Omar Hakim speaks to Modern Drummer when he was with Weather Report in the mid 80s: RT : How did you learn to play bop so fast? OH : I don’t know. With much difficulty. […]
Month: October 2019
Reed samba method – basic exercise
This is the first in a multi-post series outlining some ways of using Progressive Steps to Syncopation to do a samba. I usually use actual Brazilian rhythms for that, but many of the rhythms in […]
Transcription: Kenny Clarke fours – 02
Put this in your binder with Kenny Clarke’s fours from Love Me Or Leave Me that I posted a few years ago. Here he’s trading fours on Two Not One from the album Lee Konitz with Warne Marsh. […]
Amazingness in cymbals
Making videos of some new cymbals for sale today, so it’s a good time post this thing that has been sitting in my drafts folder for some months: In selling these fantastic Cymbal & Gong […]
Hemiola funk – doubles – beginner sheet
Getting into doubles with my hemiola funk series— two notes in a row at 16th note speed on the same drum/cymbal. Using the same format as the last beginner sheet, which I’ve found to be […]
Practice loops: two McCoy loops
A couple of practice loops sampled from McCoy Tyner. The first is from Reaching Fourth; it’s the vamp from Old Devil Moon, and at 142 bpm it’s a nice medium tempo, good for working on […]
Transcription: Jack Dejohnette – Peasant Dance
Hey, the longest transcription we’ve done in awhile, here, a three pager. It’s Jack Dejohnette playing on a very interesting record I had not really heard before: Peacemeal, by Lee Konitz, recorded in 1969. It’s […]
What it is: beats and BPM
Following up the tempo equivalency post from the other day: There’s a lot of confusion among drummers on the internet over what “BPM” means. I don’t want to have to re-explain it every time I […]
Syncopation exercise: singles, doubles – 2-3 8th intervals
Another original syncopation exercise. The last one had single notes, spaced one or two 8th notes apart. This one has one or two notes in a row, one or two 8ths apart. Both are really […]
About vibe
Vibe: a scientifically accurate illustration I’ve been thinking about something the saxophonist Donald Harrison said in a clinic some months ago: “Music is about vibe. Music is all about vibe.” It was a useful comment […]
Groove o’ the day: Milton Banana – Samba do Perdão
A moderate samba groove using the tom toms, from one of my favorite Brazilian drummers, Milton Banana. He plays this briefly at the beginning, middle, and end of Samba do Perdão, from his album O Trio. […]
Equivalency of tempos
Object To Be Destroyed by Man Ray A rhythm issue I’ve been thinking about is the equivalence of tempos and their halves and doubles. I was wondering how small a range of tempos would cover […]