In this lesson you will be learning a new groove construction concept that involves avoiding the main quarter note counts in a bar of 4/4 with the kick and snare while the right hand maintains its usual rhythm. This could be thought of as a form of displacement but it is really on loosely related to the idea. At the bottom of the page you will find a list of links to lessons you may find useful when learning these parts.
The idea is quite simple, only play kicks or snares on '+' counts. It may take some getting used to not playing snares on the usual 2 and 4 and there will be some odd movements in the example patterns below. The idea is really useful as a simple variation on a main groove part but also works well as the main section of a phrase.
I have given several examples of this idea below with both quarter and eighth note hands. Use these as a starting point to create your own groove parts based on this concept.
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 130bpm.
- Create some 4 bar phrases where this concept is either applied as the groove, a variation on the groove or as a fill.
- Try adding in some other voices such as toms, also avoiding the quarter notes.
