cD re) ey Drummer’s® eee” Advanced Concepts For Musical Development By John RileyThe Jazz Drummer’s Workshop Advanced Concepts For Musical Development By John Riley Edited by William F, Miller Design And Layout By Michele M. Hensel © Copyright 2004 Modern Drummer Publications, Inc. International Copyright Secured All Rights Reserved Printed In The USA Any unauthorized duplication of this book or its contents is a violation of copyright laws Published By Modern Drummer Publications, Inc. 12 Old Bridge Road Cedar Grove, NJ 07009 USA HAL*LEONARD® CORPORATIONContents Page Track# Introduction ‘Thanks, Music Key, And Technical Info ........ Concepts Chapter 1: Finding The Groove Chapter 2: Holding The Groove .......60.+ 5% wolf 27 Chapter Chapter 4: Time Matters ......00.-65 Chapter 5: Second-Line Appl Chapter 6: The Chapter 7: 3/4 Comping Chapter 8: 3/4 Soloing Chapter Chapter 10: Odd Times | Chapter 11: Odd Times 2 Chapter 12: Odd Times 3... . Chapter 13: Odd Times 4... ° ons 8 243,44 ross-Training joubles Crossed The Masters Speak Chapter 14: To Transcribe Or Not To Transcribe? 30 Chapter 15: Maximize Your Soloing . Chapter 16: Billy Higgins Style & Analy: Chapter 17: Philly Joe “Fours” Chapter 18: Comping With Philly Joe Chapter 19: Elvin Jones Comping .....60eeceecceeeeeeeseeeenteeee dl va ae eee 52s 53, Chapter 20: Elvin Jones Soloing yar 43 = 54-56 Chapter 21: Tony Williams Style & ‘sa 45 57 Chapter 22: Expanding The Learning Process 49 58-61 The Chop Shop Chapter 23: The Warm-Up... z seiosuneeesisauy oes SL Chapter 24: Basie Training 1. Chapter 25: Basic Training 2. Chapter 26: The Moeller Stroke Revealed Chapter 27: More Moeller Chapter 28: The Pyramid Focential Fistenine atIntroduction GCL track | hne Juzz Drummer's Workshop is. a collection of Drummer magazine. Each piece isan in-depth look ata spe cific drumming issue, almost lke a private lesson on the given topic. In feet, many of the chapiers grew out of issues partic lar students were having or from things I've worked on, ‘The book is organized into thre seetions—Conceprs, The Master Speak, and The Chop Shop—not in chronological degrees, the theo~ onder, Each chapter addresses, in vary retieal, echnical, concepiual, and musical components relat- ing to the given subject. Like life's lessons, some of these lessons will be absorbed immediately, while others. willl require coosiderable diligence. I play many of the examples ‘Thanks ce to thank the late Ron Spagnanti, Modern ‘Drummer’s founder and publisher, whose encouragement and suppor launched this project; Ron will be greatly missed, Thanks also to Bill Miller for his excellent edi al eye and constant enidusiasm; co Yamaha, Zildjian, and Technical Info 1 John’s Kit sed on ocing Dra: Yonchs Nagle Cotm Doelow. (AB Baier B ktanomed om © fad feorio 5, eta bade cymbal ion Stark Consuming hha 2. eek Pree Bry sl de 3. 22° & Censanincele MeduryThin High ido Heads: Rene Ambassadors ‘Sides: Zidfan John Bley rack on the accompanying CD so that you can hear the sound, lance, and flow of the material see The Jazz Drunmer's Workshop as great sup- plement to my prior books, The Ari Of Bop Drumming and Beyond Bop Drurming, as it covers many topics not addressed in them, The J Drunmer's Workshop fortfies the contents of those earlier books. [ hope this iaterial gives you insight into solving musical issues fon the drumset. [also hope it leads you to a better understanding of the drummer's role in a band, 1 greater Muidity at the instrument, 1o higher level of music making, and to more fun. Good luck Remo for their great and innovative products and support of the music; co my parents and siblings for their nurturing and patience for all these years; and to my wife, Susan—thank you far everything. And finally, thank you to musicians, everywhere for your continued inspitation © recorded ond mixed by Poul Wieklife of Charleston Road Sti, Hamsten, NU ined ond mestered ot Skyline Productions, Warren, NJ Sd Inteaduetion aFinding The Groove Y {g0 into a club and the place is alive with energy, The bond is smokin’ and the audience is digging it After one set you are both inspired and exhausted by the experience of hearing such a hot band. It's geting late so You head for home, but on the way you remember that another great band is playing just down the street, and You decide to pop in to check it out. Here the scene is quite different: The lub is packed, bot there is no “buzz” in the air, The band is playing, yet the audienes is very passive: People are talking, and no one is bobbing their head of tapping their toes Some bands swing from the very first | If you note, Others may not swing for an entire night, When a bond is grooving, everyone feels loose and into the music; no one is tense, The players feel confident that they can play almost anything, and, at times, they are indeed “playing over their