A pattern I was working with, with a Jack Dejohnette loop in 5. See my 5/8 control pages especially for more of this kind of thing. These won’t have the options as the other burnout […]
Category: fast tempos
Max fast – 02
Here are some pretty remarkable videos of Max Roach playing live. The first is in Norway in 1977. The tune with the group, “It’s Time”, is fast, and 20 minutes long, including a solo played […]
Fast tempo warmups/fallbacks
Some patterns both for giving our fast tempo playing— jazz playing— a solid, simple foundation. Also something to fall back to, when playing a tempo too fast for you. It’s an entry point, and a […]
Daily best music in the world: Mickey Roker fast
Here is Mickey Roker absolutely killing it on the tune Impressions, on A London Bridge, a live recording by Milt Jackson. Tempo is about 334 bpm— half note = 167. And it does pick up […]
Reed interpretations: Billy Higgins-like uptempo method
Here’s a little thing suitable for jazz at fast tempos, resulting in a Billy Higgins-like sound. Billy Higgins at times. He’ll do a lot of unisons between hands, partial spangalangs, and alternating singles. There are […]
Burnout variations
Look, I didn’t call it burnout for nothing. Here are some other practice possibilities for the recent Paradiddle-diddle burnout and six stroke roll burnout pages, that came up in my own practicing. The point is […]
Six stroke roll burnout
Companion to the Paradiddle-diddle burnout page, with the same method and purpose, using the six stroke roll sticking: RLLRRL. These two pages, played this way, amount to a pretty complete vocabulary for this kind of […]
Paradiddle-diddle burnout
This has turned into an elegant little exercise. Paradiddle-diddles have long been bailout pattern of choice for fast tempos— the thing you play to rest your hand a little bit, and break things up. Bob […]
Very occasional quote of the day: Max fast – 02
SF: Some of the tempos that you play are lightning fast. MR: That’s done through combinations though! No one limb is overworking. There’s a way that it works itself out so that all the weight […]
Other things besides speed
A lot of us have very limited imaginations about how to get better playing the drums— basically, do it faster and that’s it. There are other things— sound, dynamics, touch, a number of musical considerations. […]
Daily best music in the world: Louis Hayes with Cannonball
Here’s an item from jazz writer Mark Stryker, which caught Peter Erksine’s attention on Twitter. Cannonball Adderley playing a fast tempo with Louis Hayes on drums, on an Adderley record I’ve never owned, Nippon Soul. […]
Two handed brush variations for fast tempos
UPDATE: I added some video of me practicing this. I’ve been practicing my fast tempos lately, both with sticks and brushes. I’m talking about jazz, tempos above ~290 bpm. I haven’t had to do a […]