In this lesson you will take the Multi Layered groove where the right have played a quarter note count while the left played a '33334' style rhythm and reverse the rhythms the hands play. As with the original groove, this is a complicated movement and will take a lot of practice to become comfortable with as you will be thinking about several things at once. The lefth and will be particularly challenging as it will be taking on a much more prominant role than it usually does.
To build up the grooves on this page you first need to be familiar with what the hands are doing. The left hand is the easy bit, that will just play quarter notes and is best orchestrated to the left of the kit. The hi hat is the most obvious option but crash, splash or percussion items are also a viable option. The right hand is where the interesting stuff happens. For the grooves in this lesson the right will be playing a syncopated '33334' rhythm somewhere on the right of the kit. I will be notating on the ride but percussion, crash or china are also options. In this first example, the left hand is shown on the left and the right hand on the right
Note that I've cheated a little around the '4' of the '33334' rhythm. The '4' is actually on the snare and you don't have enough limbs to play a snare, ride and hi hat all at the same time so I've subdivided this down into two lots of two and a ride is played on the second of these notes. Below, the two cymbal parts are notated in the same bar.
This is where it starts to get tricky. Work through the part taking particular note of at which point the hands fall together and use the counting provided to also help with the note placement. Spend time getting comfortable with this two handed pattern, starting at a low tempo and gradually building up to around 120bpm. The next step is to add in the common time snares and this is shown below.
On the remainder of the page I have shown that hand pattern given above with various kick patterns underneat. Take your time with each groove, make sure all notes are falling accurately and your technique is good before working on tempo.
Example 1
Example 2
Example 3
Example 4
Example 5
Example 6
Example 7
Example 8
TASK
- Learn all steps up to a tempo of at least 125bpm.
- Experiment with different kick placements underneath the given hand part.
- Orchestrate the rhythms shown on the ride and hi hat above.
- Try using a different syncopated rhythm for the left hand.
