There's a lot to be said for learning music that way. Many of my Afro-Cuban teachers learned clave as a result of the environment in which they were raised, and I struggled to learn at first because I couldn't find beat one. They often wouldn't tell me. They just smiled in support when I got it wrong and smiled with excitement when I figured it out. I think their teaching style required me to connect with the rhythms, music, and the ensemble all at once in a way that wasn't nurtured through my Western music upbringing. Thanks for sharing, Jerry! It got me reflecting on some important memories.

[@germzdesantaana3831]

My man said "Feel the downbeat pulse as you clap it" that's all i needed to hear to get it flowing. Gracias!

[@RhythmNotes]

De nada. ... I'm glad it worked for you.

[@pennstater27]

Appreciate the video. I play bass in mostly a standard american rock funk/blues band and have been trying to get the guys to embrace something like this but I never had a good understanding myself. This seems like a decent spot to start!

[@RhythmNotes]

I'm glad. Hope you're able to apply it to what you do.

[@yamomanemjazz]

Sending this to my drum class . Really nice exposition to send the ones who want to be serious. Appreciate this

[@RhythmNotes]

I'm glad you like it!

[@rubynormayanez5698]

My life was blest to study rhythm with a master named Julio Collazo. He played our Felipe Yanez Orchestra. Yes, it all came from Afrika. Dr. Y

[@RhythmNotes]

Yep

[@denisfrigon9070]

You're awesome dude! Thank you for this lesson!

[@RhythmNotes]

I’m glad it was helpful.

[@voice_from_pizza]

Thanks for this video, it’s giving me a lot to think about!

[@RhythmNotes]

I'm so glad!

[@tinymountain]

Amazing video. Thank you for this.

[@RhythmNotes]

Glad it was helpful!

[@croakingfrog3173]

Rockin intro to the clave. Thank you!

[@RhythmNotes]

Glad you like it!

[@abstractbybrian]

Whew! Coming from a classical orchestra background (double bass) this is hard to wrap my head around.

[@RhythmNotes]

I can imagine.

[@KoffeeShak]

Thanks, it didn’t answer my question “why the heck do I need to move my body when I hear the clave?”, but I think understand it better. Appreciate the knowledge

[@RhythmNotes]

No problem ... as for the question about movement ... there's no known answer, but I'm one who believes that the energy that keeps the universe together does so in relation to various harmonies with materials and energy. I think this is relates to so many things like how sound affects our brains and how the thoughts affect sensations in parts of our nervous system. For example, certain ratios exist in nature, including some on the cellular level, and they exist in music, too. These ratios can create a tension and release that makes us want to move our bodies to be in more harmony with the energy produced by the ratios within the music and among the way musicians play. I know it's a lot to think about, but I believe that when you feel the downbeat pulse (on the half note) and play clave, you hear and feel a balance (or harmony) of down beat and up beat rhythms. Take in the two side and then take in the three side. How do they feel different? How does the three side expand the space between the rhythmic idea set up by the two side? These are things I think about. Maybe I lost you. Maybe I'm crazy. Either way, this rhythm produces energy that the body wants to reconcile.

[@blackmore4]

Until today, I never knew the American English pronunciation was 'clarvay' (the same as the Cuban). We say 'clayv' in England.

[@RhythmNotes]

Interesting. If I remember correctly, one of my teachers mentioned that a clave (pronounced the English way) is a part of a ship.

[@TheInkPitOx]

Clavé is found in: Some of Bo Diddley's hits The Macarena China Grove by the Doobie Brothers

[@RhythmNotes]

For sure … here’s a video on Bo Diddley beat. kzbin.info/www/bejne/pmLToHiefcaUf9E

[@sylviajohnson1888]

Thank you for my 3 year old grandson he loves the Clave!

[@RhythmNotes]

Great to hear!

[@elektrozil9728]

I'm got momentarily bored with the rock thing, and am experimenting with building drum machine and sample loops all based on the 3 claves rhythms. Thnx for the clear & informative video.

[@RhythmNotes]

I’m glad you liked it.

