Yes, I’m determined to finally resolve some minor issues I have in practicing Gary Chaffee’s linear thing. Today let’s work through a short phrase that will be useful in jazz settings, starting after the 1, […]
Category: solo materials
Figure Control: 4/4 – Nexus riff
Let’s do one of these for the rhythm in the Nexus practice loop. You’ll recall, with this Funk Control / Figure Control series what I do is take a single performance rhythm and put a […]
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 […]
Single stroke 5s – 32nd notes
A set of exercises I improvised on my leg at the start of a rehearsal yesterday— and this would actually be good as part of a warmup. These are 5 stroke rolls in single strokes, in […]
Page o’ coordination: SBSB – 01
This is an emerging twist on our old Page o’ coordination formula: practicing various cymbal rhythms along with a repeating SD/BD coordination pattern. I’ve found that this opens up some creative possibilities; I’m a very […]
EZ uptempo jazz method – 02
It’s not so much a method as it is “some things to try”, using pp. 10-11 (“Lesson 4”) in Ted Reed’s Syncopation. Last time we looked at ways of making a broken time feel using […]
Chaffee linear phrases: adding 2s / triplets in 3/4
Another item we did some months ago: Gary Chaffee style linear phrases including a two-note pattern, this time in a triplet rhythm in 3/4. As you are no doubt familiar with by now, Chaffee wrote […]
5/8 accents in a triplet feel
I’ve worked on triplets and */8 feels a lot in my 35+ years playing the drums, and played a lot of music in the style, and still there’s a certain type of shuffle or 12/8 […]