My first thought is you count from the gut not the head,
but what do I know? I never could count worth a dang.
(I fit into the Steve Martin-Jerk scenario pretty well).

From wikipedia:

"Bo Diddley is best known for the "Bo Diddley beat", a rumba-like beat
(see clave) similar to "hambone", a style used by street performers who
play out the beat by slapping and patting their arms, legs, chest, and
cheeks while chanting rhymes. Diddley came across the beat while trying
to play Gene Autry's "(I've Got Spurs That) Jingle, Jangle, Jingle".
Three years before Bo's "Bo Diddley," a song that closely resembles it,
"Hambone," was cut by Red Saunders' Orchestra with The Hambone Kids.

One and two and three and four and one and two and three and four and

The bolded counts are the clave rhythm.

Rhythm is so important in Bo Diddley's music that harmony is often
reduced to a bare simplicity. His songs (for example, "Hey Bo Diddley"
and "Who Do You Love?") often have no chord changes; that is, the
musicians play the same chord throughout the piece, so that excitement
is created by the rhythm, rather than by harmonic tension and release.
In his own recordings, Bo Diddley used a variety of rhythms, from
straight back beat to pop ballad style, frequently with maracas by
Jerome Green."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bo_Diddley

-D

On Feb 28, 2008, at 8:38 PM, Richard Wilkerson wrote:
>
> Many thanks,
>
> I've noticed this is sometimes called the "hambone" rhythm
>
> RC
>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: Richard Wilkerson
>> To: CIPOLLINA@yahoogroups.com
>> Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2008 12:11 AM
>> Subject: [CIPOLLINA] 3/4 beat - how to count? Mona
>>
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> any guitar players or drummers on this list?
>>
>> John used a kind of 3/4 beat or Bo Diddley beat for Mona and Who
> Do
>> You Love.
>>
>> I can play this intuitively, or fake a count where I count
>> 1-er-and-a-2==34 but this is kind of silly. How does one learn to
>> count that beat internally?
>>
>> Many thanks,
>>
>> RC
>>
>