Learn Afrobeat finger drumming, one part at a time
Afrobeat is built from parts that avoid each other - a bell, two congas, a kick and a snare that each take a different set of 16ths - and it is the page here that teaches you to build a groove out of interlocking pieces rather than stacked ones. One part at a time, the bell first.
How this page teaches
The whole groove is already in the machine - open EDIT and it is there on the grid, 2 bars of it. The LEARN panel takes it a part at a time, in 7 steps. Press LISTEN and the part you are learning plays, with the pads lighting as it goes and everything you have already learned running underneath it. Press YOUR TURN and that part goes silent: the loop keeps going, you play the part yourself, and every pass of the loop is scored - hits landed, hits missed, extra hits, and how far off the grid you were. Two clean passes in a row and the step is yours; NEXT adds the next part on top of what you can already play.
The tempo buttons (90, 100, 114, 120) are the most important control here. Learn each part slow, bring it up one notch at a time, and only play the last step at full speed once the one before it is clean at full speed. Your place is remembered, so come back tomorrow and the step you were on is waiting.
Hands
The pads are the same shape as the keyboard: Z X C V along the bottom, A S D F above, Q W E R above that, 1 2 3 4 on top. Each step names its pads and keys, and the pads it wants are ringed on the grid. Play quietly by default - every pad reads velocity, and the quiet parts are supposed to be quiet. If a hit lights the pad bright white, that was a loud one.
The steps
1. The bell
The timeline: 1, the "a" of 1, the "&" of 2, the "&" of 3, beat 4. R, right hand.
In Afrobeat the bell is the clock, not the kick. Five strokes a bar in a pattern that never quite repeats where you expect - learn it against the click until you can sing it, because every other part is placed against it.
2. The high conga
Answers the bell in the gaps: the "a" of 1, the "e" of 3, the "a" of 4. W.
The conga fills the holes the bell leaves rather than doubling it. If you find yourself landing with the bell, you are on the wrong stroke.
3. The low conga
Pairs of strokes - "&" then "a" - of 2 and 4, with a lone one on the "&" of 3 in bar two. Q.
Two congas interlocking with a bell is the heart of the style: three parts that avoid each other. Play the low conga as doubles, the second stroke softer.
4. The kick
The one, the "&" of 2, the "&" of 3. Z.
The kick is not the centre here - it gets the one and two offbeats and stays out of the percussion's way. Keep it light; the bell is still the clock.
5. The early snare
Beat 2, then the "a" of 3 - a 16th before the four, where a rock snare would wait. C.
The snare that arrives a sixteenth early is the Tony Allen signature: it pulls the second half of the bar forward and leaves beat 4 to the bell. Listen for it landing just before the fourth bell stroke.
6. The hats
Straight 8ths on A, offbeats accented.
Afrobeat hats accent the "&"s, not the beats - the opposite of rock - so they sit with the offbeat bell strokes. Light and even.
7. Everything
Six pads. Two hands. Nothing underneath.
This is an ensemble part played by one person, and it is the hardest page here to play in full. Split it: right hand on bell and congas, left on kick, snare and hats, and build it at 90 before you ask for 114.
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BAP Studio is inspired by classic 16-pad sampler and drum-machine workflows. It is an independent project and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Akai Professional, Roland, or any other manufacturer.
Made by Max Berggren.