Reggae patterns

[rprjunior]

Hi, anybody can send to me reggae bongo patterns?
THANKS!!!
rprjunior@ig.com.br

[zaragemca]

There have not been extensive use of bongos in to that music,Congas have been used for some Bands,the pattern for the Congas in that music is the same one used for Blues,Swing and some king of New Orleans Jazz,which is the one I used when playing percussion in that kind of Music.

[Raymond]

Never seen it in a reggae bands but is possible to have bongos on it. Just out of the top of my head, the bongos could play along the same beats of the "typical" bass line of a reggae song following the regular beats used while playing a latin song.

The general pattern of a bongo or the "martillo" is, following 4/4, is three beats of eighth notes in the macho and a quarter note in the hembra and repeat. (Some might do it slightly different but that is the basic martillo).

If you try the "martilllo" , it sorts of accomodate to the bass line of reggae (Slight difference but close enough). In my opinion, you could try the "martillo" with anything even if it requires adjusting it to the beat of the particular song. How would you vary will depend how much you want to accomodate to the bass line/rhythm section or supplement it. As an example, you could a quarter notes triplet in the macho and then a quarter in the hembra, etc, etc. Don't forget like with latin music you could do some beats of improvisation and then go back to the "martillo" or regular pattern again.

Good luck! Let's see what others have to say....

Saludos!

[zaragemca]

It is an area which is open to try out,of the few Bands which have used percussion are Ben Harper and 'Steel Pulse' for U.K,I did accomodate the Congas,and the Bongos could be accomodated in to the structure.The several times which I have played the Bob Marley's festival in Houston I've played Drum-Set or Congas.(King Cobra Band).



Edited By zaragemca on Dec. 04 2003 at 20:13

[yoni]

I guess bongos are not used in traditional reggae as much as some goatskin drums, but I like using bongos in reggae. For the older, "Marley" type of reggae I base the two low notes, the "heartbeat", on the low bongo and do offbeats and so on on its edge or on the macho.

[RayBoogie]

When playing "Waiting in Vain", with my band. I use the martillo patterns with fills and it sounds awesome!!!

[Johnny Conga]

I was over a friend of mines house yesterday who is a Rastafari. Bongos are not really used in Reggae music but the Niyabingi drum of the Rastafari/Jamaica. Which is a "tube" like drum, narrow and high pitched to the same as the "macho" on bongos. The playing as I heard on a Cd he played for me is "accented" in almost 16th notes at times,on the upbeats. with sporadic beats around that. Check out some Reggae music and you'll hear what I'm talking about.....At your Service...JC JOHNNY CONGA... :;):

[James M]

Reggae has that backbeat accented swing. The triplet patterns below are just the approximate feel.

x.xX.Xx.xx.X..xX.Xx.xx.X

Anybody have a favorite Reggae artist? Mine will have to be Burning Spear. It's hard to groove more than He and His on "Dry and Heavy".

[muddy323]

I use bongo, congas, wood blocks in reggae...those triplets sound good.

[congastu]

Hi all,
On this subject, we [www.thehatband.com!!] just put down some percussion on a reggae track. Really minimal stuff, just triangle and guiro, but it worked a treat. Heres the grooves:
triangle- OXXOOXXOOetc
guiro- DUD.DUDU
> >~~
D=down, U=up, > =accented, ~~ drawn out stroke
Hope this makes sense
Stu
ps: Ill definately go with Burning Spear and Steel Pulse [Especially Handsworth Revolution]. For other percussion heavy stuff, check out Prince Far I or the Upsetters.

[congastu]

Sorry, the guiro should be DUD.DUDU
> >~
Peace and love, Stu

[congastu]

Nope, those accents arent lining up: it should be 2 and 4 for the accents, with a long scrape on the and of 4- Stu

[James M]

Something like this?
<tt>
> >~
DUD.DUDU
</tt>

[congastu]

Thats exactly it! Sorry, I was fighting with the keyboard over that one!

[James M]

I used the

Code: Select all

<tt>

html tag to force a monospace font. At the guitar forum, i've made alot of guitar tabs for others and you can't do that without it.