Latin grooves are some of the most fun things you can play on a drum set. The style is incredibly vibey and energetic with a lot of that energy coming from the drum parts.
In my day job as a full-time drum teacher, I get asked about latin beats and grooves quite often by my students. So I’ve decided to talk about a few good ones here, along with sheet music.
Before we get into the beats, there are some things you need to know about Latin drumming.
Table of Contents
Difficulty
Latin drumming is arguably the most difficult form of drumming you can get into. It’s right up there with jazz. Latin and jazz often get played in similar gigging scenarios. So, it’s important that you have a firm grasp of the fundamentals of drumming before you take a dive into the Latin world.
You should be able to play a few basic beats and fills. You should also know how to read basic drum notation. If you’ve got those things down, you should be good to go.
Coordination
The reason Latin drumming is difficult is because it involves a lot of coordination between your limbs. Latin music is full of well-known rhythms and your hands and feet need to often play those rhythms at the same time.
You need to have great control over your hands and feet to be able to pull Latin grooves off confidently. This is why absolute beginners often struggle with it a lot. Fortunately for them, the grooves I’ll discuss below are as beginner-friendly as possible within the realm of Latin drumming.
Now, onto the grooves!
5 Latin Grooves
Bossa Nova
The first groove is arguably the easiest one to learn. Bossa Novas are typically played at slow to medium tempos. The groove has three aspects to it. The first part to learn is the 8th note pattern on the hi-hat. Make sure that it sounds like a steady shaker.
The next thing to do is work on the snare drum part. Your snare drum is playing what is called a clave rhythm. Lastly, you need to add your bass drum. The bass drum pattern repeats consistently for the whole groove.
Cha Cha
The Cha Cha has a driving feel to it. This feel is accented by the repeating cross-sticks on all the quarter note pulses. Combining the 8th note hi-hat part with the pulsing cross-sticks should be relatively easy to do.
Once you’re comfortable with that, add the bass drum rhythms. Cha Cha’s are often played at relatively high tempos. So, the double bass drums at the end of the bar will need some good practice to be able to play consistently.
Basic Latin
The Basic Latin is a bit more open than the previous two grooves. The trick to this one is bringing your hi-hat foot into the mix. You’re now using all four limbs to play this groove, so be ready to concentrate on your coordination.
Your right hand is playing quarter notes on the ride cymbal while your left hand is moving between the snare drum and toms. Your feet are alternating on all the quarter notes.
The best way to achieve the four-way coordination needed for this groove is to read the notation slowly and count out loud while you’re playing.
Samba
The Samba is a slightly more difficult to play than the other grooves on this list since it’s meant to be played at high tempos. The rhythms in the Samba are very similar to the ones in the Bossa Nova. So, make sure you can play a Bossa comfortably before taking this groove on.
There are many variations of a Samba. The one that I’ve notated here has the typical bass drum and hi-hat repeating ostinato. You’re going to need to have good foot technique to be able to play that at a fast tempo.
Your left hand is playing the same clave pattern as the Bossa. However, you’re playing an open snare drum in this case. Your right hand is playing straight 8ths on the ride cymbal.
Songo
The last groove is a breath of fresh air as no limb coordination is needed. This Songo groove is linear, meaning no drums are being played at the same time. The main theme that forms a Songo groove is the repeating bass drum rhythm. Make sure that you kick the bass drum fairly hard for this groove.
Your hands are filling in the rest of the groove between the ride cymbal and the snare drum. Pay careful attention to which snares are ghost notes and which are normal notes. Nailing the dynamics will make the groove sound very organic.
Here’s a video of me playing some more advanced linear grooves.
Closing Thoughts
These five grooves will equip you to play most Latin songs out there. You’ll find that when you work on these, your limb coordination will improve with other grooves as well. That’s one of the best parts about learning to play Latin beats.
Make sure to work on them with a metronome. You need to get them sounding as clean as you possibly can.
