This has been an item of interest for a long time— playing fast in a slow tempo. In a master class Peter Erskine mentioned that Jack Dejohnette was the only drummer he knew who could […]
Category: downloads
Two measure Reed phrases – 02
Another cut-and-paste, hack-and-slash job, extracting some two measures phrases from the full page exercises in Syncopation. For when I want a particular kind of phrase, and don’t want to hunt around the eight pages for […]
More 3/8 fills – 01
Here are some things I was playing around with while playing my page of 3/8 fills— embellishments on things on that page. Some odd stickings, or normal stickings I would play in an odd way. […]
Fills in a 4/8 framework – 01
Continuing the concept of that last thing, Fills in a 3/8 framework. Here we’ve got four 8ths of space to deal with, a cymbal accent, and three 8ths of fill. I’m very pleased with how […]
Fills in a 3/8 framework – 01
UPDATE: I added a couple of 2/4 options for running the fills by themselves, and also changed the practice phrases— the jazz phrases need a dedicated treatment beyond the scope of this post, so I took […]
Two measure Reed phrases – 01
Another cut and paste item— a specialty of mine— extracting some two measure phrases from the full page exercises in the book Syncopation. In lessons I have to hunt around for phrases I want, and […]
First inversion paradiddles around the drums
Updating a very crummy looking page I wrote in 2012— some calisthenic patterns moving the highly hip and useful RLLR-LRRL paradiddle inversion around the drums. Drill them blazing fast, and also for control and accuracy […]
Simple four limb unison warmups
Here’s a set of simple four limb warm ups, that are heavy on the unisons… an underrated practice item. Take your pick, run p. 38 of Syncopation with 4-5 of these, at a reasonably bright […]
Meter-within-meter phrases
A page of meter-within-meter phrases— three beat rhythms played over four measures of 4/4: You’ll want to be very familiar and comfortable with this kind of rhythm— it happens a lot in jazz, and if […]
Stick Control with a backbeat
Another little oddball Stick Control related item, for drum set: some Stone-type sticking patterns with accented unisons added, on beats 2-4, and on beat 3. Introducing the idea— if you like it, you could obviously […]
Transcription: Max Roach – Commutation
Here’s Max Roach soloing with his left hand on Commutation, by J.J. Johnson, on Johnson’s record First Place. A nice little self contained lesson item— there’s some trading after this solo I didn’t bother with. […]
Three Camps in first inversion paradiddles – UPDATED
Updating a really horrible looking page I wrote ten years ago. Musescore actually kind of rocks, this took me no time at all, and looks way better. Musescore would make me work to make it […]