This is an interesting thing relating to clave, and Latin rhythms in general: Play this rhythm and sticking: Now play each hand on a different sound— a metal sound with the right hand, and a […]
Category: exercises
EZ one-beat fill with tom moves
I think this is my third or fourth take on this particular subject since I started blogging, but it can take awhile to find the best format for teaching basic things. These days I like […]
Open hihat funk application using Dahlgren & Fine
Wow, suddenly it’s the end of the year. In coming days I’ll be throwing up as much stuff as I can to fill out any remaining content gaps in the upcoming 2017 Book of the […]
Linear funk with a broken cymbal rhythm, using Syncopation
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we’ve developed quite a robust collection of funk methods here, using Ted Reed’s Syncopation. If you learned them all you should have some real creativity going by now. So here’s […]
NEW E-BOOK: 13 Essential Stickings
Here’s part of what I’ve been up to other than writing new blog posts— I’m releasing a new e-book today: 13 Essential Stickings for the Modern Drummer. If you ever get overwhelmed by the amount […]
Page o’ skiplets – 01
This is not a great method to self-teach, but for the few intrepid individuals this will help, or for the teachers out there whose students struggle to pick up jazz independence, this approach may help […]
Chaffee linear phrases: adding 2s / triplets in 3/4
Another item we did some months ago: Gary Chaffee style linear phrases including a two-note pattern, this time in a triplet rhythm in 3/4. As you are no doubt familiar with by now, Chaffee wrote […]
Page o’ coordination: triplet pattern with cymbal variations – 02
Part 2 of something we did way back in January (where the hell did the year go, actually?), changing cymbal rhythms against a steady left hand and bass drum pattern. Here we’re just inverting the […]
Rock in 5/8 – 01
5/8 and 5/4 are good meters to practice to if you want to improve your concentration, and disrupt playing habits. Five-note patterns in general, too. For many years my playing was extremely 3 oriented; whatever […]
5/8 accents in a triplet feel
I’ve worked on triplets and */8 feels a lot in my 35+ years playing the drums, and played a lot of music in the style, and still there’s a certain type of shuffle or 12/8 […]
Page o’ coordination: Latin in 3 – 05
This is a fairly subtle variation on this Afro 6 feel, which we’ve covered pretty fully in the past few years, and possibly one of the easier entries in the series. I suppose you could […]