Over the course of a few posts I’ll break down my method for developing jazz comping with 16th notes, using Syncopation by Ted Reed. 16th notes are used a lot in jazz, and drummers neglecting them can lead to fairly one-dimensional playing. In jazz this rhythm needs to be legato; if you articulate your 16ths the way you do in other kinds of music, they will sound quite bad. Play them the way the horn does on Confirmation:
First we’ll look at some things you can do with the quarter note sections of Reed. We’ll be ignoring the written bass drum part— the stems-down part— so any of the three two-page quarter note lessons will do. We will play the ride pattern with a dotted-8th/16th rhythm; again, don’t play it too staccato. Try to make it flow. It looks funny when you see it written; this used to be a standard way to write and play the pattern, but you don’t see it much any more:
The first two interpretations are straightforward: play the above time pattern along with the written melody line (the stems-up part in Reed) on the bass drum, while filling in a couple of different 16th note rhythms on the snare drum. For the examples, we’ll use this written exercise in Reed:
In the book that’s one measure of page 4 (Lesson One, in the new edition), line 7. Reading that exercise without playing the left hand, the time feel plus our bass drum part would look like this:
First, fill in the &-as on with the snare:
Then fill in the es and as:
Much more after the break:
If you need to, you can do either of those left hand rhythms without any bass drum as a warm up:
A side note: you can think of these rhythms almost as interpretations of the following triplet rhythm— it may help with your phrasing:
Then combine them. On the beats with a BD note, fill in the es and as, and on a beat with a written rest, fill in the &-as:
And vice versa: on beats with a BD note, play the &-as, and on beats with a rest, play the es and as:
The initial goal with this method is to play, from the first section of Reed, without stopping: lines 1-15 plus the long exercise, with time on the cym/hihat, and BD playing the top line of exercise, and SD filling in on:
1) all &-as
2) all es and as
3) es and as on beats with a BD note, &-as on rest beats
4) &-as on beats with a BD note, es and as on rests.
A good first goal tempo for this would be around quarter note=120 bpm. You might do the bulk of your practicing in the 60-100 bpm range. Much more of this coming soon!
I am happy to help you with any of the materials on the site, and with anything else drumming related— contact me for private lessons, online world wide, or in person in Portland, Oregon. All levels of players, and all people, are welcome.
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