This is a triplet-feel R&B groove practice method we did in a lesson with a student recently. It has a snare drum backbeat on 2 and 4, quarter notes on the cymbal, and some triplet […]
Category: R&B
Groove o’ the day: Little Feat – Front Page News
Here’s a very inventive modern-sounding groove by Richie Hayward with Little Feat, on Front Page News, from the group’s album Down On The Farm. What he’s doing on the hihat reminds me of the staticky […]
Three Camps for drumset: Funk shuffle – 01
Another page of Three Camps interpretations for drumset, based on a 4/4 funk shuffle groove, with a normal jazz rhythm on the cymbal. These focus on pretty normal vocabulary for that type of thing. I […]
EZ stock beats for all music
This is a page I’m using with some younger students this week— a variety of stock beats that can be used in most playing situations. We get so involved with technical improvement, it’s easy for […]
Idris’s clave
A page of beats based on a snare drum rhythm used a lot by Idris Muhammad. It’s a sort of one-bar clave, an inversion of the rhythm commonly called tresillo, starting on beat 3. I’ve […]
Groove o’ the day: two by Idris Muhammad with Melvin Sparks
Two similar grooves played by Idris Muhammad with the guitarist Melvin Sparks. The tunes are also very similar, following the same basic template. Both grooves have this as the main snare drum rhythm: It’s a […]
Groove o’ the day: Al Jackson – Soul Dressing
Hip groove from Al Jackson on the tune Soul Dressing, by Booker T. and the MGs, from their 1965 album of the same title. They recorded so many of these tight little 45s, R&B miniatures— […]
Todd’s methods: Gospel 6
Get me. Here’s a practice method for people who have bought my new print book Syncopation in 3/4. It’s closely related to my standard Reed 2/2 funk method, except here we’ll be doing a slow […]
Page o’ coordination: Midnight Special shuffle
Page o’ coordination based on the Midnight Special shuffle groove as played by Grady Tate and Donald Bailey with Jimmy Smith. We’re using two different cymbal rhythms, and the snare drum part varies, but the […]
Practice loop: Wilson Pickett – Mojo Mama
By the way, all of yesterday’s ranting and raving about people’s drum covers doesn’t apply to my sampled practice loops, which are lovely, highly recommended, and serve a totally different function. We’re not aiming for […]
Orchestrating and embellishing backbeats
What do we do with this? Someone bored with playing backbeats all night asked this question on the Drummerworld forum: “What do you do to spice up the 2 & 4?” My answer is: I […]
Practice loop: Ronnie Foster – Mystic Brew
Please forgive my continued very, very light, almost-not-even-there posting these days. We’ll get back to the usual torrents of stuff very soon. Until that happens, here’s a new practice loop: the vamp from Mystic Brew […]