You playing along with a backing track. So, I watch the YouTube videos of drummers playing along with their playalong tracks, and sounding pretty OK, and I think you know, I probably wouldn’t sound any better […]
Year: 2017
Page o’ coordination: Latin in 3 – 05
This is a fairly subtle variation on this Afro 6 feel, which we’ve covered pretty fully in the past few years, and possibly one of the easier entries in the series. I suppose you could […]
Groove o’ the day: Jimmy Smith / Midnight Special
In about 1991 I lived in Eugene, Oregon, and every once in awhile KLCC 87.9 would play something that would send you immediately to Cat’s Meow (the jazz record store that survived for 30 years […]
Stick Control drumset exercise – RLRR-LRLL
Part 3 of this series, where the need to write out the exercises becomes perhaps more apparent. We’re playing a basic drumset orchestration of exercises from the first page of Stick Control by George L. […]
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 […]
Stick Control drumset exercise – RRLL and variations
This little series presents a kind of writing problem; it has to be either very short or very long, each of which will hit resistance with users. I’ve done it the long way, simply because […]
Transcription: Blues March – two intros
Two intros to a famous tune: Blues March, by Benny Golson. One is by Art Blakey, from the Jazz Messengers album Moanin’, and the other is by Lex Humphries, from Art Farmer and Benny Golson […]
Practice loop in 6/4: Lilin
Here’s that practice loop for yesterday’s Figure Control page in 6/4, sampled from Lilin, played by John Zorn’s Masada. The tempo is a little easier than the other recent loop in 6. You’ll also find […]
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 […]