Some of these Reed systems are so sprawling that you can spend months working your way through them. This one is nice and limited. There’s exactly one thing to do, and relatively few lines from […]
Category: syncopation
Syncopation rhythms – dotted quarter note spacing
A page of practice rhythms, with dotted quarter note spaced notes, and no more than two notes in a row with an 8th note spacing. Most of these are already scattered all over the book […]
Linear Reed tweak
This is a sticking system for a Reed linear solo/fill method, which I improvised while practicing. In the past, I mostly improvised the stickings, which is not a bad way to practice, but it’s limiting, […]
Subtractive patterns for feathering the bass drum
A collection of subtractive patterns for developing feathering the bass drum in jazz— for sketching it in, and making punctuations, anyway, since this will mostly not have you playing running quarter notes. Learning to support […]
EZ solo method: six stroke rolls with brushes
I was doing this easy Reed method with a student— it’s a rare one for using the triplets-and-8th-notes pages of Progressive Steps to Syncopation, pp. 16-17. This is good for brushes, OK for soloing with […]
8/8 rock method
An easy little two-part system for rock and funk drumming. It’s a way of livening up a rock groove without breaking away and doing an actual fill— using an 8th note texture, played between the […]
Subtractive patterns for jazz snare and bass
Continuing to develop this subtractive method, here are some good patterns for snare drum and bass drum in a jazz feel. I’m digging the system. It allows me to put whatever part I want consistently […]
EZ Reed method – Jack’s way – 02
Continuing a very easy system I’m using with a younger student— I feel kind of cheated that I wasn’t taught this myself, and that I haven’t been teaching it all these years. This is as […]
EZ Reed method: Jack’s way
This is a very basic method improvised by a student of mine— for younger students, or as a remedial thing for others. It’s good for orienting students in the Reed thing, playing full drum set […]
Subtractive method: batucada
This developing subtractive method is becoming really interesting. It makes it much easier to write and communicate more complex orchestrations than in the past— which is not an end in itself, it just makes it […]
Accents in Reed
TOTAL nerd stuff here. I use the accent pages in Progressive Steps to Syncopation (pp. 47-49) with my students for convenience, but I find them be a pain. They’re thorough, but poorly balanced— so if […]
Reed interpretations: special voicing – 01
This came out of the groove part of my recent Country Rock thing. It’s a kind of subtractive method for voicing the snare drum and bass drum. Not unlike my John Riley-inspired “that with interruptions” […]