Five pretty-easy Syncopation systems for getting warmed up with some bossa materials. And for getting it together in the first place, if you’re just learning the style. Use with pp. 38-45 in Syncopation. Play all […]
Category: bossa
Subtractive method: EZ bossa system
A simple thing that works shockingly well for creating a functional bossa groove that breathes. You’ll recall that this “subtractive method” is a way of revoicing the rhythms in Syncopation, based on how they line […]
First page of Bossa Nova
Working on this with a couple of students, I couldn’t find a simple straightforward page of Bossa Nova rhythms, with all the parts written out. Seems like a basic thing that should exist somewhere. I […]
Groove o’ the day: Bernard Purdie Bossa
Hey, this is kind of a hip variation on the stock Bossa Nova groove everyone plays— played by Bernard Purdie on his Soul Drums record, on the tune Soul Bossa Nova. From the intro: He […]
Transcription: Billy Hart – Batuki
UPDATE: Jeez, what a moron. Naturally I spelled the title wrong on the actual page. It’s Batuki, not Batuka. Well, we’ll fix it for the book… Here’s an interesting little bit of playing by Billy […]
Groove o’ the day: Elvin Jones – Rose Marie
Something from the record I’ve been running in my car all week: The Peacocks, by Stan Getz and Jimmy Rowles. The tune is Rose Marie, a song from the 20s which was a country hit […]
New CSD! e-book: Bossa Nova / Samba Field Manual
UPDATE: Thanks for the review, Kenneth! Time to unveil one of the things I’ve been doing instead of delivering the promised Book of Intros, which is languishing maybe 3-5 hours of work away from completion, stupidly… […]
Another page of Brazilian rhythms
Here is another page of Brazilian rhythms, written in 4/4. The last set was written as 8th and 16th notes in 2/4, the native meter of much of Brazilian music, but when playing lead sheets […]
A page of Brazilian rhythms
Here I’ve pulled the snare drum parts from a random selection of bossa nova/samba records— by Baden Powell, Tamba Trio, Milton Banana, and others. Some of these are played fairly repetitively on the recording, some […]
Bass drum variations for Bossa Nova — adding left hand
This is something I’ve been meaning to do for some time. I like the page of bossa nova bass drum variations I did before, but it’s a little difficult to visualize the left hand part […]
Odd meter samba?
This line from Peter Erskine’s The Drum Perspective is pretty much an instant classic: I’ve felt strongly, for a long time now, that instead of seducing and encouraging the younger and learning drummer to practice, […]
Page o’ coordination: “Baby” groove
Well, it took long enough, but I finally have a name for the post-Elvin phase of this coordination series. I don’t expect many people will follow me down this particular rabbit hole, but whatever. This […]