Today I want to go over a couple of ways that we can work on a two-drum pattern in the "up" section of an arrangement, while playing the tumbadora on the "two side" of the clave. If any of this sounds completely new to you, please take a second to watch last week's lesson, where we focused on playing the tumbadora on the "three side" of the clave, which is often considered its more common role. Now, playing the tumbadora on either the "two side" or the "three side" is something that we'll need to get really comfortable with as we start to deepen our understanding of the clave.

So this first pattern is super simple. All we're going to do is work on a two-bar phrase in 2-3 clave, where we'll play two low-drum open tones on the "and" of two and beat three in the first bar, which coincides with the "two side" of the clave. And we'll use the common one-bar tumbao as the foundation.

Now, since the tumbadora is more commonly played on the "three side," if we want to be more deliberate about which direction of the clave we're playing in, we can simply play a single open tone on beat four in the second bar, to emphasize that we're on the "three side" of the clave. This open tone will line up with the third note of the son clave, which will leave no doubt that we're playing our pattern correctly with respect to the clave.

We can also work on this as a four-bar or eight-bar phrase, by simply choosing to play the tumbadora once every four or eight bars instead of every two.

Now just like we worked on in the last lesson, at a certain tempo, or just to make the sticking flow better, it might be a bit more comfortable for us to move our right-hand slap on beat two over to the "and" of one, so we can free up our right hand to get to the tumbadora. So, instead of starting that bar by playing palm, tip, slap (that's left, left, right), our first three strokes will be palm, slap, tip (that's left, right, left).

Let's hear what this sounds like as a four-bar phrase in 2-3 clave. And this time, let's use our modern one-drum tumbao as the foundation. So, we'll only play our tumbadora strokes in the third bar of the phrase, which will continue to line up with the "two side" of the clave.

After I played the tumbadora in bar three, I decided to play ghost, open, on the last two eighth notes of the bar, just like in our modern one-drum tumbao. But you can feel free to play those as two open tones instead. However, by making sure that we adhere to the accents from our modern one-drum tumbao, we're making it very clear which side of the clave we're on in each respective bar.

Now seeing as playing the tumbadora on the "two side" is more of a modern approach in terms of how it's been used, I think it's super important to be deliberate about how and when we choose to play "in clave." This of course is something that we'll develop a feel for the more we listen to and analyze different players and recordings. So, when you're listening to your favorite records, make sure you pay close attention to if and when the conga player is being deliberate about emphasizing the clave.

This isn't something that's set in stone, and there's no concrete right or wrong way to go about it, as long as you're respecting which side of the clave you're on. Now that can simply mean playing two open tones on the conga every time you get to beat four in each bar, like in our common tumbao, which is perfectly fine. Or making sure you distinguish more clearly by playing a single open tone on beat four, on the "three side" of the clave, for example. This is something that you'll generally hear more commonly used in a more modern salsa or timba context. But ultimately, it boils down to personal preference, while making sure we respect the style of the particular artist, song, or arrangement we're playing.

So, let's work on one more simple variation on this pattern that you'll hear often in a modern context. We'll continue to work on it as a four-bar phrase, playing the tumbadora in the third bar. And all we're going to do is play our right-hand slap on the "and" of one as a low-drum muffled tone instead.

You can feel free to repeat this as a four-bar phrase as you begin to master it. But in a musical context, this variation might only be used once every eight or sixteen bars, or even once in an entire song, just to add some variety to the groove in a way that doesn't disturb the constant flow of eighth notes that the conga is playing for the better part of most arrangements in popular dance styles such as salsa or timba.

For now, let's work on combining the last two patterns we worked on into a longer, eight-bar phrase, at a bit faster tempo, over one of our Los Van Van-inspired loops from CongaChops.com. In the first four bars, we'll play a right-hand slap on the "and" of one in the third bar, just before moving to the tumbadora. And in the second four-bar phrase, we'll play that stroke as a low-drum muffled tone instead. Let's check it out.

Now if you're not hip to Los Van Van, I strongly encourage you to spend some serious time checking them out. They're one of the most prolific Cuban bands of all time. And through their almost six decades of recorded music, they've cemented and maintained a style all their own, rooted in the songo genre which they created, while at the same time evolving and staying current with each new generation of Cuban musicians.

As for the patterns we covered in this lesson, they can work great in a wide variety of settings, styles, and genres. So just keep an ear out as you listen to more and more music, to hear how and when they're used. Now, make sure you take the time to study each pattern slowly, working on the sticking and tones, and most importantly, being aware of which side of the clave you're playing the tumbadora on as you start to speed them up and work on your feel.

Now, just as with the patterns from last week's lesson, there's no concrete right or wrong way to use these variations, as long as you do so with respect to the clave, and of course respecting the style or genre you're accompanying in. In a more modern context, playing the tumbadora on the "three side" can be used in tandem with playing it on the "two side" as part of a longer phrase. And in some more old-school recordings, but not limited to this style, you may hear that the conga player will base their playing for an entire section on only one of either of these two variations.