Rudimentary Jazz Groove With Quarter Note Kicks

This lesson is a direct follow on from our Rudimentary Jazz Groove With Quarter Note Snares lesson in which I showed how snare placement can work within this genre. On this page I will give you a simple introduction as to how kick placement works by adding some more very straight forward quarter notes. The parts on this page will involve adding to some of the exercises in the lesson linked above so it is essential that you are familiar with that content before proceeding.

As discussed in our initial jazz groove lesson, this style of music is incredibly different from rock and pop but the ideas used for kick placement aren't actually much different to those used in rock/pop and other similar styles. In previous level 0 and 1 lessons the kick was used to both emphasize the start of the bar and to add a bit of rhythmic interest around the backbeat snares. In jazz the kick will often take on this role, so it can act in a very similar way to the snare. Kick placement ideas such as the Four On The Floor are quite common too.

Below I have shown some parts that take some of the basic groove patterns from the lesson linked above and add in quarter note kicks at various points. In some parts there is a combination of kicks and snares and some just use kicks. These patterns are very basic and aren't actually very common in actual Jazz music but are a very good exercise in starting to familiarize you with these style of grooves. Swing Time Notation short hand has been used in all examples, make sure you are familiar with what this means or you will end up playing the parts in the wrong timing.

Make sure that when notes are falling together you hit the timing accurately, otherwise the parts will end up sounding sloppy.


Example 1

A simple one bar groove using the standard jazz time keeping pattern with a kick on beat 4.

A basic jazz groove using quarter note kicks and snares


Example 2

One kick on beat 2.

A basic jazz groove using quarter note kicks and snares


Example 3

One kick on beat 1.

A basic jazz groove using quarter note kicks and snares


Example 4

One kick on beat 3.

A basic jazz groove using quarter note kicks and snares


Example 5

Combining a kick on beat one and a snare on beat 4.

A basic jazz groove using quarter note kicks and snares


Example 6

A snare on beat 2 and a kick on beat 3.

A basic jazz groove using quarter note kicks and snares


Example 7

A four on the floor style pattern.

A basic jazz groove using quarter note kicks and snares


Example 8

This groove uses the traditional rock backbeat style groove.

A basic jazz groove using quarter note kicks and snares


Example 9

A two bar pattern that is slightly more difficult due to the offbeat 8th note snare after beat 3. In bar two make sure the kicks falls dead in time with the notes it should.

A basic jazz groove using quarter note kicks and snares


Example 10

A second two bar example, this one is slightly easier.

A basic jazz groove using quarter note kicks and snares


TASK

  1. Learn the groove exercises above at a tempo of at least 130bpm.
  2. Create your own version of this style of groove either by combining examples given above or by coming up with a new kick/snare placement.

Lessons

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