I wrote this out for some of my younger students, and also as a continued exploration of this hemiola rhythm in funk. It’s very similar to some other things I’ve posted— most of these left […]
Category: funk
Hemiola funk – repeated beats
More of this hemiola funk idea, putting the two basic 3/4 patterns into 4/4 by repeating each beat of the pattern… starting on each beat of the pattern. I don’t know if there’s a special […]
Tresillo rhythms – EZ rock orchestrations
UPDATE: pdf link works now. I’m doing too many things this week. I’ve been running some students through this, and it sounds good. A more accessible version of my funk control series. Some basic rock […]
Groove o’ the day: more Brazilian funk
Another funk groove with a Brazilian flavor, from Shebaba by the guitarist Bola Sete. The album must have been recorded in Los Angeles, because on it are the saxophonist Hadley Caliman, and my old combo […]
Groove o’ the day: a funk samba
This is kind of a throwaway track by Gal Costa, but the drum groove is cool— both the pattern, and the way it’s played. Most people would call it a funk samba, and it has […]
Groove o’ the day: Hot Rod
Update: There is some dispute as to whether the drummer here is actually Idris Muhammad, which would not surprise me at all, because this is the kind of stuff he plays. This is from a […]
Hemiola funk series – SB-BS
I like this series. It’s a little half-baked, and I’ll probably have to rewrite it eventually, but I feel we’re closing in on something. A theory of rhythm and playing the drumset not based on […]
Hemiola funk series – BS-SB
Further exploring hemiola rhythms in various meters and drum set orchestrations… there will be several more posts like this coming soon. It’s a simple idea that nevertheless needs to be written out, and it takes […]
Two hemiola coordination patterns
This is partly about rhythmic education, partly about drilling a couple of basic drumset coordination ideas, and partly about education on the polyrhythmic foundation of common funk rhythms. It is based on this page of hemiola […]
Groove o’ the day: Soul Makossa
This is the groove from a track regarded as the first Disco song— Soul Makossa, by Cameroonian performer Manu Dibango. The drummer is Joby Jobs, and he has a bad right hand— he is apparently […]
Groove o’ the day: Andy Newmark – Babies Makin’ Babies
Here’s a cool 70s funk groove in a James Brown mode, played by Andy Newmark, on the alternative version of Babies Makin’ Babies, from the Sly Stone album Fresh. I’ve included the main groove and […]
Chaffee linear patterns in context – 01
Gary Chaffee’s linear system— found in book 3 of his Patterns series— is a major entry in the literature of drumming, but it has always felt unfinished to me. There are some extra steps required […]