Cha-Cha-Cha drum pattern
A one-bar cha-cha-chá on kit: the cha-cha bell on the quarter notes, a güiro-style shaker in long-short-short, the conga slap on 2, open tones on 4 and its and, and a light kick. Press Play to hear it with a sampled drum kit at 118 BPM, change the tempo or swing, and follow every hit on the grid.
How to count the Cha-Cha-Cha
Count it as: 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &. The pattern is one bar of 4/4 (one-bar eighth-note cha-cha-chá).
The Cha-Cha-Cha pattern, hit by hit
Each character is one step of the grid and each group is one beat. X is an accented hit, x a normal hit, o a quiet or ghost note and - a rest.
| Voice | Pattern |
|---|---|
| Kick | x- -- x- -- |
| Snare | -- x- -- -- |
| Cowbell | x- x- x- x- |
| Shaker | o- oo o- oo |
| High tom | -- -- -- xx |
Tempo and feel
Elegant and unhurried. The two open tones on 4 and its and are the cha-cha and beat 1 is the chá; let them lead into the downbeat. The default tempo is 118 BPM. Slow it down until every hit is controlled, then raise the tempo a few BPM at a time.
How to practise the Cha-Cha-Cha
Play the bell on the quarter notes with 1 and 3 a little heavier. Add the left hand: the slap on 2, then the open tones on 4 and the and of 4. Add the light kick on 1 and 3 and listen for the güiro shaker's long-short-short.
Variations to try next
Fill in the conga's heel and toe strokes with quiet snare ghosts on the other eighths. Play the open tones on the floor tom for a deeper tumba sound. Move the bell to the ride bell for a Latin-jazz cha-cha.
Where to hear this feel
Records in this family include Cuban charanga cha-cha-chás of the 1950s. A practice study of the Cuban cha-cha-chá rhythm section mapped onto the kit. The right hand plays the cencerro, the cha-cha-chá bell, on the quarter notes; the güiro's long-short-short scrape (1, 2, the and of 2, 3, 4, the and of 4) is a shaker layer that no limb plays; and the left hand plays the conga tumbao's slap on 2 on the snare and its two open tones on 4 and the and of 4 on the high tom, the cha-cha that leads into the chá on 1. The heavier bell on 1 and 3 and the light kick on 1 and 3 for the bass are informed choices; the conga's quiet heel and toe strokes and the timbale fills are left out. Every part repeats each bar, so the groove sits the same in either clave direction, and the clave is left to the band. It is authored for practice, not transcribed.