In this lesson you will be learning some 7/8 grooves in swing time that have a constant swung sixteenth note right hand. These ideas have both been applied in various forms in level 2 so the main thing you'll be wanting to focus on here is the application in the new time signature. All examples will use the swing time short hand and you can find a link to a lesson on this, as well as other helpful lessons, at the bottom of the page.
As with any part the uses a lot of sixteenth notes on one hand, these grooves can be quite demanding on your right hand stamina. We have several exercises for helping with this and some are linked below. With all parts, start off slowly and prioritize note placement over speed. The right hand part for all grooves presented on this page will be this:
Spend some time getting familiar with this base rhythm as all groove examples on this page are built around this. It is essential that you remember to play this with the jumpy swing time feel rather than straight sixteenths. Try to keep your right hand and arm as relaxed as possible, it is very easy to tense up with this kind of pattern and that will make it much harder to play.
Below you will find a list of grooves all using this sixteenth note right hand. Start each part slowly and build up tempo only when your note placement is accurate.
Example 1
Example 2
Example 3
Example 4
Example 5
Example 6
TASK
- Learn all grooves up to a tempo of at least 125bpm.
- Create your own grooves using the given parts as a starting point.
- Apply these pattern within a longer phrase.
