NOTE: I’m going to keep this pinned to the top of the blog for a little while. Scroll down for new stuff. You know what, I don’t think I get as many students via this […]
Marking up Reed for chart reading practice
Continuing the kicks/set-ups Reed tweak— in aid of that kind of practicing, let’s mark up the full-page exercises in Syncopation some more. You may not want to look at these changes all the time, so […]
Reed tweaks: kicks and setups with RH lead triplets
An online student in Europe is working on his reading with me, in preparation for an audition, and we’re talking about kicks and set ups. There’s a minor tweak to a common Reed solo/fill method— […]
Stickings a la Funky Primer
This is part of why I write so much stuff— you never know what a particular student is going to need, and in what form. For whatever weird reason, somebody will do really well with […]
Syncopation exercise: downbeats and &s
A full page syncopation exercise with the notes spaced a quarter note a greater. Some practice systems only work well, or work well at faster tempos, when there are certain limitations in the reading material, […]
Transcription: Al Harewood – Lil’ Darlin’
Transcription of a slow tune, Lil’ Darlin’, as played by Al Harewood, with George Benson. This is a really great group of Benson’s, with Mickey Tucker and George Duvivier, recorded on a Jazz Hour album […]
Sticking patterns for drum set – basic
An item for one of my students— an adult student who is new to reading music: a page of sticking patterns, based on this 2018 post reorganizing the first pages of Stick Control. I could just […]
Practice loop: slow blues
Bringing this back to planet Earth, here’s a nice 65 bpm blues to practice along with. Sampled from the tune After Hours on Roy Haynes’s album We Three.
Quintuplet jazz?
I wrote the following when I was still loopy from shooting and editing cymbal videos all day, I take no responsibility for anything I do. There was another forum question, about using quintuplets in jazz […]