This lesson will show you how to easily spice up a groove in a similar way to our lesson on moving the right hand in a groove, only we will now be moving the left hand. This concept is as simple as taking your left hand away from the snare and playing it on a tom or cymbal.
Listed below are three examples of where you could move your left hand to. Obviously this isn't an extensive list, you could move it anywhere on the kit, but these three are the kind of thing you will see most often.
Left Hand On The High Tom
Left Hand On The Floor Tom
You will see this most often done when the right hand is on the ride as it is much easier to reach the floor tom that way. If you're feeling particularly flash you could play the ride with the left hand and the floor tom with the right.
Left Hand On The Hi Hat
Again, this is most commonly done when the right hand is on the ride. Notice that both the hi hat and ride are written in the same voice.
TASK
- Learn the grooves above.
- Create your own versions of these grooves.
- Experiment with where else you could move your left hand to.
This pattern also works quite nicely as a subtle fill. Written below are three four bar patterns showing how these patterns can be implemented as fills:
Example 1
Example 2
Example 3
