Writing yesterday’s piece I realized I’ve never posted a really satisfactory explanation of the RH accent triplet solo method— a very useful way of practicing Progressive Steps to Syncopation, which I’ve relied on a lot […]
Category: reading
Tresillo and cinquillo inversions
I’ve got way too much painfully unfinished stuff in the docket right now; about a dozen long written pieces languishing in my drafts folder, some in-depth practice materials in development, an ambitious new book project, […]
Jazz rhythm book
There’s a good book on rhythm that is kicking around on the internet for you to download and read: How to Read Jazz and Other Syncopated Type Rhythms. It’s by Micheal Longo, who had a long […]
Syncopation p. 37 in 16th notes
Continuation of this item, in which I transcribe exercises by Ted Reed into 16th notes. Here I’ve done the famous page 37 exercise. I won’t be doing any other pages because that would be obsessive […]
Syncopation rhythms in 16th notes
This is a library item— you can print it and keep it with your copy of Progressive Steps to Syncopation. I’ve transcribed the one-line syncopation exercises from Reed into 2/4, doubling the rhythmic values. Just […]
6/8 rhythmic literacy – 01
This has been a lurking annoyance for me for a long time: students don’t know how to read basic rhythms in 6/8… any of the */8 meters. It looks weird and is often explained poorly, […]
Developing a method for rub-a-dub
I’ve been working up a practice method for learning what Mel Lewis called rub-a-dub— I hate to use his term, because I only just saw it explained for the first time in Chris Smith’s video. I don’t […]
Maximizing syncopation rhythms
This is something I was doing with a Skype student recently. We’re working on jazz solo vocabulary, currently getting fluent with common jazz rhythms using basic drum set orchestrations— developing a basic Billy Higgins/Frankie Dunlop-like […]
List of basic orchestrations of a syncopated rhythm
This is just a one-page summary of elementary drum set orchestrations of a syncopated rhythm, written Ted Reed-style. I’m teaching my simple solo method to a couple of students, so a printed list of the […]
A simple solo method
Here’s a simple, non-technical solo method I was just working on with a student… …a SKYPE student… did you know I teach lessons via Skype? I do. Anything you ever have questions about on the […]