heads” How can s drummer ereate 8 good feeling every time he or she plays? To answer this question, it might be helpful to step back for a moment and examine the ways that drummers ‘and other musicians differ in how they appraise x good Grummer. We most often spetk about our idols in teems cof how great their chops are or how wild their phrasing is or how wicked their bass drum foot is, But this is almost like “Drummers are from Mars, musicians are from Venus" because when another musician talks about his favorite drummer, his point of view is often torally dif ferent from ours, A) Findine The Groave Although music is @ collective endeavor, bandleuders invariably tlk about drummers in selfish terms—a great drummer is the one who plays in a way that allows the other musicians to fecl that they are playing their best. ‘Most bandleaders don't know a John Bonham lick from a five-stroke relland they don't need to! I've never heard 4 musician say that the reason that he hired a particular ddrammer was because of that drummer's chops. The bot- tom line is, people hie the drummers who make thent sound good—period. seek to become a “name” band- leader’s drummer, what you need to do is play in a way that makes that bandleader feel more comfortable and creative in his own playing than any other drummer makes him feel. The intricacies of how a drummer creates that great feeling are immaterial to the other musicians, If you seek. to become a “na ne” bandleader's drummer, what you need to do is play in a way chat makes that bandleader fee} more comfortable and crestive in his own playing than any other drummer makes him feel. Once you've established that you can do that (which is obviously eas- ier said than done), them you might get an opportunity 19 show the other aspects of your drumming prowess. ‘The way that we develop our skills shapes our concept Most players go through very important formative pett= ‘ods in which they emulate their favorite players, They tryto play the ride cymbal patterns or the backbeats of their idols. They dissect and analyze: if only 1 can phrase my cymbal beat exactly like so-and-so, then I'll be grooving!” | went through the same process, and, at first, felt as though I was swinging just like my idol. But after a month or two of playing “his” time, | became unsure whether it was really swinging or not. At that point 1 became dissatisfied with my feel, and I searched for an even more swinging player to emulate in the hopes that adopting another master’s approach would be the answer for me, Through emulating a number of great players—the process consisted of studying and playing with their recortlings and going to their concerts seeking direct musical insighi—I gained many things: more control of the instrument; a familiarity with the different “dialects” of drumming; the realization that in order to become @ great drummer one also had to be @ great musician; an increased awareness of the importance of knowing tunes: some concept of what was expected of a professional ‘musician; and respect for the mastery and the passion that ‘great musicians exhibit. What I didn’t discover by copying people was how T could make a band swing. The reason for chis is that as T attempted to play their time feel, I was more concerned with recreating their thing—“Is this the right way?'— than with creating a groove, and music, with the people T was actually playing with at that moment ‘The things that my idols played worked well Jargely because they were played “in the moment.” The ‘ideas flowed in the context of that music, with those play- rs, on that day. Their particular approach to playing the time grooved because of the chemistry of that combina tion of players. By omulating the masters, what I did dis- ‘cover was that, while each of my idols had a very per- sonal way of playing the time, all the way from loose and fn the bottom of the beat to tight and on top, there were certain similarities in their approach and feeling for music that | had to incorporate into my playing in order to swing. (Okay, so back to my original question: Where does the ‘groove come from’ Why does one band swing and anoth- cr flounder? What is happening on the bandstand when the band is smoking? What is missing when a band isn’t ‘erooving? As a tune is being counted off, each player makes his ‘own appraisal of exactly what the tempo is. The song begins, and each player plays the tempo that they thine ‘was counted off. At this point the really good players are all ears. They are simultaneously playing their parts and ‘making instantaneous assessments of how the collective ede he.