Here’s what I’m listening to as I finish writing the 2017 Book of the Blog, which will be available for you to order by Monday. I’ve played this thing like 10 times. My theory is […]
Category: funk
Open hihat funk application using Dahlgren & Fine
Wow, suddenly it’s the end of the year. In coming days I’ll be throwing up as much stuff as I can to fill out any remaining content gaps in the upcoming 2017 Book of the […]
Linear funk with a broken cymbal rhythm, using Syncopation
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we’ve developed quite a robust collection of funk methods here, using Ted Reed’s Syncopation. If you learned them all you should have some real creativity going by now. So here’s […]
Stone on drumset: sixtuplet exercise
We’re doing quite a bit with the book Stick Control on the drumset these days. There are a lot of things I don’t like about the book— mainly that it’s based on abstract sequences of […]
Groove o’ the day: Spider Webb – It Feels So Good
This is by a drummer I need to know more about, because he’s great: Kenneth “Spider Webb” Rice. I guess I need to do some homework, dig up some records, and listen Jake Feinberg’s interview with […]
Linear Chaffee lick in 32nd notes
This is one of the more fun-and-easy-and-cool-sounding short linear phrases from the Gary Chaffee pantheon: 5 notes (RLRLB) + 3 notes (RLB). Today I’ve written out some ways of playing it as a 32nd note lick […]
Figure Control: 6-4 – Lilin – 01
Let’s just assume every post begins with an apology for the light posting— I’ve just been very busy with playing, teaching, and getting ready for an art show this past few weeks. This Funk Control/Figure […]
Groove o’ the day: Milton Nascimento – Tudo Que Você Podia Ser
My apologies for the lack of new posts. I’m putting together a new show of my paintings— first one in 15 years— and that has been occupying most of my spare time of late. Here’s […]
Groove o’ the day: Billy Cobham – The Dancer
Today we have a funk samba groove from Billy Cobham, playing The Dancer on Stanley Clarke’s School Days— one of the biggest fusion albums of the 70s. We’re actually throwing a bone to the open-handed […]
Groove o’ the day: Betty Davis – Shut Off The Light
Fairly funky thing here… fairly compared to nuclear war, maybe… the opening groove from Shut Off The Light from Betty Davis’s Nasty Gal album. Drums are variously credited as being Nicky Neal, Semmie Neal Jr., […]
Displacing a groove – 16th notes – 02
Part 2 of the previous displacement thing. This is the kind of thing that’s so obvious I don’t like to put it on the site, but it’s an intermediate step to the next thing, and […]
Displacing a groove – 16th notes – 01
This is an easy funk exercise, getting acquainted with rhythmic displacements that happen routinely in funk drumming, while relating them back to a simple groove. When this word displacement comes up, it’s usually suggestive of […]