A little companion piece to my bossa BD variations post– this should be helpful in giving your bossa someplace to go; as I mentioned before, a lot of people get married to the standard time […]
Category: downloads
Transcription: Zigaboo Modeliste – Good Old Funky Music
This is a permanent favorite of mine- Good Old Funky Music by the Meters, with Zigaboo Modeliste on drums. Not a single day goes by without me hearing this internally at some point. There is […]
Bass drum variations for bossa nova
Bossa nova can be a very static style for novices- I’ve noticed in teaching that they have a hard time getting away from the standard, repetitive pattern. And, aside from Ed Uribe’s book, I really […]
It’s a five-off
Following the lead of Four On The Floor’s 5 Beat Groupings (including a hip way of using Stone on the drumset), and Trap’d’s 5 beat figures in triplets, here’s another variation of the paradiddle exercise […]
3.5-a-diddles
So-called because it consists of three and a half “paras” (RL RL RL R), plus a diddle (LL), and I… never mind. I was hitting the practice pad along with an Illinois Jacquet/Wild Bill Davis […]
Transcription: James Gadson – Use Me
I guess we could also file this under Groove o’the day. While I’m getting some longer posts together, here are James Gadson’s drum breaks from the song Use Me, by Bill Withers. As you’ll notice […]
Todd’s methods: Son of Daku-daku-paradiddle
Right, I’m starting to regret the name I made up for this thing– until I think of the alternative, long-winded description for this very common pattern. Now if I can just bring myself to call […]
Todd’s methods: Afro-Cuban in 6/8 and 3/4
Here’s something I wrote strictly for my own use, which I thought I would share for you to make of what you will. The Afro 6/8 has been one of my stronger vehicles for a […]
Transcription: Four – more intros
Once you get going on these, it’s hard to stop. And it looks like I’ll have to do one more, because in a near-inconceivable oversight, I left off my favorite one, by Tony Williams on […]
Transcription: Four – the classic intro
Here in chronological order are three very similar intros to the tune Four, recorded by Miles Davis. The one by Philly Joe is the classic beginning of this tune— I don’t know if he was […]
Big band figure builder
Here’s another installment of a thing I’ve been doing with several students, using Syncopation lesson 4 to get familiar with the basic moves and reading associated with setting up and kicking big band figures (“cutting” […]