Dumbek rhythms

---

title: "Dumbek rhythms" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["rhythm-and-meter", "percussion-performance-techniques"] description: "Rhythms used to play various hand drums" topic_path: "general/rhythm-and-meter" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumbek_rhythms" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Rhythms used to play various hand drums ::

Dumbek rhythms are a collection of rhythms that are usually played with hand drums such as the dumbek.{{cite web |url=http://www.khafif.com/rhy/ |title=Middle Eastern Rhythms FAQ

• Doom (D), produced with the dominant hand striking the sweet spot of the skin.
• Ka (T), produced with the recessive hand striking the rim.
• Tak (K), produced with the dominant hand striking the rim.

Notation

In a simple notation, these three sounds are represented by three letters: D, T, and K. When capitalized, the beat is emphasized, and when lower-case, it is played less emphatically. These basic sounds can be combined with other sounds:

• Sak or slap (S) (sometimes called 'pa'), produced with the dominant hand. Similar to the doom except the fingers are cupped to capture the air, making a loud terminating sound. The hand remains on the drum head to prevent sustain.
• Trill (l), produced by lightly tapping three fingers of one hand in rapid succession on the rim
• Roll or (rash, r), produced by a rapid alternating pattern of taks and kas

This is the simple dumbek rhythm notation for the 2/4 rhythm known as ayyoub: 1-&-2-&- D--kD-T-

Rhythms

There are many traditional rhythms. Some are much more popular than others. The "big six" Middle Eastern rhythms are Ayyoub, Beledi (Masmoudi Saghir), Chiftitelli, Maqsoum, Masmoudi and Saidi.

References

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::