My RPM challenge this year: acoustic guitar instrumental album with no more than three tracks on each tune (ok, maybe four!) This one is a single track with no overdubs. On the 12 string, the 4th,5th and 6th string pairs are tuned a fourth apart.

Song #2 for the RPMC. My goal is to have 12 short tunes (1-3 minutes long), so I need to pick up the pace. Again, quartal tuning on the top 3 unison pairs of the 12 string. I've been listening to Ralph Towner's Blue Sun, hence the title.

third tune for RPM chalenge. DGDGBD

The berimbau is a Brazilian instrument associated with Capoeira, which is a Brazilian art form that combines elements of martial arts, sports, and music. It was created in Brazil mainly by descendants of African slaves with Brazilian native…

There are 3 styles of the Rumba Guáguánco pattern: this one originates from the Cuban province of Matanzas (to the east of Havana). “Rumba” is a Spanish term for a gathering of musicians, singers & dancers (what West Africans refer to…

Merengues are fast arrangements with a 2/4 beat, originating from the Dominican Republic. The traditional instrumentation includes a "güira" (guiro), which is a percussion instrument that sounds like a scrapper. The Merengue güira is a cylinder…

I hope he likes funk. 4/4 200bpm

Conga improvisation. 4/4 ?bpm

This is a “cross-over” pattern. Cross-over patterns are a type of enharmonic polymeter, where 2 rhythms with different numbers of beats/measure are played at the same tempo: the measures do not line up each time. These rhythms have measures…

It was a curious and wondrous thing. One night I was in my studio adding some percussion to the "Quiet Rituals" track by Barry van Oudtshoorn, when my 4 young children (with whom I was long over-due to be tucking into bed and reading a bed…