Tuesday 29 December 2009
Sunday 27 December 2009
Friday 25 December 2009
Wednesday 23 December 2009
Monday 21 December 2009
Saturday 19 December 2009
The Drag
Over the Christmas Break I'd like you to work on one particular rudiment - The Drag. A Drag is, as it's name suggests, 'dragging' the stick across the drum to make 2 'buzzed' grace notes with one hand - this is then followed by an accented single stroke with the other hand.
Once you've got to grips with this, we can now go on to look at the 'Drag Rudiments' know as RATAMAQUES. Over the next few days I'll post up three different types of Ratamaque for you to work on.
Sunday 13 December 2009
Week 13 7th - 10th December
This week we looked at Back Beat Displacement - which is just a fancy way of saying that we're messing around with the back beat (the snare drum bits) within a groove.
The first groove we looked at was a 2 bar - quarter note groove displacing the back beat by an 8th note in the middle of the groove.
The first groove we looked at was a 2 bar - quarter note groove displacing the back beat by an 8th note in the middle of the groove.
Here is the mp3 of Groove 1
We then developed this groove by adding bass drum beats to the first bar.
Here is the mp3 of Groove 2
We then looked at a slightly more complex version using displaced 16th notes.
Friday 4 December 2009
Week 12 30th November - 3rd December
Here is the notation of the fills we looked at this week.
Here are the the mp3s from the last lesson :-
Fill 1 (Slow)
Fill 1 (Medium)
Fill 1 (Fast)
Then around the Kit (Snare Drum, Tom 1, Tom 3) :-
Fill 2 (Slow)
Fill 2 (Medium)
Finally, using the whole kit per ostinato :-
Fill 3 (Slow)
Fill 3 (Medium)
Fill 3 (Fast)
Here are the the mp3s from the last lesson :-
Fill 1 (Slow)
Fill 1 (Medium)
Fill 1 (Fast)
Then around the Kit (Snare Drum, Tom 1, Tom 3) :-
Fill 2 (Slow)
Fill 2 (Medium)
Finally, using the whole kit per ostinato :-
Fill 3 (Slow)
Fill 3 (Medium)
Fill 3 (Fast)
Saturday 28 November 2009
Week 11 23rd - 26th November
Kings of Leon Week.
So this week we looked at two Kings of Leon songs - 'Sex On Fire' and 'Use Somebody'.
The drum part to the first song - 'Sex On Fire' is here :-
The Second song we looked at was 'Use Somebody'. I have included some mp3s here for you to download and practice along with ... hope they help.
Once you have mastered the basic 2 bar groove (remember the count is 1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2) then follow the drum part and try to play the full intro with the different 8th bar. Have a listen to the mp3s below and play along in your own time.
Intro Groove (Slow) mp3 with the 8th bar variation.
Intro Groove (Full Speed) mp3 again with the 8th bar variation.
The full drum part is here :-
Friday 20 November 2009
Week 10 16th - 19th November
10 Weeks! ..... I just wanted to take this opportunity to formally say a huge thank-you to you all for taking the time out of your busy lives to come and have drum lessons. You're all doing so well and progressing at a fantastic rate - WELL DONE EVERYONE!
OK, we did some groove exercises this week. The idea behind this is that I want to get you out of the habit of following what I write on the board without really understanding what it is we're doing and more importantly why we're playing what we're playing ('Karaoke drumming' if you like).
What you play, in terms of a groove, is usually determined by what is going on in the song - what the bass guitar is playing or what riff the guitarist is playing etc. Our job is to make a groove out of what we hear and to give the song a pulse and drive it along. We do this with a 'BACK BEAT' on the snare drum usually (but not always!) on the '2' and the '4' and bass drum beats emulating the beat of the song.
However, what we play on the Hi Hat is largely our choice. We make the judgement call as to whether we play just the quarter notes - as in a Heavy Rock track, or a busier Hi Hat pattern with for instance 16th notes on the Hi Hat as we would in an RnB song.
Work through the following exercises playing four different Hi Hat patterns with the grooves. Watch out for some 'Back-Beat displacement', a Back Beat on '3' and I've snuck in a 2 bar groove at the end.
OK, we did some groove exercises this week. The idea behind this is that I want to get you out of the habit of following what I write on the board without really understanding what it is we're doing and more importantly why we're playing what we're playing ('Karaoke drumming' if you like).
