Bossa nova, son clave, cha-cha-chá, samba, baião, cumbia and 6/8 bell grooves for Latin, Brazilian and Afro-Cuban practice. Press Play and the drums keep going until you stop them. Pick a tempo below or set your own anywhere from 50 to 220 BPM.
How a Latin drum beat works
Most of these grooves are organised around a repeating pattern rather than a backbeat: the clave in the Afro-Cuban grooves, the surdo and zabumba figures in the Brazilian ones, the off-beat in cumbia. Once you can hear which bar of the clave is the "three" side and which is the "two" side, your part will fit much more naturally.
How to play along
Guitarists: over bossa nova, play the thumb on the bass notes with the kick and pluck chords on the syncopated cross-stick. Pianists: keep a steady left hand and let the right hand follow the clave. Count the phrase in two-bar units, not single bars.
The latin grooves on this page
Bossa Nova is the gentle Brazilian groove with a cross-stick clave. Son Clave 3-2 plays the Afro-Cuban key pattern over a tumbao kick. Cha-Cha-Cha is the steady cowbell groove for 1950s Cuban dance tunes and Oye Como Va. Samba Batucada on Kit puts the samba school's surdo and caixa on the kit. Baiao Zabumba Groove is the north-eastern Brazilian zabumba groove of Luiz Gonzaga. Bembe is a triplet bell pattern felt in four. Latin Funk Boogaloo is the 60s New York mix of Latin rhythm and soul backbeat. Cumbia puts a cross-stick on every off-beat over a kick on one and three.
Common practice tempos
Start with 90, 100, 110, 120 and 130 BPM. Each tempo has its own page with the right groove already selected, so you can bookmark the one you are working on.