IF YOU CAN PLAY A BLUES,

funk, reggae, or swing-jazz

shuffle, youre familiar with
12/8 time. You may even un-
derstand the mechanics of 12/8after all,
its simply 4/4 time with three eighth-notes
per downbeat instead of just two. But do
you have 12/8 truly nailed? One way to find
outand become more groove literate in
the processis to learn the Agbekor bell
pattern. This must-know African rhythm
shows up everywhere, including Cuban
and Caribbean music, and in western pop,
funk, and jazz.
First, make sure you can strum triplets
solidly (Ex. 1). To get your body involved,
put your guitar aside, tap your foot in fa-
miliar 4/4 time, and with each tap, say tri-
puh-let, evenly splitting each beat into
three parts. Now, move your right hand as
if youre strumming each syllable. Notice
that if you start the first triplet with a down-
strum, the second must start with an up-
strum, and so on. Finally, grab your guitar,
choose a chord, and strum these triplets un-
til you can handle 12/8 at a range of tempos.
Now youre ready to bring out the ac-
cents that make up the Agbekor bell pat-
tern (Ex. 2). Learning the rhythm is easy
if you accent the syllables as follows: tri-
puh-let tri-puh-let tri-puh-let tri-puh-let.
The boldfaced syllables represent the
bell hits, the others are the rests. To see
how the bell pattern manifests in a James
Brown-flavored funk shuffle, move on to
Ex. 3. Stay in the pocket by keeping your
strumming motion going at all times, and
half-lifting your chords on the rests to mute
the strings. Once youve got it down, try
reversing your strumming order, which will
give the rhythm a brand new feel. Remem-
ber, with African and African-derived mu-
sic, the old adage is especially true: The
notes you dont play are just as important
as the ones you do.
Ethnomusicologist Tom Beardslee
currently works with Guinean singer Sek-
ouba Bambino, and is writing a thesis on
Ghanaian music. Contact him at guitar-
traveler.com. g
C
H
O
P
S
B
U
I
L
D
E
R

12/ 8 RhythmTrainer

BY TO M BEA RDS LEE

- - -

-

- -

strum:
say: tri - puh - let tri - puh - let tri - puh - let tri - puh - let
Ex. 1
_

Ex. 2

T
A
B
j `

,
,
,

,
,
,

,
,
,
,
,
,

,
,
,
_

,
,
,

,
,
,
4
2
3 3
2
4
-
( )
-
( )
-

-
( )
-
( )
-
( )
Em6 Em7
9
9
8
9
9
8
9
9
8
9
9
8
9
8
10
9
8
10
9
8
10
( ) = muted strokes
, = 100-160
Ex. 3
guitarplayer.com APRIL 2002 GUITAR PLAYER 147