Bongo Beat

Martillo Rhythm

The Martillo bongo beat is fundamental to bongo drumming. Bongo players use it to establish a rhythm or underlying structure to songs. There are numerous variations that you can make to this beat.

Below I’ve included some exercises to get you started playing around with the Martillo rhythm. Make sure you have the basic Martillo beat down before moving on to variations.



The basic beat is straight eighth notes using an alternating R,L, hand pattern. The strikes in order are:

Open Slap
Fingers
Open Tone
Thumb
Open Slap
Fingers
Open Tone (on Hembra)
Thumb

Once you get the bongo pattern down, you can throw in all kinds of variations and fills. The basic beat is used to establish rhythm and the bongo player returns to this pattern after deviating from it with fills.

Below are just a few ideas for expanding upon the beat to help you get started. There is really no limit to what you can do with this pattern. The main thing is that you want to maintain a constant rhythm that can come back into the basic beat. Play each exercise through a couple times before moving on and then you can mix them all or create your own. Have fun.



Not much changes here, but on the last beat, you play an open tone on the hembra.



Builds upon the previous pattern by adding another open tone hembra note at the beginning and removing a note in the second measure.



Basic martillo rhythm with a couple notes removed to add a little flavor.



Plenty of open tones in this one. Switch your hand patterns up some in this one so you can practice the slap with your left hand and the finger/thumb strikes with your right.

Having trouble reading the notation? Learn how to read bongo music.

Below is a short video I made that lets you hear the beat and see how it is played.





Leave The Martillo Bongo Beat and See More Bongo Drum Lessons.