In this lesson you will be learning a new phrasing 'shape' that is based on the seven bar 'AAABAAC' learned previously at this level (you can find this linked a the bottom of the page. In this version you are going to 'pre empt' the fills in bars four and seven with a bit of decoration in the bar before. Doing this can make the transition from groove to fill a little more smooth and subtle and can make your part stand out a little more. Similar ideas to this have been covered in more standard eight and four bar phrases also.
Three distinct sections are used in this idea, an A, a B and a C. The A will be your start groove that will make up the bulk of the pattern. The B is going to be a slight variation on this start point that could also take some ideas from the fill. The C will be a straight fill. The structure will look like this:
This structure is used for various different reasons in songs and pieces of music. One reason would be that the singer has wrote the lyrics in a way that sits best over seven bars of music. Similarly, the vocal part may fit nicely over six bars and a bar of 'padding' before the next set of vocals may work. It could also be the case that a riff or chord sequence just falls this way.
In terms of notation, if this phrasing idea is thrown in around some similar four or eight bar patterns, the line that is three bars long is usually made shorter. This helps keep the note spacing even across all lines and helps highlight the fact this short section falls within a shorter phrase.
Listed below are several example of this structure with a drum kit part applied. I have used a variety of different construction ideas but feel free to create your own parts. All patterns on this page are in the time signature of 4/4, separate lessons will be given for different time signatures.
Example 1
Example 2
Example 3
Example 4
Example 5
TASK
- Using the 2 minute rule, get all phrases up to a tempo of at least 130bpm.
- Create your own versions of these patterns based on the original phrase.
