Two of these in a row. I’m too occupied with finishing this new book— Rants, vol. 1— now at the critical “done, and it all looks wrong” stage of editing. So I need a few […]
Category: 6/8
Page o’ coordination: Afro 6 – new LH basics
Basic left hand variations with a basic form of the an Afro 6/8 groove, with the “short” bell rhythm. Finally updating a page I did way back in 2012, that I still use all the […]
Page o’ coordination: Afro 6 – BD variations
OK, first new content post on the new platform. WordPress handles images a little differently, and it’s messing with my usual post design, so I’ll be fiddling with that a bit. I’ve been working with […]
Half time funk shuffle – 01
Here’s a page for my students, working through the basics of a half time funk shuffle groove. It gets mentioned a lot more online than it comes up in real life, but it’s a thing. […]
Groove o’ the day: Ed Blackwell – Love
Here’s a fast 6/4 Afro type of groove from Ed Blackwell, on the track Love, from a duo record with Wadada Leo Smith, The Blue Mountain’s Sun Drummer. There’s no tune, it’s just free blowing […]
Page o’ coordination: Airto’s afro
Page o’ coordination based on Airto’s unique afro 12/8 groove played on the intro of Casa Forte, from Flora Purim’s album Stories To Tell. It’s a good introductory groove for this style— the hands are […]
Counting system overhaul – 01
This guy gets it. Severely long two-part nerd item alert— the following post is an embarrassing mess that will be perhaps useful/entertaining for music teachers and others who think about this stuff all day every […]
Counting compound meters
2025 UPDATE: I haven’t continued using this way of counting, though it’s perfectly servicable. See my counting system overhaul post for details. Recently I’ve begun teaching that way of counting 16th notes in compound meters that […]
Groove o’ the day: Airto Afro 6
An Afro 6* groove played by Airto, on the intro of Casa Forte, on Flora Purim’s 1974 record Stories To Tell. It has some big shot LA musicians on it, including saxophonist Hadley Caliman, who […]
Afro 6 – advanced bass drum ideas/coordination
A page of patterns I’m playing around with, in an Afro 6 feel, that are difficult or unusual for varying reasons— either the bass drum is in unison with the left hand, or the actual […]
More on that Latin system
Breaking down part of that short Latin method from the other day. I like it. It’s easy, and gets us into some pretty fundamental things about rhythm, drumming, using the drum set. This is a […]