Our previous “samba builder” was very batucada-focused (and probably in need of an update); this has more to do with samba as played on the drums, like in our Milton Banana pieces. The method is straightforward; […]
Category: bossa
Transcription: Milton Banana — O Samba Da Minha Terra
Another Milton Banana transcription, this time the batucada-style intro to O Samba Da Minha Terra, from the same Sambas De Bossa album as last time. We’ll probably be seeing more of these, because I really […]
Transcription: Milton Banana — Flor de Liz
As I mentioned before Milton Banana is one of the great Bossa Nova drummers, and since that tends to be an under-understood style (by the whole rhythm section, actually), I want to go a little […]
Transcription: Dom Um Romão – Agua de Beber
A little companion piece to my bossa BD variations post– this should be helpful in giving your bossa someplace to go; as I mentioned before, a lot of people get married to the standard time […]
Bass drum variations for bossa nova
Bossa nova can be a very static style for novices- I’ve noticed in teaching that they have a hard time getting away from the standard, repetitive pattern. And, aside from Ed Uribe’s book, I really […]
Best books: The Essence of Brazilian Percussion and Drum Set by Ed Uribe
The Essence of Brazilian Percussion and Drum Set is the little sister of Uribe’s massive volume on Afro-Cuban percussion. I’ve been using it almost daily for several months now, and not only is it a […]
Stanley’s Page of Bossa Nova
Here is a page of basic Bossa Nova patterns, which I wrote up for a couple of my students. I’ve included the standard pattern that will be familiar to a lot of people, a Partido […]
Caixa blow out: part 1
Here are a couple of pages of caixa (that’s a Brazilian snare drum) patterns which are in common use in Portland, along with some of their variations from other sources. Includes a partial illustration of […]
Method book round up: Brazilian drumming
As some of you may have noticed, I’ve been thinking a lot about Samba of late. And as my friend Blake Thomas, an expert cuica (not to mention caixa and zbumba) player has loaned me […]
Todd’s Methods: Samba builder
Here’s a little method I improvised for developing some flexibility with the samba- I put this together pretty quickly away from the drums, so I’m sure I’ll add to it as I work with it […]