I get pretty individualized finding the best way for my students to work on something. People come to me with a lot of different levels of background, and playing goals, so I can’t just give […]
Category: downloads
Reed interpretations: 5 stroke rolls with stick shots
At a certain point in our pratice journey with the book Syncopation, restricting ourselves to things that can be done by a single set of rules becomes limiting. I was workshopping this with a student— […]
Groove o’ the day: Samba in 7
Here’s a bright samba groove in 7/4, played by Airto on Misturada, by the group Quarteto Novo. These are excerpts from the drum solo, starting at 0:49. Tempo is about quarter note = 220. I […]
Developing a Weckl lick – 01
Hot on the heels of the six stroke roll post, here is a related thing, a flashy fusion lick by Dave Weckl. I pulled it off of a Paquito d’Rivera album in about 1987, and […]
Six stroke roll combinations
No big deal, just a page of six stroke roll combinations and phrases, in 16th notes and 16th triplets. I call them that under duress, it just happens to be the common name for this […]
Syncopation p. 38 in quarter note triplets
Rewriting the very famous page 38 exercise from Syncopation, with all the syncopated rhythms replaced by approximately similar quarter note triplet rhythms. Someday I’ll forgo the bass drum line— which I include out of respect […]
Rock beats with fill phrases
Using this framework a lot with my students in recent months, marking up Funky Primer with a Sharpie, putting accents over the bass drum notes to indicate a crash, marking over the remaining notes with […]
Free triplet game
Free in cost, free in method. A jazz drumming exerise for getting some variety into your playing, free of meter concerns. The parts here are written two or three beats long, but play them over […]
4:3lets in 4/4 – 01
Page of basic 4:3 tuplet rhythms in 4/4 time— four quarter notes in the space of 3— with rests: I don’t know what we’re calling the rhythm when written this way, but what it is […]
Transcription: Roy Haynes – Well, You Needn’t
Roy Haynes trading fours with Kenny Burrell on Well, You Needn’t, from Burrell’s 1959 album A Night At The Vanguard. They’re playing trio, with Richard Davis on bass. The whole record is really cool— nobody’s […]
Bossa warmups
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 […]
Transcription: Art Blakey – Safari
A little drum break and Latin groove from Art Blakey, on Safari, by Horace Silver, originally on Horace Silver Trio, vol. 1, on Blue Note. Originally a 78 release, actually— the recording is less than […]