[@zazafiend]

Beautiful

[@RhythmNotes]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@bennyhill8186]

" you familiar with his work whether you know or not" ;)..that's a great way to put it.. Most ppl would scoff, do jeer at a seeming contradiction like that, but "know" it, is to be conscious of it, the way you meant I gather, where you slyly described ",familiar" with it, I. E. You've heard it before many times you just didn't know what you were hearing ..your subconscious picks it up bc it's recording every thing all the time, whether you know it or not.. Your probably familiar with it.. Hey, first time watch and rarely I comment but what spurred me was your well rlunded knowledge on thr origins of the rhythms.. I haven't gotten around to it, but Indian music on the tabla say, perchssion has alot of specific meaning in certain beats and I was thinking, bc intervals also have different colors Nd emotions tied to them, like Bach famously started the whole d minor is the saddest key, I think was him or Beethoven , but I was going to do my thesis in gypsy music, starting in India ,historically, and worked it's way west, one branch via northern Africa through Morocco and one bramch thru eastern Europe turkey etc, and meet if any of the 2 branches do, in Spain in flamenco, which is inspiration for the research and for which music I fall in love with in the last couple of.. the last decade, saw paco De Lucia twice and took up cajon while my friend learned under Dennis koster, and there, you have some patterns which are very difficult, even jus the clapping, but take the bulerias, it's 12, it's the hemiola basically, I want to live in amer-i-ca, snd so we tool diffefent styles of flamenco , rumba,(I never knew there was a flamenco rumba and a the original one, but more than 2 also, the term they use I believe is ida De vuelte, do I have that right? Around the world and back, so it goes out leatns new things evolves and comes back home, but talk about fun excefcises with other ppl, the clspping patterns are extremely difficult including the method of clapping I thought you could do a vid on that, me and my friend are going to do a couple of vids on flamenco, both rhythmically and melodically, and we were trying a fusion flamenco with jazz and bossa nova and a little classical bc no one is doing it.. One band only mixed in legit flamenco with other styles, ojos De brujos but not really authentic flamenco, they had Indian music, tablas etc djs, we had a little more raw flamenco but not the scope of production they do, anyway great vid can't wait for more I hope it gave you couple of ideas

[@RhythmNotes]

Sounds like your thesis focuses on flamenco influences from intercultural exchange? ... cool stuff

[@annepoitrineau5650]

djembe playing much improved thanx to you :) xx

[@RhythmNotes]

I’m glad. That’s awesome!

[@Titanionz]

thanks

[@RhythmNotes]

Thanks for watching!

[@gerardodiaz8193]

I hope that’s Bilongo that’s being played. Great video

[@RhythmNotes]

Ha ha .. thanks!

[@Someone-hx5cr]

I actually play marimba and have started taking an interest in salsa music. Químbara is one song that’s really cool to me but coming from a western music point of view makes it super difficult (especially in the first few seconds of químbara) to understand how anything that is being played has some sort of grid that it’s locked into. That song is especially difficult because I can’t hear any clave to indicate what type of clave rhythm it’s based on. Also at 2:40 you said that rumba clave (which would be 3 2) is used in guaguancó and then played a 2 3 clave? So can the clave rhythms be switched (as in, can the rumba clave and son clave both be played as 2 3 AND 3 2 and the only difference between them is that the son claves 3rd beat will always be on beat 4)? I’m rewatching the video in hopes of deeper understanding.

[@RhythmNotes]

Yes. There’s no rule about 2:3 or 3:2, it’s just that most songs that are rumba clave are 3:2 and most songs that are son clave are 2:3. I think Quinbara is an example of flipping the conga part to match to play more with the band, but I have’s played that song in more than 15 years. I just remember something weird about the drum conversation in relation to clave.

[@t.c.bramblett617]

I am struggling with the same thing and one idea that helped me is that, polyrhythms like latin or African music don't "fit into" a grid, they "build up" from basic units as you play. As long as you keep track of the main beat and the downbeats, you can improvise over those by pushing the beat forward or backward in a way that feels swingy. Just come back on the one. Of course, you have to figure out how to fit it into a grid in order to program it on a digital sequencer, but the feel itself as it is played is additive, not analytic. Hope that helps.

[@Henry-uv9xu]

Songs can be in either 3:2 or 2:3, but traditionally they do not switch between 3:2 and 2:3 in the song.

