Bag of Tricks: Easiest linear funk grooves EVER

Creating fun and funky grooves doesn't have to be hard. If you're looking to get out of your groove rut, try these two easy linear grooves on for size. As always, start slow and work to get comfortable and play with a solid feel before you increase tempo.

Performance notes:

• Keep the bass drum nice and solid. Fat kick sound helps both of these patterns groove.
• Any unaccented notes in the hands should essentially be played as ghost notes.
• In the first example, count four is played as a buzzed snare drum stroke in the left hand, and an open hi-hat note in the right hand. Try to get both sounds to last until count one.

As I've stated before, it can be helpful to try playing these grooves with a variety of styles. If you can make them groove to Metallica, Keith Urban, Frank Sinatra, Bach and Enya, you can play them anywhere. 

Happy drumming!

Friday Feature: Steve Gadd

About a million name puns came to mind when deciding how to introduce the legendary Steve Gadd, but....I'll let you make your own. 

He is the most imitated drummer of all time, and easily one of the most successful. His playing credits include Eric Clapton, James Taylor, Chick Corea, Paul Simon and Dizzy Gillespie (seriously?!) just to name a few. Known for his ability to, "get inside a tune" and play in the pocket like no one else, Gadd has been a legend for most of his life.

Visit Steve's official website here. 

My first exposure to Steve Gadd was through the music of Steely Dan. He played on one of their widely known tracks, "Aja," as well as on Paul Simon's, "Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover." Some of today's creative, but common, grooves were innovations of Steve Gadd. He has connections to almost everything that is great about groove, feel, time and fill.

Check out this tasty treat.

You'll notice how he makes use of melody and compositional elements more than sheer power or speed. He's got plenty of both, but uses them judiciously.

One other thing: Check out the relative simplicity of his setup. When you compare his kit to most modern players - especially somebody like Terry Bozzio - it almost makes you laugh out loud at what he can do with such a small rig.

And this is what Steve sounded like the year I started playing the drums. Amazing playing!

Well, as always, I simply hope to give you a jumping off place. And I hope that Steve Gadd influences your playing as he has for countless thousands of drummers for the last 40+ years.

Happy drumming!

The Weight Room: Flam Accent/Tap Groove

This one's pretty simple, but an awesome exercise to get your hands moving and your flams to smooth out.

It looks like this:

It is played as four flam accents followed by two flam taps.

Once you've got it smoothed out, here are some cool ways to apply it to the kit:

• Play it over jazz feet - light quarters on all four beats, crisp hat on two and four.
• Hi-hat on two and four, with bass drum notes on the flams.
• Hat two and four, kick notes on the 16th before or after the flams.
• Play the 16ths shuffled, hat on two and four - and try out some of the kick patterns mentioned previously. 
• Put the iPod on shuffle, and play it along with whatever comes up. 

Above all, make it groove. The more musical it can be, the more you're doing it right!

As always, happy drumming!

Bag of Tricks: 12/8 Funk Groove

Another fun groove from the great Jay Lawrence. This might be a repost, but I came back to it this week and have been having a lot of fun with it. Lots of variations and orchestrations are possible, so experiment with it and make it unique.

Happy drumming!

Bag of Tricks: Carter Beauford on DMB's "Satellite"

Earlier in the week we talked about flams.

This is one of my favorite tracks that utilizes a ton of simple, single flam fills and back beats, as well as flams on the toms as part of fills.

Check out the video for "Satellite."

Starting at the 2:16 mark, Carter Beauford starts using just a single flam as part of a fill. It's not a complex idea or figure (for the purposes of this post, it's not even worth notating!), yet it fits the song and feel perfectly.

Honestly, Carter has as much in the chops department as any other drummer in the rock-pop arena, yet he chooses his notes and fills based on what the music demands. This tune is also a very good example of a concept known as duality, where Carter mixes the very simple (single flam, quarter note fills) with the complex, such as the switching between time feels and using broken patterns and accents in fills to obscure the pulse.

I know a lot of drummers who don't like the way Carter plays, and I can honor that. But you've got to at least respect the man for what he does with the music. Whatever else he is, he's not a plain, "anyone with two sticks and a pulse could have played this track" type of musician. You can hear that it's him whenever you hear a track.

So, again, play around with flams (pun intended). Hopefully they'll become a tool that you're comfortable with and that will expand your vocabulary and ability to express yourself on your instrument and through the music.

As always, happy drumming!

Friday Feature: Will Champion of Coldplay

It's a topic for another day, but I absolutely love Coldplay. Every member of that band is a talented musician and performer. But, this is a drum blog, so we'll take a look at their drummer, Will Champion.

Start here:

Was there ever a more solid backbeat? I submit that there was not! 

One of the things that I appreciate about Will Champion is his ability to feel and fit into the music. He's there to support the message of the music, the feel, the texture, not to showboat or try to stick out. Will is the quintessential "band" drummer. 

