Grooves · 104 BPM · 6/8 · straight · 16 bars · moderate
The festejo groove on cajón
The Afro-Peruvian 6/8 the cajón was invented to play.
What you play
B bass · S snare · g ghost · restThe base pattern8 bars · 1 written ×8
Count six, feel two. The bass lands on 1 and 4, the snare answers on 3 and 6, and the whole thing should lope rather than march.
With the pickup8 bars · 1 written ×8
A ghost turns into a bass on 5, pushing into the next bar. This is the variation that stops eight bars of festejo sounding like a loop.
How to play it
- 1Play only the two basses , counting the six out loud, until the bar arrives as two and not as six.
- 2Add the snares on 3 and 6, then let the ghosts in last and keep them under everything.
- 3Work it up until you can hold it without the bass on 4 growing to match the bass on 1.
- 4Loop With the pickup on its own until the extra bass on 5 stops dragging the next downbeat late.
- 5Record about 90 seconds of The base pattern in headphones.
Listen forA bar that lopes in two rather than marching in six, the bass on 1 heavier than the bass on 4, matched snares on 3 and 6, and a tempo that holds.
start 73 · pass 104 BPM · take about 90s
Record a take
I start the backing at 73 BPM, count one bar, and stop after about 90s. Phone about a metre away, facing the front plate. Headphones, or the microphone hears the backing as you. You get my notes within a minute of sending it.
Watch out for
- • The 6/8 straightening out into 4/4
- • All four accents at the same weight, which turns it into a march
- • The pickup bass on 5 landing late and pulling the next bar with it
Festejo on cajón: the Afro-Peruvian 6/8 groove the instrument was built for, counted out and broken down slot by slot.
If you only learn one groove that is genuinely the cajón’s own, learn this one. Festejo is Afro-Peruvian, it is where the instrument comes from, and it sounds like nothing a drum kit can do.
It is in 6/8, which means you count six but you feel two. Say “one-two-three four-five-six” with a slight lean on 1 and 4 and you have the pulse. Most players coming from pop try to force it into 4/4 and end up with something stiff and wrong, so get the counting in your mouth before your hands.
The lope
The thing that makes festejo sound right is that it is not even. The bass on 1 is the heaviest thing in the bar, the bass on 4 is lighter, and the two snares are equal. Play all four accents at the same volume and you get a march. Weight them and the bar starts to swing on its own.
What to practise
6/8 at speed is a sixteenth-note-hands problem in disguise, so if the base pattern falls apart above 100 the fix is not more festejo, it is exercise 4-1 until your hands are relaxed at speed. Then come back.
Once the base pattern is steady, alternate it with the variation every two bars. Eight bars of an identical loop is the difference between a beginner and somebody people want to play with, and the variation costs you exactly one stroke.
The exercise underneath it
4-1 - Sixteenth-note hands
Four taps per click, R-L-R-L, relaxed at slow speed.
Practise it with RafaRead about this
- What is a cajón?The box, the three sounds it makes, and how a shipping crate became an instrument.
- Ghost notes: the quiet strokes that make a grooveThe near-silent taps between the loud notes, and why yours are probably too loud.
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