Learn dembow finger drumming, one part at a time
Dembow is one figure - kick on the one and the "a", snare on the "a" and the "&" - and the whole of reggaeton is built on getting that figure into your hands so completely that you stop counting it. This page teaches the figure first, then dresses it, scoring every pass.
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 6 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 (80, 88, 96, 104) 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 tresillo kick
The one, the "a" of 1, beat 3, the "a" of 3. Three-against-four. Z.
This is the Afro-Cuban tresillo, and once it is in your hand you will hear it in half the records made this century. Count it as long-long-short: 1, the "a", 3, the "a".
2. The dembow snare
The "a" of 1 with the kick, then the "&" of 2 alone. Same in the second half of each bar. C.
Two of the snares land together with a kick and two land on their own, and the lonely ones - the "&" of 2 and the "&" of 4 - are the ones that carry. Give those the weight.
3. Kick and snare together
Both hands, only the click.
Sixteen hits, four of them with both hands at once. The tresillo in the left hand and the dembow in the right: this pair is the whole riddim, and the rest is decoration.
4. The hats
Straight 8ths on A, offbeats a touch louder.
Reggaeton hats are stiff on purpose - no swing, offbeats slightly accented - so the lopsided kick and snare have something square to lean against.
5. The clap
A clap on top of every lonely snare - the "&" of 2 and 4. V.
Doubling the strong snares with a clap makes the backbeat bigger without moving it. Your right hand plays two pads at once here: strike C and V together, or roll the finger across.
6. Everything
Kick, snare, clap, hats. No help.
The full dembow by hand. The tresillo has to be automatic in the left hand by now; if it is not, go back to step one and stay there.
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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.