What you play, in terms of a groove, is usually determined by what is going on in the song - what the bass guitar is playing or what riff the guitarist is playing etc. Our job is to make a groove out of what we hear and to give the song a pulse and drive it along. We do this with a 'BACK BEAT' on the snare drum usually (but not always!) on the '2' and the '4' and bass drum beats emulating the beat of the song.
However, what we play on the Hi Hat is largely our choice. We make the judgement call as to whether we play just the quarter notes - as in a Heavy Rock track, or a busier Hi Hat pattern with for instance 16th notes on the Hi Hat as we would in an RnB song.
Work through the following exercises playing four different Hi Hat patterns with the grooves. Watch out for some 'Back-Beat displacement', a Back Beat on '3' and I've snuck in a 2 bar groove at the end.
Friday 13 November 2009
Week 9 9th - 12th November
Michael Jackson Week ...
This was the first of our one-off lessons featuring this time the music and grooves of Michael Jackson. We looked at 'Beat it' as played by Jeff Porcaro, 'Thriller', 'Rock With You' as played by John Robinson and 'Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)' as played by Ed Green.
Listen to the tracks and play along using the sheet below.
Thanks to Neil and Alex from Wednesdays and and Fridays for spotting that the groove for 'Beat it' was incorrect. Well done Fellas!
This was the first of our one-off lessons featuring this time the music and grooves of Michael Jackson. We looked at 'Beat it' as played by Jeff Porcaro, 'Thriller', 'Rock With You' as played by John Robinson and 'Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)' as played by Ed Green.
Listen to the tracks and play along using the sheet below.
Thanks to Neil and Alex from Wednesdays and and Fridays for spotting that the groove for 'Beat it' was incorrect. Well done Fellas!
Saturday 7 November 2009
Week 8 2nd - 5th November 2009
Firstly, welcome back after our week off for half term. This term, running up to Christmas (and the Christmas Concert on the 20th of December - more on that later!) promises to be very busy and packed full of new and exciting lessons for you all.
This week we looked at playing Jazz and dropping some 'Be-Bop Bombs' on the snare drum.
Work through the sheets below, as we did in class - but remember with Jazz Drumming LESS IS MORE - you DO need to be able to play them all but NEVER put them all in one bar.
Wednesday 28 October 2009
Week 7 19th - 22nd October 2009
The best fills you"ll ever play ......
All of these fills are based on the standard 16 16th note fill - 1-E-and-a, 2-E-and-a, 3-E-and-a, 4-E-and-a. Try to play a few bars of an 8th note groove before launching into the fill - remember to make sure the tempos match. The 'numbers' and the 'ands' in the groove are the same as in the fill.
All of these fills are based on the standard 16 16th note fill - 1-E-and-a, 2-E-and-a, 3-E-and-a, 4-E-and-a. Try to play a few bars of an 8th note groove before launching into the fill - remember to make sure the tempos match. The 'numbers' and the 'ands' in the groove are the same as in the fill.
Saturday 17 October 2009
Week 6 12th - 15th October 2009
6 Weeks already! Again apologies for not posting up everything from last week, I'll try to cover everything in this post but if anything gets left out do let me know.
Firstly, 16th note triplets and 16th note triplet shuffle. With regular 16th notes, we would sub-divide each quarter note pulse into 4 beats and count it 1-E-and-a, 2-E-and-a etc. With 16th note triplets we are dividing each beat into 6 even beats with a count of 1-2-3-4-5-6, 2-2-3-4-5-6 etc. To play a shuffle but in 16th note triplet form we would play the pattern like this :- (Bold = notes to be played)
Firstly, 16th note triplets and 16th note triplet shuffle. With regular 16th notes, we would sub-divide each quarter note pulse into 4 beats and count it 1-E-and-a, 2-E-and-a etc. With 16th note triplets we are dividing each beat into 6 even beats with a count of 1-2-3-4-5-6, 2-2-3-4-5-6 etc. To play a shuffle but in 16th note triplet form we would play the pattern like this :- (Bold = notes to be played)
1-2-3-4-5-6 2-2-3-4-5-6 3-2-3-4-5-6 4-2-3-4-5-6
The best exponent of this style of playing is a drummer called Bernard Purdie. He has worked with many recording artists such as Aretha Franklin and Steely Dan. His version of this groove is now well known as the 'Purdie Shuffle' which incorporates 'ghost' notes played on the snare drum with your following hand (example below) as well as a back beat. This can be heard on 'Home at Last' and 'Babylon Sisters' by Steely Dan. This idea was taken even further by another drummer called Jeff Porcaro who often played this groove pattern over 2 bars incorporating a 'clave' pattern on the bass drum - examples of this groove can be found on 'Rosanna' by Toto and 'Any Foolish Thing' by Micheal MacDonald.