He does have chops, he is creative - but he does exactly what he feels the music needs. He follows the old Tommy Igoe mantra, "I will never play a fill just because I can." In other words, he doesn't get in the way. 

(Here's another sweet little axiom that a band director buddy of mine tells his students all the time, "You're either the thing, you're supporting the thing, or you're in the way." This is what drummers need to remember. Your job is to support the music, to blend into the music - to give the audience the best experience possible. You don't do that by overplaying, playing out of context or showboating - that's what gets in the way of great music.)

Will Champion is as good as any drummer alive today at supporting the thing. And the thing is usually a heart-warming or soul-wrenching work of art that I can listen to time and time again. 

I can remember a time when I wasn't exactly a Coldplay fan. It was shortly after they started to get really popular in the States, and they only thing I'd heard was, "Yellow," from the album Parachutes. Not that I disliked the tune, mind you, I just wasn't all that blown away by the track. 

Shortly after, Coldplay came to my city on tour and I was given a ticket to the show by a friend. I went to the show because of said friend and had my mind absolutely blown. I've been to many a live show in my time, and I can count on one hand the number of those shows that I was actually pained when it was over. They could have played all night, and I would have listened.

One thing I noticed about Will - and all of the band, really - is that he was into the music all night long. He played relatively simple, straightforward stuff, but he felt every single note. He wasn't just playing drums, he was playing music. 

Anyway, suffice it to say, Coldplay was - and still is - solidly on my radar. I could give you a list of my favorite tunes (most of them) and albums (all of them), but I'll let you discover for yourself. You're probably already familiar with the band, so as you listen to your next Coldplay tune, listen to the drums - just the drums. I challenge you to stay focused on the sounds and feel of the drumming, but you're going to get distracted - that's how good Will Champion is at just blending in and making music. 

Here's a parting shot:

Even if you don't like Chris Martin, Jonny Buckland and Guy Berryman, you've got to respect Will Champion.

Happy watching, listening and feeling. 

Bag of Tricks: Anna Nalick - "Satellite"

At the 2:58 mark, this fill caught my attention.

The Weight Room: Hands and Feet

Alright, if you've read this blog with any regularity you already know that I suggest that you can apply any exercises for your hands to your feet, as well.

Today, let's apply a simple exercise that uses hands and feet at the same time.

Here's the basic Stick Control or Slow-Fast template:

Of course, you can apply any sticking pattern to this rhythm and play it any tempo.

For this example, we'll use paradiddles (R L R R - L R L L). And instead of using two hands, we'll use the left hand (LH) on snare drum and right foot (RF) on kick drum.

It looks like this:

Again, start slow and make sure you're playing relaxed and controlled. Make sure each stroke sounds even and that the kick and snare are balanced. If you're feeling adventurous, alternate every snare drum stroke (and kick drum stroke, too, if you're playing double bass).

When this gets comfortable, throw on your favorite click sound (okay, okay - or a great rock or funk track), and try grooving it like this:

Of course, this is just one application of this concept. Using the Slow-Fast template - or anything else that works for you - try splitting up your favorite patterns between hands and feet. Then apply it to the music that you love. 

Happy drumming!

Bag of Tricks: Bikutsi (Repost)

It must be a really busy time, because I'm reposting another blog post from last year. It's a good one, though. Definitely something to have in your bag of tricks.

The groove below is one that I learned a long time ago from an awesome drum teacher named Jay Lawrence. It's called, 'bikutsi.' Enjoy!



I'd appreciate any comments, below.

Bag of Tricks: Rock and Funk Grooves

Not gonna lie, I'm a little short on time today, so I'm going to recycle some old material in a new format. I think I've posted all of these grooves at one time or another, but here they are in a single sheet.

This is a handout that I give my private students comprised of grooves I've learned along the way as I've studied with teachers, from books, etc. So nothing too original, but lots of fun and useful to learn.

Enjoy!

Friday Feature: Steve Jordan

Another favorite drummer who is much, much more than that. Steve Jordan is an artist. He is a producer, musical director, composer, drummer....you get the picture. For a fairly complete look at his career and musical works, visit the Drummerworld site.

One of the things I admire most about Steve is that he's multi-faceted, and approaches music from a variety of angles. He never thinks about music - or performs, writes, etc. - from only one aspect. He seems to always consider what his contribution will do in terms of affecting the whole. He's thoughtful about his choice of sounds, grooves, fills and overall style to make sure that the music achieves the desired affect.

In short, he's a musician. He listens. Communicates with his band mates. Plays well with others. Again, you get the idea.

Two of my favorite Steve Jordan moments are his appearance in the documentary film, "Standing in the Shadows of Motown," and his work with John Mayer and Pino Palladino. I just can't get over the "Try" album. It's one that I can listen to for many reasons and for many hours.

And as I've said about some other players, you won't do any harm to yourself by learning some of his techniques and tricks.

Happy drumming!

