I’m not happy with this title for this series, but I’m going to hang with it as long as we’re posting on the blog. It’s rapidly evolving into a Stick Control-like system for funk drumming […]
Category: exercises
Basic funk ideas: four iterations – 03
Another page of this modern funk method— we’re going to need a better name for this thing, as we’re getting well beyond basic. This is turning into quite an epic. Normally, working on fairly demanding […]
Basic funk ideas: four iterations – 02
I’m liking this format— like Stick Control for funk drumming— so we’ll see a few more of these. This page takes the same series of patterns from the last two items (“mixed stickings” and “four […]
EZ Reed interpretation: another triplet lick
I like these Reed interpretations using the early part of the book. You can just play through fifteen lines of exercises, plus a 16-20 bar exercise, and be done with it. FINITE ASSIGNMENTS, people. Not […]
Linear phrases in 7/8 – two measures
Dropping the other shoe here, so to speak, following the one-measure linear patterns in 7/8 from last week. I think we’ve got all the two measure patterns here that can’t be made by combining the […]
Basic funk ideas: four iterations – 01
A companion to our Basic funk with mixed stickings page from the other day. Here we take that same set of patterns, run them through some standard funk/fusion orchestrations, and learn to transition smoothly between […]
Linear phrases in 7/8 – one measure
More fun with linear patterns in 7/8 time, with more to come. Using Gary Chaffee’s 3-8 note linear patterns, we’ll look at the only three possible combinations that fit in a single measure of 7/8: […]
Linear patterns in 7/8 – RLBB
UPDATED 8/27: Added one thing to the pdf. Another page of stuff to play with last year’s smoking John Zorn “Solitaire” practice loop in 7/8, this time developing a very common four-note linear pattern, RLBB— an […]
Page o’ coordination: “Afro Blues” bell – 02
Another page of coordination patterns for this Afro/shuffle cymbal pattern, which I’ll go ahead and call “Afro Blues” because I feel like it. It came up in my own playing, and I’m not aware of […]
Reed interpretation: triplets with breaks
I don’t why it took me over 30 years to figure this out— I’m always looking for ways to simplify things, to make them more playable. This is an alternative to a very common, popular, […]
Page o’ coordination: displacing a jazz groove
As the heading on the page says, this is a fairly ill-advised endeavor we’re covering today: displacing a jazz groove, by shifting the cymbal and hihat rhythm over to the last note of the triplet. […]
New Orleans street beat – Reed method
As promised, another method for developing a NOLA street beat, this one perhaps more musical than the last. Definitely. Here we’ll be using Progressive Steps to Syncopation, by Ted Reed, pp. 33-44— the “Syncopation” section […]