[@MamaRosie]

Phew! I have A LOT to learn!! 🤣

[@RhythmNotes]

Don’t we all!

[@andrewcostanzo3066]

Hello, loved the video. what bongo wall mounts do you have?

[@RhythmNotes]

They’re just ladder hangers like for a garage. The kind that screw into the wall.

[@kingcobra7565]

nice

[@RhythmNotes]

Thanks

[@enepista]

thanks for the good explanation ! can you also try to explain us, why the clave change inside a tune? ( 3-2 /2-3 ) I d like to understand the reason why it moves ,and how to get that right? Are there some styles that are moving it in the same way? Thanks .

[@RhythmNotes]

I haven't come across a song that flips clave. Can you give me a specific example to listen to?

[@CrowdPleeza]

Does any U.S music follow a rhythmic structure that serves a similar purpose as the clave? For example James Brown was known for applying "the one" in his music. Does "the one" serve a similar purpose as the clave?

[@RhythmNotes]

I can’t think of anything. And maybe that’s because U.S. music comes from so much mixing and reinventing of music from parts of the world. Jazz, country, blues, and rock ‘n’ roll all have roots in African American traditions, for example. There’s a certain amount of Afro-Cuban influence filtered through the streets and dance hall bands of the first half of the Twentieth Century. So it’s tough to say because U.S. music is basically whatever people brought here or reinvented it here or combined several elements to make something new from existing musical concepts. … it’s complicated in other words, but it can’t think of a clave-like element in U.S. music.

[@Baadumtishh]

How Did you attach the shekere to a hi hat pedal

[@RhythmNotes]

It's the Michael Spiro model. amzn.to/3eSO17u

[@kaylahamilton7116]

Deep dive

[@RhythmNotes]

✔️

[@RDGLDGRN]

AFRICAN

[@RhythmNotes]

Yep

[@zenobardot]

Exactly, it's African, just like Kevin says in the video. Several styles of Latin music would not exist without these African rhythms--it's an amazingly rich marriage of cultures. It would be nice if we could have heard short examples of actual son or rumba pieces to put the rhythms in context.

[@npast1]

so what is clave? is it some music instrument, looking like those two little black things you are holding, or some musical term? totally lost here, absolute beginner to music theory.

[@RhythmNotes]

Clave is a rhythmic cylce derived from African bell patterns. It has a couple of variations, and the instrument that plays it is also called clave. You can also play the rhythm on other instruments.

[@npast1]

Ah, thank you! No wonder I was confused, it is both. The reason I was interested in clave because am trying to learn to dance mambo, and people sometimes say to pay attention to clave, on 2. - was trying to figure out what that means.

[@xisotopex]

now play weather reports rumba mama

[@RhythmNotes]

That's a great one.

[@purevoicepowercoaching7602]

This is not for beginners.

[@RhythmNotes]

Would you prefer a clave for beginners video?

[@keneokpareke1753]

It's not "latin" music. This didn't come from the Italians of 2000 years ago. It came from Africa.

[@RhythmNotes]

It’s certainly Afro-Cuban, and I explain that the rhythm can from Africa. 00:48 Latin refers to the cultural region spanning from Mexico and throughout South America and the Caribbean. It’s called Latin because most of the languages spoken in this region are Romance languages, which are Latin based like Spanish, French and Portuguese. Hence, Latin America and Latin music.

[@CrowdPleeza]

It's "Latin". Meaning it's dealing with music from Latin America. This Latin American music has partial roots in African music.

[@keneokpareke1753]

@@CrowdPleeza I don't think you are very familiar with African music. This rhythm doesn't have "partial" roots in African music. It has complete roots in African music. Latin American countries today are made up of people from Europe, Africa, the Americas, Asia, etc etc. These specific rhythms came with the Africans, and they are still the basis of African music even today.

[@CrowdPleeza]

@@keneokpareke1753 Latin American music styles like Salsa, Merengue,Samba etc have partial roots in African music. Their other parts are European. You have both African and European instruments being used in these music styles.

[@croakingfrog3173]

It's called Latin Music. It comes from Latin America, not Africa. African influence is strong in Latin music. That does not mean they are the same thing.