Third entry in this funk stickings in context series, using the RLL pattern again, this time in a 32nd note rhythm. I do this kind of thing a lot in 32nd notes. This is an […]
Category: funk
An Ndugu break
I think we’re going to be seeing a lot of Ngugu Leon Chancler around here in the near future. A group I play with plays a lot of 70s funk tunes, so I’m listening to […]
A funk sticking in context: RLRLL
Second entry in this little intermediate-level series of funk stickings in context, this time using a five-note idea: RLRLL Learn the first pattern in 5/4, and be able to count out loud along with it— […]
EZ bass drum workout and double bass developer
Have I not posted this before? This is a variation on my cut time funk method, strictly designed as a bass drum workout. It also makes an excellent double-bass single strokes developer. This should be […]
A funk sticking in context: RLL
This is the first of several easy pages of exercises for developing kind of an essential thing in funk and fusion drumming, which is not quite a fill and not quite a groove— it’s more […]
Reed method: fast rock – advanced
I hope you— students and teachers— are using my Reed method for playing rock beats. I think it’s one of the better things I’ve come up with— it’s just a more musical way of learning […]
Groove o’ the day: Harvey Mason – Slop Jar Blues
Here are some fairly basic funk grooves, which I’m really only posting as an excuse to get you to listen to this track, and the way the drummer plays it. The tune is Slop Jar […]
Ghost notes developer
Ghost notes are currently an extremely hot topic in internet drumming land— it seems funny that there would be so much hoopla about an embellishment, but whatever. I use them all the time in my […]
Transcription: Ndugu Leon Chancler – Earth
Happy holidays everyone. Instead of finishing the other transcriptions I said I needed to finish, I started a new, really long one: Ndugu Leon Chancler playing Earth, from Joe Henderson’s album The Elements. I don’t […]
Daily best music in the world: Headhunters
A complete set by Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters, with Mike Clark on drums, recorded in 1974. For most of the time I’ve been a drummer, there was no opportunity to see things like this— actually the […]
Rock beats: simple displacements
Here’s a page of patterns for illustrating/learning some creative possibilities with a basic rock beat, using some simple displacements— playing one or more notes “late”, moving them over to the &: Learn the patterns individually, […]
Groove o’ the day: Art Gore / Cosmic Funk
Listening to Lonnie Liston Smith’s album Cosmic Funk, I just today came across someone I had never heard of, but who I instantly loved— Cincinnati drummer Art Gore. I’m working on a transcription of his […]