Reference for Finger Cymbal Patterns

Diagram by Autumn Ward, www.AutumnWard.com

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Finger Cymbals

Doum (D) and tek (t) are conventionally played on the right hand; ka (k) is played on the left. “-” represents a rest: no sound is played.

Doubles

Tek-ka-tek-ka-tek-ka-tek…

tk	tk	tk	tk	tk	tk	tk	tk
1&	2&	3&	4&	5&	6&	7&	8&
RL	RL	RL	RL	RL	RL	RL	RL

Triplets

Tek-ka-tek tek-ka-tek…

tkt	tkt	tkt	tkt	tkt	tkt	tkt	tkt
&a1	&a2	&a3	&a4	&a5	&a6	&a7	&a8
RLR	RLR	RLR	RLR	RLR	RLR	RLR	RLR

Basic Saidi
Doum-tek Doum Doum

D	t		D	D		t
1	2	-	4	5	-	-	-
R	L	-	R	R	-	-	-

Filled-in Saidi

Tek-ka-Doum tek tek-ka-Doum Doum tek-ka-tek

tkD	t	tkD	D	D	tk	t
&a1	2	3&	4	5	6&	7	-
RLR	R	RL	R	R	RL	R