‘groove is jelling. If there is a problem hooking up, the players will subtly adjust by moving towards each other time-wise and find the groove before anyone off the bandstand is even aware that there is a problem, There is never an “I'm right and you're wrong” attitude, Music ‘works—whether it’s Mozart, Miles. or Motley C when the musicians are trying to play together. Players sive up a litle of their own individualism, their egos, for the sake of the whole. ‘The groove is communicated through the quarter- note pulse. A grooving pulse will definitely be metro- nomic, but the feel will be more “alive” when it is apparent that people, not machines, are providing this, pulse for the enjoyment of others. The groove must fel uplifting, like itis moving forward, going some- where without rushing [As the quarter note is being established, the other players and the audience listen. After a couple of measures they start to anticipate exactly where the Obviously music grooves most easily when the rhythm section is locked up. But playing in per- fect unison isn’t the only way to groove. quarter notes wil fall. When the quarter notes ase cone sistently placed exactly where the other players and the audience expect them, then everyone relaxes. The toes start to tap, the heads start to bob, and the musi- ciuns start play with greater assuredness, Bach play cr begins to feel that he can play almost any idea that 6 Findina The Groove comes into his head because it will sound great over this unwavering, infectious, unflappable quarter-note pulse. Obviously musie grooves most easily when the rhythm section is locked up. But playing ia perfect unison isn’t the only way to groove. As Jong as the relationship between the bass play- e's placement of the beat and the drummer's placement is consistent, the music will greove, ‘One or the other can be “on top" as Yong as the distance bevween the «wo is not so great that there is no center to the time, and as long as the relationship is stable, When fone player ties to push oF pull the other, it just won't grooxe Listen for yourself, Check out «wo swinging rhythmsections: Pilly Joe Jones and Paul Chambers with Miles Davis, and Elvin Jones and Jimmy Garrison with John Coltrane. With Miles, Philly Joe was always a litle ahead of Chambers. Elvin and Garrison found thatthe opposite relationship was their tick= et 10 grooving behind Coltrane. Sometimes a Tittle tension between the bass and drums ean ad to the intensity ofthe music, The key to these two relationships was that the distance between a time-wise was small, and each individual played with a confident, consistent pulse ‘Try this experiment: Record yourself playing 10 a CD. Set it up so that you record both your playing and the tack, not just the drums alone. After you've recorded it, don’t listen to it. Rather, record yourself playing to the same track again, but this time try to play on top of the beat. Don’t listen tothe tape yet. Record yourself one more time, this time playing behind the beat. Now listen tothe three takes of the same song to see how much of a difference you ean hear in the groove. Most drummers find that they have to adjust their interpretation of the pulse a lot more than is musically or emotionally com. ortable in order to be able to hear any difference on the play- buck, The moral: We want to play together, so our “big adjusiments” tend to be sinall in realty. Therefore most of the yy discrepancies that we feel on the bandstand probably don’t uavel into the audience. ‘Your volume also affects the feeling of your pulse, If you play with a consistent yolume, the time Feels more stable than it would if you were frequently accenting randomly, The louder notes will seem to be early and the sofier notes will seem to be late, So when establishing the groove it is helpful to play the quarter notes with consistent spacing and co tent volume. we've covered some general thoughts about grooving, But what if you find yourself playing in an unstable rhythm see- tion? How should you dest with i ‘As drummers, when we are confronted with a bass player who rushes, drags—or has no center to his pulse and is just plain all over the place—we usually attempt to improve the situation by playing the time superceerly. We'll attampr to “show” the bess player exactly where he ought to be putting the beat by nailing i, even more precisely than usual, making our beat feel more point ed, But contrary to the intent, tightening up our time will invari, ably make the diserepanci between the bass player's pulse and our pulse even more obvious and troublesome, Ifa bess player can‘ find your time when you play in your normal fashion, fore- ing the issue by playing extra clearly usually won't help to make the music sound beter A better idea is 0 find « way to play that “eamouflages” the diserepancies in the time, To do that, I ty to make my beat fet 4s broad as possible so that some “comer” of the roving buss player's beat will mersect with a “comer” of my steady beat and make the time appear to jell. Try this approueh, F think you witl find that making your time feel as broad as possible, rather than 4s pointed, will put the bass player more at ease, and that alone will help the music to groove, To rece 1. Open your ears tothe other players Ploy together 2 Think tke a musician, Mako the oor eleyers sound geod. ‘3. Pay your own tme—not your idols 4. Think conser spacing erd vole. Hypnotize wih your groove. 