In this lesson you will combining the level 2 Offbeat 8th Note Accent groove construction idea with the 16 Beat Groove. To achieve this you will just be placing accents on all '+' counts and doing this will drastically change the feel of the part by giving it a more funky sound. The accents for all patterns on this page will all fall on a right hand and only ever on an '+' count. Make sure the notes with the accent ('>') sign over them are noticably louder than the rest. This can be acheived by lifting the right hand up a little higher and pushing down with a little more force.
Remember that for this style of groove the snare tends to be notated in voice 1 to clarify the single stroke roll played on the hands. Below is an example of what the hands will play for this pattern when played in common time. Note that as in the previous version of this groove the back beat snares are played with the right hand.
The hi hats here can be either open or closed but closed hi hats give a more precise, clear sound that allow the rhythm to be heard. You can also apply the rhythm to the Ride And Hi Hat and Tom orchestrations of the straight 16 beat. When using the ride, accenting on the ride bell can be very affective. The rhythm is also very easy to apply to half time versions of the groove and that would look like this:
Below I have provide several examples of bass drums applied under this hand pattern to create some grooves. I have tried to throw in quite a few 'curve balls' here by combining the rhythm with other concepts, remember you can always jump back to our Level 0 Grooves List to find some more straight forward kick parts.
Example 1
Example 2
Example 3
Example 4
Example 5
Example 6
Example 7
Example 8
TASKS
- Learn the grooves above up to a tempo of at least 120bpm.
- Create some 4 bar phrases using these grooves.
- Try moving the hands to other parts of the kit to create more grooves.
