Adding to our already-voluminous background for playing an Afro feel, or any 6/8 or 12/8 feel. Here we’re phrasing in 3/2 and 12/8 at the same time, using a common cymbal pattern. It’s easier to […]
Category: exercises
Hemiola funk – repeated beats
More of this hemiola funk idea, putting the two basic 3/4 patterns into 4/4 by repeating each beat of the pattern… starting on each beat of the pattern. I don’t know if there’s a special […]
Guaguanco – two ways
A little more on general fluency with a Guaguanco-type groove on drumset. It’s not a style that authentically uses a drumset, but the groove is a hip alternative for non-traditional situations. It has a nice […]
EZ fill developer
This might be more of an item for teachers. This is a sketch of a method I’ve found to be effective for teaching younger students to play fills, and play them in time, with both […]
Harmonic coordination improved – preparation
UPDATE: Here are some additional notes on practicing this. For some time I’ve been trying to work out a way to practice the very difficult “harmonic” coordination section of Dahlgren & Fine’s 4-Way Coordination without […]
Preparation for Reed triplet studies
A page of short triplet exercises that are preparation for some of the major practice methods I do with the book Syncopation: the right handed solo method, and the so-called “Ruff Bossa” method, found in […]
Page o’ coordination: Rumba clave – hands only
Page of exercises for coordinating the left hand with rumba clave played with the right. It’s not pure independence practice in the abstract— most of the patterns are related to the clave rhythm in a […]
Tresillo inversion combinations
A library item for fairly hardcore individuals: two measure combinations of all of the tresillo inversions from the item at that link. This whole area of rhythm is extremely fertile to me— it’s all familiar […]
Page o’ coordination: Afro 15
Hey, as long as we’re working on weird, non-traditional perversions of the natural world, here is a page of “Afro 6” groove in 5. Or 15/8, which is a triplet feel in 5. This groove […]
Page o’ coordination: Afro 9/8 – “African”
I was practicing this POC from last year, and wanted a version of it in 9/8, and here it is. I called it “African” only for the middle of the triplet rhythm on the hihat, […]
Tresillo and cinquillo inversions
I’ve got way too much painfully unfinished stuff in the docket right now; about a dozen long written pieces languishing in my drafts folder, some in-depth practice materials in development, an ambitious new book project, […]
EZ linear quarter note rock method – drills
Here are a few specific drills for use with the EZ rock method from the other day. Not every single thing you play using this method is going to sound great, but it’s a solid […]