Here’s a transcription of some jazz comping with a 3/4-within-4/4 feel, by Joe Chambers. This is from Granted, on Joe Henderson’s album Mode For Joe. It’s sort of a companion to the Elvin Jones Groove […]
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Orchestrations of a figure: Groove Elation
Today we’ll do a little survey of ways of orchestrating on the drums a rhythmic figure— the bass line from the tune Groove Elation, by John Scofield. It’s a bright New Orleans-influenced thing, with a […]
Chaffee linear phrases in 3/4 – 16th notes – 01
I’ve been trying to figure out why I never did that much with Gary Chaffee’s linear system; I find I’m a lot more interested when I vary the rhythm, and when I’m not always starting […]
Snare drum etude in 2/4 with 8th notes and triplets – 01
I’ve been interested in modulating rhythms lately, so here’s a little snare drum etude derived from my previous etude in 5/8. It’s actually the same piece— I’ve just changed the meter to 2/4, and changed […]
Cut time funk method: two-measure grooves
I’ve been working quite a bit with this cut time funk method from last year— part of what I’ve been doing instead of writing more blog posts. I’m not just writing junk to burn up […]
Snare drum etude in 5/8
This week I’ve been working out of Odd Meter Calisthenics, a very good book by Mitchell Peters, which covers a lot of stuff in */8 meters. Which led me to write out a little study […]
Transcription: Jeff Porcaro — Southbound
This is a song from my childhood which I only ever new from one line, which my college-age friend Tom, from the Big Brother/Big Sister program, used to sing at odd times: Southbound / unfold […]
Transcription: Zigaboo Modeliste — The Mob
Here’s the rest of that thing we were looking at the other day: Zigaboo Modeliste’s playing on The Mob, from the Meters album Look-ka Py Py. On the first and last A sections, he improvises […]
Two-beat rock fills
Here’s a page of basic two-beat rhythms for use as rock/funk fills, which I wrote for my intermediate students. You can and should play these on any one drum, or move them around the drums. […]
Grooves o’ the day: all the grooves from Look-ka Py Py
Let’s do a whole record for the groove of the day— and a very famous one at that: Look-Ka Py Py, by The Meters. The drummer is Zigaboo Modeliste, the New Orleans funk legend. We’ve […]
Transcription: Connie Kay – Billie’s Bounce
Here’s a basic bebop study, looking at how Connie Kay plays the head of Billie’s Bounce— we’ve got the drums transcribed, along with the melody rhythm so you can see how they intersect. Kay was […]
2-3-4 Method
With today’s “2-3-4” method, I’m getting into the “give your practice idea a name so people will remember it and treat it like it’s a thing” racket. This is a pretty easy method for use […]