5. When thre ore preblars, ploy rong but become more supple, not more rigid. SeHolding The Groove 1a Chapter 1, we discussed ways of finding the gvove. Now we'll take the next Sep and work on maintaining the groove once yeu hve establised it. Hocking up wi the res of the ban, for an entire song or an entre tours critical in order fora band to groove and for adrummer to keep the gig. Once th ythen section is “hacked” the exer players wil) ply thelr best. Maintsining the “Loos essential, but ea be just clusive as generating one. ‘There are only two reasons why musicians lowe the grove, Fis, they tempt to ply things tat they don't have corrol ove. This leads to cocination problems ar ests inthe groove Muctuating Secon they lose ther concentration, Which also causes the groove wo floctute ‘To deal with these problems, I've found chat practicing progres- sively more complex coordination exercises, whe maimtlning slid time anda clear, focused pattem on the tide cymbal, helps to reduce incidents of “cove fusting” This typeof practicing simultaneously ‘addresses control and concentration issuss. The ccmeept sto gradual Ty increase the density of what you car play comfortably nd Muidly ‘inondetostrengthoa both your reflexes and yeur mind, Paying com. plex stuff in rine automatically improves your ccondination while ‘Simultancously reyuiding sustained, deep concenation, Below are sone cocrdintion/eoncentraton exercises to work on, ‘These are thee-hest motifs that are designed to challenge your con= trol of your libs and test your abit to Keep your place in a four measure phrase. The pattems sat out fail simply, but when orces- tewed, become guile comples. These ae just small sampling of the types of things you could practice in order to create your ‘Three-Beat Motifs ‘vn etal of *puzres” to master First, practice esch hres-nea motif while playing quarter notes on| ‘theride cymbal, Once you ate comfortable with hat, goon to the Fur measure phrases while playing the ride parte. Work through this ‘material slowly while counting out loud: “1234, 2234, 3234, 4234" “The plexes must flow underneath your unvarying re cymbal pate tem. The numbered example in each group, 1€. 1 2, and 3, i the basic pte. Following each numbered exercise are orchestrations of the original motif designated 1, 1B, and 1C. ‘Affor mastering a substantial amoust of physeally and mentally sifcult material, you will gun a level of coordination and concera- tion that will allow youto py the most common grooves with grater «ase ard adeeper pocket. In ober wor, this added stength will give you the sity wo "take eae of business” while epping a smaller por tion of your rescurces, The end result willbe that more of your brain povser is available for you to sheck out and contsbute (0 the bigger Picture—the intensity of the groove, group dynamics. and group interley ‘Annakigy: You buy a sports car that capable of going 150 mph, but the maximum spocd tha you are allowed to drive is 68 mph. Car manuficwsers descbe the curs easy wily to exceed 65 mph as “headroom.” The power svsilabe fren 65 raph to 150 mp, which _you will very rarely need 10 use, nonetheless ranelates 19 efforese funeiocing under normal conditions, Please Keep in mid tht ud tional drumming harsepower is useless, and perhaps even dangerous, fn the hands of an unshilied (read: unmuseal) driver mean drummer! Four-Measure Applications CSD rock 2 eee oe, OS 8S. 8 Holding The GrooveCe trek 3 Track 4 es Ce track 5 Track 6 e= ° HAltetiaacesNCEPTS pter 3 Cross-Training ross nining i performance enkancement philosophy that is used by sports coaches to improve the results af thei at ewes. Te concept is that, im addition to sports specific Iraining—tike swimmers owing and snnees ranning—skils ‘ill be improved by including periods of practice in non-specific but relted areas. ‘While an ice-hockey puck weighs only about a pound, hock= cy players find that spending a considerable portion of their improves their game. Football players have found that their performance on the field is improved by studying ballet or take ing yoga classes. Professional basketball players ure famous for their time spent on, and prowess at, the stationary bieyele and stairstimbing machine Draramees wil find that by incorporating some eross-ainin time off the ice—in the gym lifting weights— {nto their practice routines they will nerease their effectiveness on the musical playing upon returning to playing jazz efter a period of working on non jazz Ideas, my