The Weight Room: Playing with the click

As a young man I had the opportunity to play percussion (xylo, BD and the like) in an orchestra with a top studio drum set artist in the SLC metro area. He's a guy I've seen on liner notes my whole life, and he's very well known for being the studio drummer you want on your project.

During the course of rehearsals, studio sessions and performances, I asked him if it was hard to always be creative in the studio. I'm paraphrasing, but the answer was something like this, "You don't have to be creative. You have to play with the click, and sound like a drummer."

It seemed like a strange answer. You don't have to be creative? Just play with a click? Obviously there's more to being successful than just keeping good time, but it's an absolutely critical skill - besides, I think he was just being modest.

Seriously, though - nobody cares about your "chops" if you can't play in time. Call it what you will - the pocket, groove, solid - whatever. If you can't do it, you won't find a place as a drummer.

So, how do you start? Let me suggest three steps to get you started.

1. This seems obvious, but get a metronome. A good one. I recommend one with a tap function, and a wide range of tempos (tempi?). A set of isolation headphones is a good idea, too. Then use it enough to get to know what it can and can't do. Read the instruction manual (seriously, do it!).

2. Play very easy stuff while getting used to playing with the click. Start with an exercise that you can play in your sleep without thinking about it - so you can think about playing with the click! Focus on "landing" with the click on each beat and making your subdivisions very even. It shouldn't take long for you to get comfortable and progress to more complex exercises, grooves, etc. But be aware of the click always. Treat it like another musician, and focus on staying together.

3. Test yourself without the click. I have a metronome with a "mute" button. It doesn't stop keeping time, it just stops making noise. Try playing a measure with the click, then one without (Benny Greb has a fantastic example of this on his "Language of Drumming" DVD - check it out!) to make sure you're keeping good time. Another way to do this is to reduce the number of beats you're hearing per measure. For example, if you're playing in 4/4 at 100 beats per minute (BPM), turn the click down to 50, and play the same exercise at the same tempo. Instead of getting all four beats, you'll just get 1 and 3 (or 2 and 4).

Many of my students hate playing with the metronome. But I view it as one of my "real" friends. You know, the kind that can look you in the eye and tell you that you're fat - and you're still friends.

If you learn to be comfortable keeping great time (and feel) along with the metronome, you're well on your way to being a great drummer - one that other musicians will love playing with.

Happy grooving!

The Gig Log - Aaron Ashton Band: Blue Sky Music Camp at Westminster College

Occasionally I have the privilege of playing with the Aaron Ashton Band. Check him out here. These videos are from a gig we played in July 2011 as part of Blue Sky Music Camps.

Featured in this video are (from your left to right): Sam Runolfson - Cello, Kendra Lowe - Keyboard/violin/banjo, Aaron Ashton - Violin, me, Ryan Tilby - Bass and Austin Weyand - Guitar. Easily the most talented band I've ever played with.



Also worth noting is that this was an audience of maybe 80 people, and they were LOUD and friendly. Awesome night!

The audio isn't as good on the next one, but it's one of my favorite tunes to play with Aaron.




As always, happy drumming!

Music is a language: learn it like one

I've always found it interesting that when we are trying to learn the language of music, we often limit ourselves to one particular dialect. When I moved to the midwest (USA) for a few years, it took me forever to figure out what a 'bubbler' was, and people looked at me funny when I asked for a drinking fountain. But I'm from the mountain west. It's not a bubbler (or is it?), it's a drinking fountain.

So it is with learning a style of music. Many of my students are learning jazz, and most of them play jazz at school, but they don't actually know how to speak the language. And the biggest reason we don't speak jazz is that we rarely hear it being spoken.

What do you hear on the radio at the mall, doctor's office, or grocery store? Usually it is a pop station or what we lovingly refer to as "elevator music." Not a good example of jazz. Again, in mainstream culture, you won't hear jazz.

You have to seek it out.

In the Salt Lake City area (and most of Utah, southern Idaho and western Wyoming) you can catch jazz here, on KUER 90.1 FM from 8 PM to 12 AM. There are also great online resources, such as Pandora, Jango and Grooveshark.

When I was in college, a roommate of mine attempted to teach me Spanish. He had some great books and CDs, but also told me that I had to watch daytime television.....in Spanish. Every day. I know it sounds odd, but it didn't take too long before I started to hear the words and phrases I was studying in the TV shows, and my accent improved tremendously.

The same is true with jazz - or any other style or genre you want to master. And just like a small child learning to talk, you start by imitating, then you speak with your own voice.

Good luck, and happy drumming!

Jazz Swing Independence

In our quest for swing independence, one of the goals is to keep the ride pattern consistent. Try the exercise below and see what it does for your thinking and swinging. Keep the snare, hat and kick all at the same dynamic level at first, then try playing around with some phrasing.

Remember, start slow and gradually speed up. Don't play this exercise any faster than you can do it accurately. 

Once you're feeling comfortable with it, try laying it down with the track below. Go for at least a full minute, and get it really dialed in.

Happy drumming!