5 Rhythms That Changed My Life (Important Patterns for Ableton, FL Studio - Splice)

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In this video, Nick from Splice shares 5 life-changing and important rhythms that can be used from anything to drum patterns to basslines, melodies, or chords!

00:00 - Intro
00:11 - Tresillo
1:41 - Hemiola
2:57 - 12/8 Bell
4:00 - Clave
5:18 - ThaDhiGiNaThom
6:23 - Outro

One of the incredible things about music is the infinite possibilities that you have when it comes to aspects like rhythms and patterns.

That said, there are some particularly influential rhythms that have shaped a wide array of genres and styles across the globe. Below, we summarize the origins and musical qualities of five of these rhythms—make sure you also check out our video tutorial above to learn more and hear them in action.

1. Tresillo
The tresillo is the most fundamental rhythmic pattern in Sub-Saharan African music as well as Latin American music. The term translates to “triplet”—that said, it’s important to note that even though there are three notes in the rhythm, it’s a duple-based pattern (meaning we divide the beat with even numbers). In common time, the tresillo could look like two dotted quarter notes followed by a quarter note.

2. Hemiola
An extremely common application of polyrhythms, the hemiola creates a two-against-three feel (i.e. one rhythm is playing three evenly-spaced notes in the same duration of time that another rhythm is playing two). Hemiolas are widely used in drum patterns as well as melodies.

3. 12/8 bell
Also simply known as “the bell pattern” in Central and Western African music, the 12/8 bell is a unique pattern that can easily be heard in both 4 and in 3. An audio illusion of sorts, this pattern can really open up a listener’s ears to the idea of rhythmic perception.

4. Clave
The clave is one of the staple rhythms of many Afro-Cuban genres as well as Sub-Saharan African music. It’s a four-beat pattern that builds on the structure of the tresillo, and slight variations create the son clave, rumba clave, 2-3 son clave, and 2-3 rumba clave. Influences of this rhythm can be found across an incredibly wide range of genres, even including the likes of EDM and hip hop.

5. Tha dhi gi na thom
Last but not least, tha dhi gi na thom is an element of the South Indian tradition known as Solkattu. Constituted by five-note groupings, this rhythm can really help musicians develop their understanding of subdivision and tuplets.

#rhythms #drumpatterns #musicproduction
#splice
#sampling
#beatmaking
#beats
#beatmaker

5 Rhythms That Changed My Life (Important Patterns for Ableton, FL Studio, etc...)

5 Rhythms That Changed My Life(FL Studio, Ableton, Logic etc...)

[splice]

What other types of videos would you like to see on our channel?

[asiullopes]

i really wasn't expecting this video to be so thorough and mind blowingly diverse. i'm latin-american and is simply amazing to know not only the rhythms but their names and origin. this video might change my life

[crtnycrtny]

This is why I love watching videos from Splice. I did not even know that there were names for these rhythms. Thank you, Nick ! 💎✨🔥🙏🏿

[BoogieBoogsForever]

Fun fact, for the clave, it means key, but also it's the term for the type/cut of wood used to play it.
The claves are two identical, short woodeb cylindars.

[ClickerFest]

As someone of Ghanaian descent it's amazing to see Ghana being recognised for their influence on rhythm. Thank you for this great video and pronunciation of Ewe

[RmaNYouTube]

6:18 blender detected, respect for this guy to even make the motion graphics of his tutorial himself.

[sjb]

this guy is using blender as video editor. what a king bruh

[rawr]

3:33 Absolutely, the perception of rhythm is so fun to play with!

I've made tracks using 5/4 having a melody play ten normal 8th notes and then lowering the tempo slightly playing the same ten notes but with five-tuplets instead in 4/4...

So the "personal/subjective tempo" of the ten notes of the main focus, the main melody being played, is almost exactly the same, but everything else around it changes. In other words the actual absolute length of the notes don't change even though both the tempo and their designation changes (from straight 8ths to fivetuplet 8ths).

Such a fun track to make!

This video reminded me of that and has made me want to make more! (and I'm only halfway through the video)

Thanks!

[PapaBPoppin]

Watched this earlier, hopped on the sequencer and in 5min had a much more interesting sound than I had achieved before. Just watched again to retain more and put into practice shortly. Thank you so much for this knowledgeable insight and helping to broaden my international ear!

[bhaveshtochabbra]

If you explore more of the Indian music, there is lot of learning from there. Id love to learn.

[mrjoeybeats]

Love that this dude gives credit to the homies who taught b4 him🐐

[electropunkzero]

Wow, this really opened my eyes. I've learned a lot of theory, but almost none of it was related to rhythm like this. This was enlightening.

[handldyDandidlyD.ezzzzz]

only after finding a desire to make my own music did i realize how much more i could have learned and absorbed from carnatic music, which i felt i was 'forced' to learn growing up. very clear and informative vid thanks mate

[CandidNib]

Can't believe this is free! Thank you for adding so much value to community

[mieszkogulinski]

Tresillo in melody is used in, for example, Airbase - Genie (in the main synth), and sometimes (or often?) in bassline in trance tracks.

[cccootje]

This video is amazing. I love it when people use the origin and show examples from real songs to reinforce the examples.

[ReyHolliday]

Really amazing breakdown and infographics that ties these rhythms to their origin. Kudos to Nick.

[Wierdly-]

I love that you went into the origin and history of these rhythms

[TwoPieceSam]

I was really going to skip this but I’m so glad I didn’t; absolutely riveting, informational and historical to watch! Fantastic video.

[mrboss]

Tresillo is also what some call the “drill pattern” used with hi hats and countersnares within a majority of drill songs