Two jazz comping practice suggestions, which aren’t big enough to merit a full-fledged treatment, for the full-page exercises in Progressive Steps to Syncopation. Play these on the snare drum (with bass drum added in the […]
Category: syncopation
Reed method: bass drum with quarter note triplet filler – key
See, this is what I’m talking about— writing/organizing materials a certain way, you get practice ideas you wouldn’t have gotten just practicing the books. I could have used this 30 years ago, but it came […]
Syncopation exercise: two notes per measure – 01
Another syncopation exercise written with a special set of parameters— this one just has two notes per measure, with quarter note or greater spacing. Last year I did a page of one-line exercises that way. This […]
Jazz fundamentals: playing basic rhythms on a cymbal
Usually people start with jazz coordination by playing snare drum independence patterns along with a static cymbal rhythm— see Jim Chapin’s Advanced Techniques, for example. It’s a thing to do, and it should be done. […]
Syncopation in 5/4 – another format
A little throwaway item, as I continue working out the formatting for my upcoming book, Syncopation in 5/4, to be released God knows when. The problem is how to deal with phrasing the measures 2+3 […]
Syncopation rhythms in 5/4
Hey, who wants some practice rhythms in 5/4? Here are several pages of them. I’m working on a new book, Syncopation in 5/4— companion to my other book Syncopation in 3/4. There are some formatting decisions […]
Reed tweak: adding flams to a basic method
This is a small tweak on a common funk practice method for Ted Reed’s Syncopation, adding flams to the method in which the right hand plays the book rhythm on a cymbal, and the left […]
Todd’s methods: accents to funk
This is an item for teachers, I suppose. It’s good to have more than one way of teaching things. There’s no reason for a student to have to struggle with something just because your preferred […]
Long rolls, Reed format
A supplemental Reed item— this is about the level of thing I’m capable of right now. Not written out of any pressing need, hahaha, except this is a basic thing it’s not easy for intermediate […]
Best books: 143 Binary Algorhythms Applied to Paradiddles
This book has been out for a couple of years, but fellow Portland drummer Ed Pierce just brought it to my attention: 143 Binary Algorhythms Applied to Paradiddles. …possibly the worst book title ever, but who […]