Make a dembow beat in 10 seconds
Pick a groove, tap the grid to change it, then download your beat as a WAV. Tip: tap a step twice for an accent, three times to clear it. Space bar plays and stops.
Save this beat
Saved in this browser only.
How the dembow works
Count each bar in sixteen steps. The kick hits every 4 steps (1, 5, 9, 13). The snare lands on steps 4 and 7, then 12 and 15: a 3 + 3 + 2 pattern called the tresillo, which travelled from West Africa through Cuba and Jamaica to Panama, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.