From theory — Western theory · Note values. Rhythm room: Timelines · Catalogue. The timeline is the rhythm; the kit is where you play it.
Sangeet Yatra

Timelines on the Kit

A timeline is a short pattern that repeats all the way through a piece, and everything else is felt against it. Clave and the bossa nova pattern are timelines. On a kit it is a part for one hand, over a pulse the feet and the other hand keep.

The setup

Each groove has a Wheel under it: the same pattern bent into a circle, one ring per limb, with twelve o'clock as beat one and an arm that sweeps round as it plays. The shape each limb draws is the pattern; two grooves that look different on the grid are often one shape turned.

Play the timeline on the snare (as a cross-stick if you can; here it sounds as a plain snare hit). Keep the hat on every quarter and the kick on 1 and 3. The only thing that changes from one groove to the next is the snare line, and it is written exactly as the Rhythm room lists it.

Tresillo, the 3-3-2 cell

Eight eighths grouped long, long, short. The cell inside most of the others.

Son clave, 3-2 and 2-3

Two bars, three hits in one and two in the other. Swap which bar comes first and the same pattern is 2-3. Everything that plays with it has to know which way round it is.

Rumba clave

Son clave with the third hit of the three-side pushed one step later. It is the small difference that makes it feel less square.

Bossa nova clave

Same two-bar shape, a different spacing, and the one you will hear most often in Brazilian music.

Three from West Africa and Central Africa

Same setup, different timelines. Shiko is the plainest of the three, gahu comes from Ghana and soukous from Central Africa. Each is two bars, like son clave.

Bembé bell, in 12

The same idea in twelve: three beats' worth of triplets, four beats to the bar, and a bell pattern that leans on the offbeats. Here the bell is the ride's bell, with the hat on every beat and the kick on 1 and 3.

Hands first, then feet. If the snare line falls apart once the kick joins, play the timeline alone with the click, add the hat, and bring the kick in last. Say the count out loud while you play: the room's timelines page shows where to put the words.