Shékere

Every exercise here grades you on finding "the one" — count 1, the downbeat that opens the phrase. New to that? The counting salsa lesson covers it first.

The shékere (gourd shaker) keeps a half-note pulse: one shake every two beats, on counts 1, 3, 5 and 7, nothing on the "&" upbeats, nothing on the even counts. It's the sparsest pattern in the set.

Both downbeats ringed above (count 1 and count 5) are correct answers here. The shake lands on both identically, so it can't tell you which one opens the phrase. This exercise grades you on locking onto the pulse itself.