jaze playing ivariably feels improved, The soure ofthe improvement js the strengthonsd “wiring” between my brain end ry limbs dough the practice and msstery of new now jazz 100ves ve noticed in my own practicing that or too ides. Tm continually purchasing CDs and drum books, not because Thope to find the answer to some “Secret” about play ing, bot to give myself the opportunity to regularly hear and play different things. Each month, when 2 new issue of MD rarives ai my house, Tread it cover to cover just because P'm ceurious. [play through each and every exercise because doing ‘The following “batlding blosis” should be played at tempos ranging from quarter not Building Block 1 Ce Trock 8 so makes me consider other possibilities and invariably sends iy practice routine on some nev journey, Several other eross- training approaches help make me a better player too. Reading, through radimental snare drum solos keeps my eyes and hands sharp. Playing the piano improves my festing for melody and harmony. And exercising daily helps keep my mind and body steong, fresh, and alen, ‘While some people believe that they must master “American” music before they begin exploring ober reulms, checking out ‘music from different cultures is @ good source of eross-taiaing ideas. Many drummers, myself included, have been intrigued by the idea of simulating the sound and feel of, among others, ‘African, Brazilian, or Cuban percussion sections on the drurset. ‘There is particularly interesting mythic elasticity or rub” in| ‘Afro-Cuban music tha is aso found in ether “world” muses, but that is Foreign to jazz andl roek. Tis rub is created by the simul taneous mixing of duplet- and ciplet-based shythms, Exploring this tomitory is a good wey to improve your “wiring” and there fore your jazz payi Below ars some Afro-Cuban-based cross-training ideas signed to help you develop a more aulhentc eel. These ideas ere inspire by the playing and iesching of Frank Malabe, Loss Bauzo, Alex Acufa, Efrain Toro, Ignacio Berroa, Horacio Hemandez, axl many others. Tito Pucnte's Tip Persian, recorded in 1957, snd Michael Spiro's Bara Kem, reconded in 1996, showsase buraing percussion playing and exceptionally ‘lear souru! to listen to for clarification about the scund and feel of the music 10. Cross-TrainingGroove Ideas Building Block 2 sesamiae TS CH —. a Groove Ideas _“The next two building blocks festure faster “elastic” prooves, Play them at tempos ranging stom half aote = 80-140, Building Block 3 Ce track 14 Building Block 4 Groove Ideas 19) Cones TenintensTime Matters le veg around te ort wit een fans Vise stint a in Calon {sews Jr's Und Ca Let sg, hich proshine tt fev “Te wala’ man’s et en” Lot Eevsonuir aa es ba ore nad igrmocinte k Hain in Kas (ve {soot voud win ody Mess eed“ oe nl ou i Witimpve you on shal bee ae of um ok! Tegan apes et poi i igor. Be cei. eee caiie dice = mau sean, Cahn booming tchnealy poe. Romig 50 eerie ter Semaphore ag rool aes teas 3d mae ens le pracy ssf See sor to oe The dina 0 fan fetmeat al de aries 0 pies pu tlm Falvey Hoe a for it scien th lhe 3 Trogon io aan Tee prop tlle apie youve pated betes Tin elocr on neces 1 tate ot ae ioe Tibi ind pied by Nenng Gy Cubes begag Sen sits Ala Devon arte © velop cman, Wi plying he ing pate wit soma cpl ad 2 th your lay wen comping parc: bona) and ing te pce Un ie {ota ey he es ates popes nyt Sorta yt ola a wl fe pete see msdn leh ms be “phen exe wl el yo oe pcs veo te iB gt rin ete Ue et thogpelemy Sut quae te = 70 Sern we Heep ocleteat ut te = 92 ply cow a nomen ps sore oe te Sing tne Thanet ol your ego al eC teas 1a al inline #9, an ey eve se ee Cie: hit uk tn oes epee se clicks douible time—ustl yoo ean make the change in tempo effortlessly. Tis wil help in making transition, ‘Third, experiment with puting the click on different beats inthe ‘measure, Everyone feels prety comfortable withthe click on the downbeats, but ry grooving with the click on the swang upbeat or on the "8" of 2 and the "&" of 4 Sele in, then ty increasing your comping deasity and adding fills H's harder than you might think, "Now set the click at 40 and think of that as the “I” of a groove at quaner nove = 160, Try trading fours over that click, Double time it ond play at quarter note = 320. Here you get a downbeat every oer measure Thy trad ‘ng. With my old Dr, Beat lean set the hea! counter on six. then tacit bens 2 through 6 leaving ime a click only on beat 1 of what you can think of as @ twelve-bar blues form at quar ter note = 320! This is areal ‘est of the steadiness of your pulse, You can even up the sate and trade choruses—play twelve bars of time, then twelve bars of solo, with only & click on dhe wp of each chorus, ‘This will test your stability and help your concentration, Finally, Tike working 00 my jaze feel by playing over hip-hop or pop tunes tht have f shuffle