A way to develop creativity on the drums is to use the left-foot hi-hat to create new rhythmic solutions. Drummers like Steve Gadd, Bernard Purdie, David Garibaldi, and Jason McGerr, to name a few, have experimented a lot with playing the left-foot hi-hat to create new memorable grooves. To achieve this, we start with some … More Left Foot Hi-Hat Development – Groove Workout
The second part of the quarter note triplet exercises adds the left-foot hi-hat to the combinations seen in the past month. With the left hand we play the snare cross-stick on “4” and then we move the quarter note triplets by one 8th note, as shown in the image below. Once comfortable with the previous … More Quarter Note Triplet Exercises Part 2
In the past few days, I worked on some exercises, new drum transcriptions, and books. Something I’ll be glad to share with you. It’s going to be a hot summer! Here’s a series of exercises to work on quarter note triplets, developing coordination and independence. We start off with the basic pattern on the snare, … More Quarter Note Triplet Exercises Part 1
Here’s an exercise to develop your independence, playing various cymbal patterns on a 3 over 4 pattern between the bass drum and the hi-hat. We start with the first basic pattern on the bass drum, then with the second one we add the hi-hat, alternating the two pedals. On the second page of the PDF, … More Polyrhythmic Independence Exercise – 3 over 4
The applications of the Afro-Cuban 6/8 feel are endless, inspiring you to play new grooves. Today I’ll talk about applying this rhythm in a funk/fusion style: adding the snare drum backbeat, ghost notes, and the dotted 8th-note bass drum pattern. The 6/8 cowbell rhythm will be played on the hi-hat, as shown in the figure … More Afro-Cuban 6/8 Funk Application: Accent Displacement
Last month I talked about paradiddle application using the book “Stick Control”, in particular the exercises 5 to 8 of page 5. Here’s a summary of all the things discussed in the previous article. The grooves are played with the hi-hat on the downbeat. Here below the variation of the first groove (exercise 5) playing … More Paradiddle Grooves – Stick Control Application Part Two
… More Paradiddle Grooves – Stick Control Application Part 2
The rhythmic possibilities of G. L. Stone’s book Stick Control are endless. Here’s a drumset application using exercises 5 to 8 of the Single Beat Combinations section to create grooves based on paradiddles. We’ll arrange each part as follows: right hand on the ride cymbal, and left hand on the snare with ghost notes, accenting … More Paradiddle Grooves – Stick Control Application Part 1
Here’s a series of exercises to develop and improve your ability to play ghost notes on an 8th-note groove, using different bass drum combinations. You can apply the exercises on the ride cymbal with various left-foot hi-hat ostinatos. The challenging thing is to play the two ghost notes before and after the backbeat, so start … More Grooving with Ghost Notes
I want to thank John Di Raimo for contacting me and sharing his article about the Jeff Porcaro single-hand hi-hat technique, particularly on the famous tune “I Keep Forgettin’” by Michael McDonald. Here’s the original article, published by Modern Drummer in January 2009. These exercises are so helpful in mastering the single-hand hi-hat technique, especially … More Groove Like Jeff by John Di Raimo
Here’s an advanced Ted Reed’s Syncopation interpretation useful to develop your independence. It consists of playing long notes on the bass drum and short notes on the snare drum, with the right-hand jazz ride pattern and the left-foot hi-hat in quarter note triplets (starting on the triplet’s second 8th note). The initial measure of the first exercise … More Ted Reed’s Syncopation – Jazz Interpretation (hi-hat in quarter note triplets)
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