Yesterday I worked with a student on some connecting possibilities based on the highly useful RLB triplet solo/fill pattern. We have some directions to go with that: squeezing more notes in, dropping out a note, […]
Category: Gary Chaffee
Chaffee linear patterns – first exercises
I’ve needed this page several times recently— the first basic orienting exercises for the Gary Chaffee linear patterns: RLB / RLBB / RLRLB / RLRLBB / RLRLRLB / RLRLRLBB Mainly, playing the repeating patterns as […]
Practicing Chaffee phrases
Some things I do when practicing these recent Chaffee linear phrases, or any of the rest of them, beyond playing them as written. First, at faster tempos, the ones ending with two bass drum notes […]
Chaffee-esque right hand lead stickings
Lots of quasi-Chaffee activity lately, getting into a sticking system derived from his— as covered in his books Odd Time Stickings and Patterns vol. 2 – Stickings. Similar to his linear system, his sticking system […]
Embellishing Chaffee
This is why I can’t get anything done, when I sit down to practice somethingpractice something I’ll get two patterns in, and get involved in developing them as playing ideas, working out how to use […]
Chaffee linear phrases – beginning with LH double
Getting back into Gary Chaffee’s linear materials a little bit— originally outlined in the Time Functioning volume of his Patterns series of books. Since first working on this system as a student, it has been a […]
Chaffee linear system: alternative 4s/6s
Something I’ve been playing with— as you know, Gary Chaffee’s linear system is based on 3-8 note patterns, starting with the right hand, alternating sticking, ending with one or two bass drum notes. I don’t […]
Chaffee linear phrases in other rhythms/meters
In the comments of the recent Chaffee linear phrases in 4/4 post, someone asked about other rhythm possibilities for the same phrases. The phrases there were ten notes long, so basically any rhythm and meter […]
Chaffee linear phrases: 8ths and triplets in 4/4
Some Gary Chaffee-style linear phrases in 4/4, in 8th notes and triplets. If I did things in a logical order, I would have written this five years ago, when I was writing those pages in […]
Chaffee jazz patterns in a 4:3 feel
Playing the jazz patterns from Gary Chaffee’s time functioning volume as 16th notes in a 4:3 feel. I feel like kind of a horse’s ass writing this— it’s all already in the book. But there […]
Jazz waltz with Chaffee
Let’s detail something I mentioned in the Chaffee jazz post: using the patterns in that system as 8th notes in a jazz waltz. They’re three-note (or rest) patterns, so playing them two times = a […]
Making sense of the Chaffee jazz materials
Patterns, vol. 3 by Gary Chaffee Let’s talk about a big scary hard thing: the jazz section of volume 3 of Gary Chaffee’s Patterns series— the Time Functioning book. It’s in a similar category with […]