fecl, One of my favorites is Steely Dan's “Babylon Sisters” from the Gausiio CD. Take any of the comping ideas above, or some fiom my book The Art Of Bop) Drummer repeat them many times over the track. Bernard Purdie’s shuffle backbeat falls on the 3 of the swing groove, By repeating a siraple phrase many times you'll Find te best places to phrase your ideas. Use the backbeat oo 3 as a landmark to meas- luce your note placement Refine that placement during exch repeat ofthe phase. He sure to play all tho“&s" of 2 as close tothe back bat as possible nd all the “Ss” of 3 as Far from the backbeat as {you ean. Playing all the upbeats as late as you cam will make the ibrases really swing. ‘There are no quick or easy fixes when it comes © grooving, but consistent, consoientious work Will make a world of diferenee. Improve your time and your time will improve the ealiber of musicians you can work with Time Matters 13CONCEPTS Chapter 5 Second-Line Applications ew Orleans “second-line drumming is parade drumming ) done by a two-man drum “section.” One man pleys the ‘sare dum while the other plays the bass drum and cy bal. These duos ereate hip, funky marehes by building ideas in two-measure phrases, Their comersational syncopations are played ina fasion where they toss accents hack and forth, rarely playing them in anison A ypkcel second-line phrase very balanced, conssning the same number of accents on the snace drum as on the bass drum. 1 you've ever heatd jazz drummers Billy Higgins, Fd Blackwell Vernel Fournier, James Blsek, ot Herlin Riley, then you've heard madera drumse: applications of second-line ideas, Here's a famiior second-line phrase written for snare drum, bass drum, and hi-hat Pay the snaze drum past sing alternating sticking. You can phrase this in single strokes as straight 8ths, swung Sths, or as the Louisiz between straight anil swung Sths. You can aso play the phrase as all baza strokes (atthe 8th-note rate), Listen for the counterpoint —_] herween the soate dunn accents and the fas dram part 8 offen do, “in the cracks” Ce Trek 17 a - ‘This accent scheme sounds really hip if you play the jaze beat on the ride cymbal and use the second ine phrase asa comping idea, Ce Trott 18 ——= jap p, = Sr F. F Le a | Here's the same phnse dspluved by aa Sth note, This one sounds great oo—balanced, funky, hip, and swinging. €=> Track 19 Fy A Following are the sixteen transpositions of this fundamental New Orleans phrase. Practice them street-beat styl, jazz style with side cymbal, with the shufTe on the cymbal, in stexight chs with Sihs on a closed hi-hat or ride eymbel, and finally, with the cracks” spacing. These variations will generate grooves rem: riscent of some of the things that Idris Mubammed, Bill Stewart, Jeff Watts, and Billy Marin have been doing lately. 14 Second-Line AvolicationsFor more information on second-line drumming, check out | Viducovich Simer Beats: Moder Applications, And also check these videos: Baby Dodds New Orfeans Dranming, Herlin Riley | out Chris Lacinak’s book, A Modern Approach To New Orleans Ragtime And Beyond: Evolution Of A Style, and Johany | “Second-Line” Drumming. Second-line Anolications 15Chapter 6 The Fast Face Lift laying uptempo swing with fluidity is a challenge, since yoor coetdination and endurance are taken to ther limit. Les neck out how an underuilizedradimeny, he paruddledis- some relief from right hand fatigue, | ist heacd the paradiddle-didd used at uptempos om the late 1950s playing of Elvin Jones. Today Adam Nussbaura and Sell Watts use ito great advantage. dle played RLRRLL~ can spice up the comping low and provide Examples 1-4 feature vatious foot combinations under the paraded eo Track 20 RERRLERE 1 In cxample S the sixth note ofthe sticking, a eft, is replaced by the bass drum. RERee RE RRL KERR LE REEL Pee OS Se. el a SS SS SS ea Example 6 drops the hi-hat on 2 and 4 and adds an accent to each fi Ce Trek 21 RLRRL RL RRL RERR [Example 7 transforms the phrase into something thicker by moving the pater between the side eymbal and the drums. Ge) Track 22 1 Bien ele oo Beet poiles eae 30, Feel how each 16 The Fast Face Lift3/4 Comping soy rumen vo fo very como md Yery M for! paring un eng 4 in play ad i241 icing Besse a! ses oe sien ngs venom Gol A an 4 cl | tae Is conn endo and emigre Teva nel ecompng 3. The es bebo silyl ie ua paca ae ay fe you tos efor ing ns re i yt SS ea i py thee pte ovr and oe pa ogg fie Senet FFeel the | in the cymbal beat. Now select one of the thre left foot hi-hat patiers and play the “Two-Voiee Comping In Sth Notes” phrases. Notice that the stare and bass pats avoid resclviag on beat 1. Be careful to maintain the eymbal and hi-bst patterns, Practice the comping exercises with each ofthe hi-hat paterns Hi-Hat Varlations 1 2 3 1 ‘Two-Voice Comping In Bth Notes Eeo2 Trock 23 (with hithat #1) cere —— pees — fae SS Sa hk i 1a “Two-Voloe Comping In Tepes €e« ae se Feed Track 24 (with hihat #3) ae 3/4 Compina 7Now, work on the “Three-Voiee Comping In Triplets” ideas while playing the hi-hat 2 ween ‘Three-Voice Comping In Triplets Ce D track 25NCEPTS ter 8 3/4 Soloing A1Chager 7, Laewsdsomping in 34, ie we ok at | TE | town dep ats in, One mayo er inrenig | | <> phrases in thee is 0 take a one-measare phrase in 4 snd super inmpose it over the 4/4 pulse three measures of 4/4 is twelve beats, which equals four measures of 344, Here are wo different one-meesure phrases in 4/4: P= SSS SS =, Check ou how hip the seme pases soar when play in 4: Ce Track 26 === aes Interesting V4 ideas can also be created by taking those same 4/4 phrases and manipalating any three of te four beats into one meas tue phrases in 3é. For example, the first phrase in the next group ‘wae ervated by playing the frst 4/4 parase material inthis order beat 1, thon beat 2, then beat 3. Lathe next phrase the boots are in this order: 1,24. The thal one is 1,34, Then 1.3.2; 14.2: 14.3. “Then 2,345 23.15 24.15 24,35 2.1.3: 2,4 ete Practice this mate- tial while playing the hichat om beats 2 and 3. Then go through it ‘again, playing the hi-hat only on beat 2. Repeat each phrase until you are comfortable, Thea, while ploying in fourmeasure phrases, ‘orchestrate ench ides to include the toms. 3/4 Soloine 19oy Haynes Finally, here are two eight-measure jos in 3/4 that ding Out OF The Aft tice these phrases rdor” Roy's ideas, blend them wit bine them with lieks From above. how flowing Roy's toe an CD, and keep in mind that Roy ss these swinging solos using very few idens—plax nt is everything! 20 2/4 Soloiner Chapter 9 Doubles Crossed Jie aty wa oe yr cre wie tee es oa i oe sovnonts rd mele psoe cede de. st Sacred ppm eth arene sel ce Be it ate yar ates anal |Top rio wd fomne i: Gal etre pe tt Gn er | om eda 1 nm en pees yrarrunlom aw be ne mata on pe RULRRLLERLULRRELRRELRRLLR ee frack ae Wok 28 a LFS fb BOL RaGGRe DR ous Blow are some variations om these ideas tha will show you her melodic and rhythmic possibilities. Fit, increase the density of the phase by converting cach stoke isto a double stroke, ESoinn RRLLRRULRRLLRRULRRCLERRLL RELURRECRRECRRLURRELRREL The secon measure from page 60 moves around the drums CE ES TSS FS more then the frst measure. Executing te fist four notes might be alte tricky, but you don't really need crossovers to play them, | Longer actoss-the-batline phrases can be created by combining ‘Try playing the rights in the center f each tomnd the lefts ins, | these sripler and I 6th-note oross-stcking ideas towards the rim, so that the hands move parallel to each other rather than the right hand exssing over ROROCRLRERLRE Here is the same phrase “doubled up. ea Fae sal Experiment by adding doubles to this Ionger phrase, You should also apply these new wreatmenis to the rest of the ‘material on page 60. [RRULRRCERRELRRELRRLL ‘These pases also sound good when you incorporate xploced | When practicing, remember to remain physically doubles relaxed. At the same time you must push in order to grow 18 a musician, The best results come from consistent, “con= Ce Tock 30 scious" practice. Build up new msterial by storting very slowly, thereby allowing your brain and muscles the time necessary to fully understand what you're asking of them RULERLLRRELRRLLRELLRRIUR Doubles Crossed 21Ch NCEPTS apter 10 Odd Times 1 the most visible and prolifie explorers of rhythms in odd time signatures. At that time, instrumentalists ocher than drummers were actively mining melodic and harmonic frontiers: very few musicians concerned themselves with ‘writing odd-time music. In the 1970s and "80s, Billy Cobham and Trilok Gurtu, both with Jobn MeLaughlin, reminded us of the potential in this untapped universe. Finally, in the 1990s, the odd-time pendulum had swung to the point where prominent com posers and bandleaders actively incorporated tunes in odd times into their repertoire. Musicians Dave Holland, Steve Coleman, John Zorn, Kurt Rosenwinkle, Chis Potter, Branford Marsalis, and many others found odd times a great ‘way to generate new musical dimensions and challenges. ‘Today everyone is playing in odd times. And just as drum ei odd times, tandleaders today look to their drummers 10 be uite fluent and solid regardless ofthe time signature. (One of the reasons odd the beboppers was because the odi-time groove rarely flowed ‘as smoothly oras effortlessly as 4/4, The shythmie patterns of 5/4, 7/4, and the like always felt heavy and boxed in by an insistent “I” on the bass drum. ‘There's an old story about a famous musician who moved from New York to overseas, But after a couple of years he moved back t@ New York, and when asked why said “Because nobody knew where “I' vias over there!” Early ja2z ‘musicians often accented the first beat of