Brazilian jazz drummer Celso de Almeida shows you the basic building blocks for a samba beat.
For more lessons with Celso and the BRS-Quartet checkout their full course, Brazilian Rhythm Section.
Video Transcript (English)
Hello, everybody! I’m Celso de Almeida, and today I’m giving you a tip regarding the samba beat. As you may already know, the drum set originated from percussion instruments. So how does that affect our approach to the drums? I start thinking as follows: the bass drum plays the role of the surdo. I can play it in the following manner. I can play it like… 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2… or I can play it… 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2.
As to the snare drum, I’ll play it using the hoop, thinking of a tambourine. 1, 2, 1, 2… Do you follow? 1, 2, 1, 2… And as to the hi-hat, I’m thinking of a shaker.
For this second beat, I started playing the hoop on the downbeat. And if I change the bass drum beat… It’s very important you keep the volume equalized among all pieces. The bass drum, the hoop and the hi-hat must be at the same volume, because it’s the mix that gives us this effect.
I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s tip. Thank you!