An example of this groove can be found at the bottom of this post.
An example of this groove can be found at the bottom of this post.
Work through the sheets below at your own pace and if you can have a listen to a few examples.
Our second subject was 8th and 16th note grooves played one-handed and hand-to-hand on the hi hat - with 8th and 16th notes on the bass drum.
The first pattern we played was the 1 and-a, 2 and-a, 3 and-a, 4 and-a, on the hi hat with on hand as show here or hand-to-hand as shown here.
The second pattern was 1-E-and, 2-E-and, etc on the hi hat again played with one hand as shown here or hand-to-hand as shown here.
The third pattern (the one you didn't like!) was playing 1-E a, 2-E a, 3-E a, 4-E a on the hi hat with one hand as shown here and hand-to-hand as shown as here.
The Purdie Shuffle :-
The first pattern we played was the 1 and-a, 2 and-a, 3 and-a, 4 and-a, on the hi hat with on hand as show here or hand-to-hand as shown here.
The second pattern was 1-E-and, 2-E-and, etc on the hi hat again played with one hand as shown here or hand-to-hand as shown here.
The third pattern (the one you didn't like!) was playing 1-E a, 2-E a, 3-E a, 4-E a on the hi hat with one hand as shown here and hand-to-hand as shown as here.
The Purdie Shuffle :-
Friday 9 October 2009
Week 5 : 5th - 9th October 2009
Again two topics were covered this week, but I think it's worth everyone having a look at the 16th notes under 8th note groove exercises below.
Friday 2 October 2009
Week 4 : 28th Sept - 1st Oct 2009
Swing is the thing this week!
This week we looked at playing in a swing style - taking a straight groove and applying some basic principles to play it in a more swung, jazzy, blues-ie, funky way.
The first two sheets below cover all that we discussed in class - how you have two options when it comes to changing what you play to make it swing. Option 1 is to 'dot' the first played note, which adds half it's value to itself to make it 'last' longer. Now for us drummers that doesn't mean a great deal but it does mean that the next note that you'll play will be 'pushed' slightly to the right, closer to the next note, which in turn will be dotted an so on. This will give you that 'shuffle' feel that you hear in Jazz and Blues. Option 2 essentially does that same thing but this time you're going to change those straight hi hat beats to triplets with the middle one missing.
Work through the two sheets making sure you're OK with the concept then have a go at the sheet below.
This week we looked at playing in a swing style - taking a straight groove and applying some basic principles to play it in a more swung, jazzy, blues-ie, funky way.
The first two sheets below cover all that we discussed in class - how you have two options when it comes to changing what you play to make it swing. Option 1 is to 'dot' the first played note, which adds half it's value to itself to make it 'last' longer. Now for us drummers that doesn't mean a great deal but it does mean that the next note that you'll play will be 'pushed' slightly to the right, closer to the next note, which in turn will be dotted an so on. This will give you that 'shuffle' feel that you hear in Jazz and Blues. Option 2 essentially does that same thing but this time you're going to change those straight hi hat beats to triplets with the middle one missing.
Work through the two sheets making sure you're OK with the concept then have a go at the sheet below.
Saturday 26 September 2009
Week 3 : 21st - 24th September 2009
This week's lessons were split between two ends of the same subject, bass drum placement within a groove.
Some classes were doing ALL of the 8th Note and Quarter Note grooves, working between the 8th Note and Quarter Note versions of the same grooves, paying attention to where the bass drum beats fall once the 'ands' have been removed in the Quarter Note version.
Below are a few exercises to work through in your own time. I've written then over 2 and 4 bar sections to get you used to reading multiple bars.
Other classes were introduced to my technique of using the 'up' part of your hi hat stroke to identify where the 16th notes fall in between the 8th notes on the hi hat. This then lead into playing the same patterns but in a more relaxed, laid-back 'swing' style. Below is an exercise demonstrating what we worked on and how the same groove can be written and played three separate ways.
Tuesday and Wednesday Classes
Monday and Thursday Classes
Some classes were doing ALL of the 8th Note and Quarter Note grooves, working between the 8th Note and Quarter Note versions of the same grooves, paying attention to where the bass drum beats fall once the 'ands' have been removed in the Quarter Note version.
