In this lesson I will present a list of grooves where the left hand is playing the Tambourine, so it is essentially replacing the snare. There won't be anything particularly new, the grooves will all be based on previous ideas, the aim is just to familiarize you with how notation will look for this kind of groove. In later levels tambourines will be discussed in more detail and specific patterns will be given. This lesson is pretty much the same idea as the similar lesson on Using Cowbells In Grooves.
The tambourine can be positioned anywhere on the kit where you have space for it but where you place it will have an affect on how you can use it. For example if it is positioned anywhere to the right of the hi hats it becomes quite hard to use in the context of this lesson when the hi hats are used in a groove. For this use somewhere to the left of the hi hat is preferable. Experiment with different positions around the kit. You could of course just use the ride cymbal or something similar as an alternative.
Listed below are six grooves where the snare is replaced with a tambourine, the tambourine is the bold 'x' note head in the same line you would find the high tom. I have used various level 1 concepts.
Example 1
Example 2
Example 3
Example 4
Example 5
Example 6
TASK
- Learn the grooves shown above to a tempo of at least 130bpm.
- Experiment constructing other grooves where the tambourine plays the left hand.
Another trick that works quite nicely is to replace just one of the snares. This also works well when the Sidestick is being used. I've shown four examples of this below.
Example 1
Example 2
Example 3
Example 4
