Cymbal, and player, and stick, and microphone. UPDATE: It took a little longer than I thought, but the cymbal “Eloi” mentioned later in the piece has been sold. I’m sure there will be others. In […]
Year: 2019
Transcription: Brian Blade – Alabama
Here’s an easy look at some medium tempo playing by Brian Blade, on the swing portion of the tune Alabama. From Pursuance, Kenny Garrett’s album of the music of John Coltrane. The transcription begins where […]
Groove o’ the day: Street beat in 7
Here’s a New Orleans street beat-style groove in 7/4, played by Bill Stewart. The tune is 7th Floor, from John Scofield’s album Hand Jive. This is the basic groove from the intro of the tune; […]
Playing weird tunes
You go through stages of learning jazz repertoire. In high school I would play Charlie Parker tunes on the snare drum— just the melody rhythm. Then I learned about some standard forms, like 12-bar blues […]
Syncopation rhythms in 16th notes
This is a library item— you can print it and keep it with your copy of Progressive Steps to Syncopation. I’ve transcribed the one-line syncopation exercises from Reed into 2/4, doubling the rhythmic values. Just […]
From the zone: fill ideas from Tbilisi
Wrapping up a coo-coo week with some easy stuff. From the studio of Giorgi Lomidze, a drummer in Tbilisi, Georgia, who shares a lot of interesting practice materials on Facebook, here are some pages of ideas […]
Practice loop: Resolução
Practice loop sampled from the intro of Resolução by Edu Lobo, the great Brazilian songwriter. Style is bossa nova, tempo is quarter note = 167— standard bright bossa tempo. The sample is an arranged lick, […]
CYMBALISTIC: 18s, hihats
A few new Cymbal & Gong cymbals in stock, hand selected by me: In addition to the usual Holy Grail series, there are a couple from the American Artist series, which are “A-type” cymbals with […]
Two hemiola coordination patterns
This is partly about rhythmic education, partly about drilling a couple of basic drumset coordination ideas, and partly about education on the polyrhythmic foundation of common funk rhythms. It is based on this page of hemiola […]
Transcription: Connie Kay 8s and 4s
I think of Connie Kay as the quintessential background player, so I’m always interested to hear him actually do something— like play a solo, or some more assertive comping. Here he trades some 8s and […]
Afro 12/8 – funk – updated
This page is an update of something I wrote in the wilds of 2013— a page of bass drum variations for a funk-feel Afro-Cuban 12/8, with a backbeat on 3. I had a student play […]
EZ rock beats in 5/4 – 02
More “EZ” rock beats in 5/4, this batch written to be easy to play at fast tempos, in 2+3 and 3+2 phrasing: Ways of practice— good for any page of grooves: • Repeat each pattern […]