Today we have a page of basic funk grooves in 2/2— cut time, half-time feel, whatever you want to call it. I haven’t given a cymbal part, because we’ll be doing some different things with […]
Category: funk
Groove o’ the day: Bernard Purdie — Funk Down
Here’s a bright proto-disco groove from Bernard Purdie, on the tune Funk Down, from Mongo Santamaria’s Afro-Indio record: The snare drum filler notes on the es happen more regularly, and more emphatically, than notes on […]
Page o’ coordination: basic — 05
Here’s another basic funk/rock page o’ coordination, this time using a series of es and as on the bass drum— to me this exact rhythm is a very 70s thing, and doing it with an […]
Page o’ coordination: basic — 02
Here’s another basic Page o’ coordination, with left hand variations over a very common funk rhythm in the hihat and bass drum: Play each exercise 2-4 times, and proceed to the next one without […]
Soul drumming history with Yogi Horton
Here’s an incredible video which I never knew existed: R&B legend Yogi Horton talking and playing the history of soul/funk drumming— this is just the best thing ever: h/t to my brother, John Bishop, for […]
Groove o’ the day: Ivan Conti — A Presa
Here’s a funk samba groove from a drummer I’ve really come to dig: Ivan Conti, of the Brazilian fusion band Azymuth. When I was into fusion in the 80s, I got the impression from some […]
Page o’ coordination: basic — 01
This whole Pages o’ coordination series has been something of a nightmare of difficulty; they’ve been for advanced players, at least. I thought I’d see what I could do on the other end of the spectrum, […]
Daily best music in the world: earlyish Steve Gadd
Here’s some really great funk drumming by Steve Gadd, from 1975, on a fairly obscure album: Mobius, by Cedar Walton. Gadd invented or perfected much of the drumming language that is now usually just called […]
Groove o’ the day: two by Jabo Starks
Here are two grooves by Jabo Starks, played on James Brown’s original soundtrack for the movie Black Caesar. As you already know very well, Starks, along with Clyde Stubblefield, is the drummer most responsible for […]
Transcription: Funkadelic — Trash A Go Go
More funk. This is Trash A-Go-Go, from Funkadelic’s Cosmic Slop album. It’s not clear who the drummer is; our man Tiki Fulwood is only credited on one track, and I don’t think it’s our other […]
Groove o’ the day: Al Foster — Billy Preston
Must play more music where I can just leave the hihats open all day. This is Al Foster’s groove on the tune Billy Preston, on the Miles Davis album Get Up With It; kind of […]
Transcription: John Guerin — Dirty Harry, Main Title
Here’s a whole lot of kickass 70s stuff. The drumming here is by John Guerin, one of the great L.A. studio drummers of the era. He plays a large set here, with five concert toms, and, […]