The French percussionist Jacques Delécluse has passed away. I frankly didn’t know he was alive; we worked out of his book Méthode de Caisse-Claire in college, and those French-published books present themselves with such authority […]
Year: 2015
Sabotage practice loop
This is another fun sampled practice loop, from the opening of Sabotage, by the Beastie Boys. Use this with all your rock and funk materials:
Linear patterns in 3/4: one bar, triplets, with inversions
I’ve written many more pages of Gary Chaffee-style linear phrases than actually appear in his books— people have gotten incredibly good just using what’s in the books, but they work better for me when changed around […]
Jack Bruce 1943-2014
UPDATE: Someone has helpfully pointed out that this happened in 2014, and that the current year is indeed 2015, and I am a complete stoner. I wish I could blame it on Oregon’s now-quite-legal recreational marijuana, […]
Another stupid list
Just off the top of my head, here are 50 of the greatest drummers not included in this 50 greatest drummers list: Jack Dejohnette, Tony Williams, Elvin Jones, Roy Haynes, Joe Morello, Steve Gadd, Kenny Clarke, […]
Your own “glitch” beat
Having duly warned you of the perils of such dark, arcane knowledge, here’s a page of exercises for developing your own “glitch”/Questlove/d’Angelo groove, which, like overly-groomed beards and twee interpretations of 1920s lumberjack clothing, is […]
What the kids are doing is officially jive
There’s a new type of drum groove that has been kicking around hiphop circles for a decade or so, with a strangely precise, often bordering on ricky-ticky, half-swing feel. I’ve heard it called a “glitch […]
The elements of playing well
Oh, yes, and typically it’s done in the nude, or loosely swathed in a bolt of lustrous fabric. That’s key, actually— forget the rest of this stuff. If you were wondering what goes into being […]
Daily best music in the world: Gateway
Do you listen to enough Gateway? That’s a trio with guitarist John Abercrombie, bassist Dave Holland, and drummer Jack Dejohnette. I believe they released four albums total on ECM— two in the 70s and two […]
Flam accent #2
NOTE: Blogger is doing one of its occasional bloggery things, and the download is not working, despite me typing the link in correctly. Also the same handed flam accents in 7/8 isn’t working. Older downloads […]
Linear phrases in 7/4, mixed rhythm — 01
Something to combine with all of the other recent stuff in 7/4: linear patterns, in a mixed rhythm, written in 7. Our source for the basic idea is Gary Chaffee’s book Patterns, vol. III, which […]
Practice loop: rock in 5/4
This is a practice loop in a moderate 5/4, sampled from Stereolab’s Tomorrow Is Already Here, from the album Emperor Tomato Ketchup. An excellent companion for my earlier page of rock beats in 5, or […]