The Clave Page

'Claves' is the name for an instrument used in Caribbean music, composed of two short but thick sticks, usually of as hard a wood as possible, often rosewood. They have great cutting power despite their small size, and play a very important role in certain types of music, especially Latin music.

The Term 'clave' also refers to the rhythms played on these instruments, and to the concept which is embodied in these rhythms. The clave acts as a sort of backbone, a guide, if you will, to which the other instruments and the dancers synchronize themselves..If the other rhythms line up properly with the clave rhythm, the music is said to be "in clave". Traditionally the clave rhythm was always heard on the claves, but nowadays, a timbalero or other percussionist may be playing the clave rhythm on a wood or plastic block, along with other parts. If you watch, for example, Horacio El Negro play drumset, you will even see him play the clave rhythm with his left foot, using a special pedal apparatus called a "Gajate" pedal, named after "Gajate" Richie Garcia, who invented it. The first person I personally saw using the Gajate pedal to play clave was Alex Acuna. Michael Spiro made excellent use of it when Talking Drums did a workshop at a Guitar Center here. Quite a few people are doing it now.

So, people have taken the clave concept and developed its application, but it has been around for a very long time, longer than written history can document. My music therapist friend Kwasi Siaw-Lattey , from Ghana tells me that they have the same type of concept there, but that it is known as the 'timeline'. Suffice it to say that the clave concept has African roots, and while it is more obvious in Latin music, it is also often present in funk, Hip Hop, R&B, and many other styles, although it doesn't always appear with the claves themselves, or starting at the same place in the loop. It is also interesting to note that many of the popular West African djembe and djun djun dance rhythms such as Fanga and Yankadi Macru also are 'in clave', although claves (the sticks) are not actually used..

Clave Patterns

There are different forms of clave rhythms, some which fit into 4/4 and some into 6/8, and so on. The two forms of clave we will look at today include the 4/4 Son clave and the Rumba clave, in both forward and reverse versions.

Musicians often write clave patterns as 2 measures or bars of 4/4 time, but dancers will often see this same length of loop as a single 8 count. We will be counting here as two bars of 4/4.

About "forward" and "reverse" clave: Forward (three-two) and reverse (two-three) clave patterns are really the same pattern started from different points in the loop. This is true for Son, Rumba, and 6/8 clave patterns.

Son Clave
Son Clave is, as one might expect, the clave pattern used with the Cuban rhythm known as the Son, a sort of grandparent of modern Salsa. This is also the main clave pattern for the Cha-Cha, Merengue, the Guajira, and a number of other rhythms. It is here counted as two bars of 4/4.

Forward Son Clave (Click to Listen)

For intermediate students who already know the basics - Try this: Play the green part with your strong hand and the red part with the other hand, then, when you get comfortable, switch hands. Learn to go back and forth, playing clave with either hand while playing cascara with the other one. Practice slowly at first. Speed will come automatically with familiarity.

Rumba Clave

Forward Rhumba Clave

Reverse Rhumba This is the way you might hear rumba clave most often zx used in Guaguanco..

Listen to the rumba pattern with cascara (normally 2-3, we recorded and represent it that way here. Notice that we counted it here as one bar of sixteenth notes, as often happens.)