Central Asian drum rhythms
	Updated: 10 Mar 2009

This page is part of Kamuran's Guide for Doumbek Players.

These are from Deirdre and Boru's Drumming Cheat Sheet - Central Asian Rhythms and are listed here with their approval. They designated each rhythm only by a letter to reflect the fact that the rhythms have no names.

On this page, I've arranged them by length (3 to 16 counts) and complexity (easier ones first).

Please note that I have no idea how likely it would be that any of these rhythms would have historically been played on a Middle Eastern or African drum...

=L=

[easy] 
1-+-2-+-3-+- 
D - t k t k   == also see Zar
 

=E=

[easy]
1-+-2-+-3-+-4-+-
D - t k t k t k   == also see Wahida
 

=Q=

[easy-medium]
1-+-2-+-3-+-4-+-
D - r - D - t k   == also see Ayoub
 

=C=

[easy-medium]
1-+-2-+-3-+-4-+-
D - - - k k k k
 

=B=

[easy-medium]
1-+-2-+-3-+-4-+-
D - - - t k k -
 

=D=

[medium, syncopated]
1-+-2-+-3-+-4-+-
D - - D t k t k
 

=F=

[medium, syncopated]
1-+-2-+-3-+-4-+-
D t - - k D D -
D k - - K d d -   == me

=K=

[medium-tough, syncopated]
1-+-2-+-3-+-4-+-5-+- 
k k - t k t k - D -
 

=J=

[easy-medium]
1-+-2-+-3-+-4-+-5-+-6-+- 
D - t - t - - - D - t -   == similar to Samai Darij
  

=A=

[easy-medium, syncopated]
1-+-2-+-3-+-4-+-5-+-6-+-7-+-8-+-

t k t k - - D - D - - - T - - -
(play this so it sounds like a four-count)
 

=G=

[medium-tough, syncopated]
1-+-2-+-3-+-4-+-5-+-6-+-7-+-8-+-
D - t t - D - t t - D t t - T -

=I=

[tough]
1-+-2-+-3-+-4-+-5-+-6-+-7-+-8-+-
D t k t k D t - D D t k D t k t   == count 5,3,4,4 or 5,3,5,3

=N=

[easy-medium]
1-+-2-+-3-+-4-+- 1-+-2-+-3-+-4-+-5-+-6-+-
D - - - D - - -  t k t - D - - - t - - -  
(play this so that it sounds like a five-count) 

1-+-2-+-3-+-4-+-5-+-
D - D - tkt D - t -   == same as above on a 5-count scale
 

=O=

[easy-medium]
1-+-2-+-3-+-4-+- 1-+-2-+-3-+-4-+-5-+-6-+-
D - - - D - - -  t k t - D - t - t - - - 
(play this so that it sounds like a five-count) 

1-+-2-+-3-+-4-+-5-+-
D - D - tkt D t t -   == same as above on a 5-count scale
 

=M=

[tough, syncopated]
1-+-2-+-3-+-4-+-5-+-6-+- 1-+-2-+-3-+-4-+-5-+-6-+- 1-+-2-+-3-+-4-+-
D - - - t k t - - - D -  - - t k t - - - D - - -  t k t - - - T -
 

=H=

[tough, syncopated]
1-+-2-+-3-+-4-+-5-+-6-+- 1-+-2-+-3-+-4-+-5-+-6-+- 1-+-2-+-3-+-4-+-
D - - - - t k t k - D -  - - - t k t k - D - - -  t k t k T - - -

Here are links to the other rhythm pages on this site...
 

 

Thanks for reading!

 

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Original page posted: December 11, 2003 • Last tweaked: May 1, 2009
 
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