Below are a few exercises to work through in your own time. I've written then over 2 and 4 bar sections to get you used to reading multiple bars.
Other classes were introduced to my technique of using the 'up' part of your hi hat stroke to identify where the 16th notes fall in between the 8th notes on the hi hat. This then lead into playing the same patterns but in a more relaxed, laid-back 'swing' style. Below is an exercise demonstrating what we worked on and how the same groove can be written and played three separate ways.
Tuesday and Wednesday Classes
Monday and Thursday Classes
Monday 21 September 2009
Monday 14 September 2009
Week 2 : 14th - 17th Sept 2009
Our second week this term and we're looking at the application of rudiments around the drum kit. This serves several purposes. It makes practicing rudiments a bit more fun (rather than just playing rudiments on one practice pad or snare drum over and over again!) but it also gets you thinking of the whole drum kit as your instrument.
We started looking at Paradiddles ( singles, doubles, and triples ) around the kit. Work through the exercises below in your own time. Remember to make all of the beats even, in terms of strength and speed and to 'keep your eye on the ball' watch where you're hitting - your hands will follow your eyes.
In the last exercise we'll look, we're going to play a Bounce Triplet exercise around the kit. Again, make sure that all of the beats are even.
We started looking at Paradiddles ( singles, doubles, and triples ) around the kit. Work through the exercises below in your own time. Remember to make all of the beats even, in terms of strength and speed and to 'keep your eye on the ball' watch where you're hitting - your hands will follow your eyes.
In the last exercise we'll look, we're going to play a Bounce Triplet exercise around the kit. Again, make sure that all of the beats are even.
Sunday 13 September 2009
Friday 11 September 2009
Week 1 : 7th - 11th Sept 2009
Ok, here we go!
So, in our first lesson together this term we looked at playing a basic warm-up exercise, which is detailed here and a basic 8th note groove with your lead hand on the hi hat playing (1-and-2-and-3-and-4-and). Remember to emphasis the hi hats on the beat and to hold back a little on the 'ands' just to give it some movement. We're going to do this for 3 bars and then fill on the 4th bar.
To play the fills, you're going to continue playing all of the 8th notes with your lead hand but add other (16th) notes with your following hand.
REMEMBER : YOUR LEAD HAND WILL BE 'KEEPING TIME' by continually playing 1-and-2-and-3-and-4-and during the groove and the fill.
Tuesday 8 September 2009
Intermediate Warm-Up
Single, Double and Triple Paradiddles Around the Drum Kit
RL on the Snare, RL on Tom 1, RL on Tom 2, RR on Tom 3
then
LR on Tom 3, LR on Tom 2, LR on Tom 1, LL on the Snare.
These form Triple Paradiddles.
Then as above but missing out Tom 2.
These are Double Paradiddles around the kit.
Finally ....
RL on the Snare, RR on Tom 1, LR on Tom 2, LL on Tom 3
then
RL on Tom 3, RR on Tom 2, LR on Tom 1, LL on the Snare.
These are Single Paradiddles around the Kit.
RL on the Snare, RL on Tom 1, RL on Tom 2, RR on Tom 3
then
LR on Tom 3, LR on Tom 2, LR on Tom 1, LL on the Snare.
These form Triple Paradiddles.
Then as above but missing out Tom 2.
These are Double Paradiddles around the kit.
Finally ....
RL on the Snare, RR on Tom 1, LR on Tom 2, LL on Tom 3
then
RL on Tom 3, RR on Tom 2, LR on Tom 1, LL on the Snare.
These are Single Paradiddles around the Kit.
Monday 7 September 2009
Saturday 5 September 2009
Intro into - Linear Grooves
Linear Grooves are grooves where no two limbs are playing at the same time.
The examples below are based on a full bar of 16th notes (1-E-and-a, 2-E-and-a, 3-E-and-a, 4-E-and-a). Each 16th note is played on a different drum or hi hat.
HINT : It is easier to keep your lead hand on the hi hat and play the snare drum beats with your following hand.
Click on the sheet below to work through the grooves one by one and in your own time. Remember that accuracy is far more important than speed with these grooves. It is important to make each one smooth with good 'back beats' either one 2 and 4 or 3 depending on the groove.
Tuesday 1 September 2009
Sunday 30 August 2009
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