We haven’t seen one of these in awhile— seriously, I have posted more stuff on this Afro 6 groove than anybody in the world, and if you have thoroughly practiced any three or four of […]
Category: exercises
Chaffee linear phrases in 4/4 with inversions – 01
I’ve found it helpful to practice Gary Chaffee’s linear materials in inversions— not always starting the patterns on beat 1. We’ve already done that in 3/4 with 16th notes and with triplets; today we’ll do the […]
FUNK CONTROL: alternative set 1 – complete
I’m working out the format for putting this “Basic Funk Ideas” series into book form, tentatively titled “Funk Control.” The top of the page, labeled “Basic rhythm and iterations” shows the source rhythmic idea for […]
Double bass drum: 5 and 7 stroke singles
A student request. This is the first thing I’ve ever written for double bass in my life— I don’t play it, it’s not my thing. It doesn’t matter. This page of exercises will work for […]
Bossa/Samba bass drum workout
It says “workout”, like it’s some kind of technical challenge, but it’s really a page of exercises for opening up some musical possibilities with your bass drum when playing sambas and bossa novas. A lot […]
Three Camps in 5s
Another variation on the very famous old rudimental piece Three Camps, this time based on five-note groupings. We’re in 10/8, counted in 2— 5+5/8: All forms of this piece are excellent for working on endurance […]
Basic funk ideas in 6/8: four iterations – 01
I’m not happy with this title for this series, but I’m going to hang with it as long as we’re posting on the blog. It’s rapidly evolving into a Stick Control-like system for funk drumming […]
Basic funk ideas: four iterations – 03
Another page of this modern funk method— we’re going to need a better name for this thing, as we’re getting well beyond basic. This is turning into quite an epic. Normally, working on fairly demanding […]
Basic funk ideas: four iterations – 02
I’m liking this format— like Stick Control for funk drumming— so we’ll see a few more of these. This page takes the same series of patterns from the last two items (“mixed stickings” and “four […]
EZ Reed interpretation: another triplet lick
I like these Reed interpretations using the early part of the book. You can just play through fifteen lines of exercises, plus a 16-20 bar exercise, and be done with it. FINITE ASSIGNMENTS, people. Not […]