This is a pretty fine point of theory, but it comes up a lot on this site, so I want to state my thinking about it, so I can link to it every time it […]
Category: 6/8
Page o’ coordination: Afro 6 – “African”
Quite of flurry of POCs lately— a plague of POCs. I like this format. It’s good for working on more complex independence; things too hard to do with a melodic line interpretation, which is my […]
Groove o’ the day: Ignacio Berroa 12/8
Another funk Afro 12/8 groove, played this time by Ignacio Berroa, on his record Codes, on the tune Woody’n You. From the intro: As you can probably see he’s playing rumba clave on the cowbell. […]
Practice loop in 6/4: Lilin
Here’s that practice loop for yesterday’s Figure Control page in 6/4, sampled from Lilin, played by John Zorn’s Masada. The tempo is a little easier than the other recent loop in 6. You’ll also find […]
Figure Control: 6-4 – Lilin – 01
Let’s just assume every post begins with an apology for the light posting— I’ve just been very busy with playing, teaching, and getting ready for an art show this past few weeks. This Funk Control/Figure […]
Figure Control – 6/4 – 02
Another page of Funk Control type exercises for use with my Stereolab/Free Design practice loop. We’re calling this portion of the series Figure Control since it’s not really funk, and we’re basing the exercises on a […]
Page o’ coordination: Afro-Peruvian – 01
Let’s get it out of the way up front that I know nothing about Afro-Peruvian music— I played a session with John Butler, a Portland guitarist who plays it, and he hipped me to its […]
Page o’ coordination: Afro 6 across the barline
We haven’t seen one of these in awhile— seriously, I have posted more stuff on this Afro 6 groove than anybody in the world, and if you have thoroughly practiced any three or four of […]
Basic funk ideas in 6/8: four iterations – 01
I’m not happy with this title for this series, but I’m going to hang with it as long as we’re posting on the blog. It’s rapidly evolving into a Stick Control-like system for funk drumming […]
Page o’ coordination: Ventimiglia
This is something I wrote for working on one of my own tunes: Ventimiglia, from my 2014 album, Travelogue. It’s a bright 6/8 with a strong pull towards 3/4. The bass line is borrowed from […]
Page o’ coordination: Afro 6 – 6/4 feel
Another Afro 6 POC. It’s a very rich and rewarding style, which is why I do so bloody much stuff with it. I was surprised to see I had never written up this variation before— […]
Page o’ coordination: Latin in 3 — 02
Another page of Latin in 3/4— get the previous one here. You’ll notice these are very similar to our 6/8 Latin pages; the use the same bell pattern, but the BD/HH rhythms are slightly different, […]