It’s remarkable how long you can work with a book like Syncopation, and still come up with new things to do with it. Newish. This isn’t actually new, it’s a specific variation on existing things.
[…]
OK, it’s barely distinct from other things we do every day.
Still.
I was doing this with a student, and it’s nice because it’s short. We’ll do a Latin or straight-8th texture using Progressive Steps to Syncopation, pp. 34, lines 1-3. If you want to take it further, try it with my page of cinquillo inversions, or with similar rhythms on pp. 34-37 of Syncopation.
For the examples we’ll use line 2 from page 34. Play the book rhythm on the cymbal, with the left hand filling in the gaps in the rhythm— for a Latin feel play rim clicks:
Options for the bass drum— try them all:
Add bass drum corresponding with the written quarter notes or tied notes:
Or with written notes sounding on an &:
Or with the written (non-tied) 8th notes:
Add bass drum on 1 if it’s not already present:
You could make a two-measure phrase out of that, adding bass drum on the 1 every two measures:
When the bass drum is already present on the 1, you could make a two measure phrase by eliminating it on the second measure:
Move the left hand between the snare / tom tom:
Then you can do each of the bass drum possibilities along with that.
Then try improvising a similar texture. This should be useful in a number of settings— Latin, funk, jazz— depending on how you orchestrate it on the drums, and the kind of touch you use. You could get an Ed Blackwell type of texture with it. You can fill a lot of air with it if you learn to do it well, up to a tempo of about half note = 150.