every 4/4 measure, bac hy the swing era continually evolved. Obviously, that New Yorker wasn’t Jooking for musicians who would play the “I” of every meas- ture, Rather he sought these who could feel the hhaving to accent it every bar. A similar development is taken place in the modern teat: meat of playing odd-time songs, and that same ability is required: feel the “1)" but don’t play it all the time. In this, series of columns we'll work towards that goal I's impossible to play in any odd time signature if you ‘can't keep track of eack beat in each measure. Before one cet ‘one must have a firm grip on playing the “1. We'll begin by working in 5/4, which is often subdi= vided into a thees-beat phrase followed by a two-beat phease—125 is thought of as 12312, Get comfortable with playing the Zollawing feet pattern, then fudd the ride cymbal pater and play until it flows, (Also, be sure to swing all notated 8th notes.) I: the 1950s and “60s, Max Roach and Joe Morello were mers Max and Joe sore the first to be comfortable play’ smoother Flaw came into favor that has 1 without omit or avoid the “1, Odd Times 1 Next ve'll add melodic ideas « all the above, played on snare drum. It wll be helpful to count outloud. {RSS SS 5] [Now let's begin eracking open the “box” by varying the bass drum placer Ce Track 34‘Now, while stinging four ofthe one-bar cers ogee cit meson the downbeat of measures 23, nd 4. To help you kegp your pce, mein ‘ina fied pater with your rid cymbal and A-ha 28 . a , son b Practice each of the phrases with these ride eymbal patterns and hi-hat variations 19 ae 20 SSS al 21 r 7 Fi | \ k ‘ SS See Sh a 31 7pSseteetoetics 22 = = a 23 co $141, ‘Your 5/4 grooves will start to sound hippet. les box, and more ‘musical when played in longer phrases. While repeating each oF the ‘comps from above in a two-measure cycle, omit the bass cru or sare drum pote tha fill on the downbeat of every second ireasre ‘Once these phrases ave flowing, experiment with loosening up your ‘gmat and Liha pattems, Allow che ride cyanbel and hi-hat to “Tole Jew the flow of the bass deur and snare drum syncopations. In essere, ae fxs independent. While this approach will erate the ser sation thatthe time i more pliant. you must keep your ploe in each measure and play with metroncmie soldi: Abd times 1 92Chapter 11 Odd Times 2 1 Chapter 10, we Went into the process of getting comfortable in 5/4. We then began to explore varving the phrasing. This time we'll get deeper into strengthening the ability w fool the “1” while simultaneously obscuring it 1) Play the ride eymbal as if it was in 4/4, while keeping the other three limbs in 5/4, Practice this idea using phras- ‘68 3-18 and 24-31 in Part 1. And be sure to swing all $th notes COD tock 97 2) Play the hi-hat as if twas in 44 while Kooping the ther tice limbs in 5/4 (Azan, practice this idea using phrases 3-18 and 24-31 in Part |.) Then combine tis hishat paiem withthe previo ride patiera, and play the same snare and bass combinations <> D Trock Se toes? 3) Last time we deat with 5/4 organized as a three-beat phrase plas a two-heat phrase. Develop two-bar “minor image” phrases (2223 and 232 24 Odd Times 24) Divide ech bar of 5/4 into two bars of S/S prcreecrce canara 5) Previously we worked on avoiding beat 1. Now we'll push the envelope father by accenting the points asouad beat 1 Finally, here are a few three: measure phrases, built on dotted quarter notes and based on an idea that Thilok Gustu showed ie, Once ‘you get a grip on them, Joosen up the Foot ostinato. Track 40 Ce track 39 eS ‘Your feng forthe tne wil coninne a» ime when you combine in a ivecet exc. Once ets como, play all he phe while your forte fourbar phe from the previows chaper wih the dens di _ singing the rif from “ke Five” yourel.Fencourge yu w agp al ‘cussed here Practice is mecerial wi a meuonome or drum machine set these conceos fe get comforabic in seven. nine, leven. and on. Odd Times 2. 25Chapter 12 Odd Times 3 » previous two chapters delved into ways to sli jaz time l playing in odd mets, focusing on SM, (Those sirne concepts «an be easily appied to playing in seven, nine, clever, and 30 a) Now i's ive w mone into develoing Nuit and solidity wolo- ‘The best approach iso Sart with short sol pass, ae! lfm there. Play a foursmeasur cycle consisting of tage bas of 3/4 jazz 1 Ge) tock tt time, and conclude each four-bar phrase with ane ofthe one-bar solo pias shown in example 1. Work toneards making the eansiion {rom playing time o soloing and back as scamless as possible. ‘These fve-bea psy, for the most pat, clearly constructed as 1. thee-beat phrase plus a two-beit phrase. Mainuin your hi-hat con- linvously om beas 2,3, nnd 5 or heats 2 ane 5 chroughour your ime playing and your soloing. This will enhance your ow. RERLRLR a> = == Ss" [eae aS =! Ted RR L RERERL RLRRLRLLR "Wh RK RLRERLR 3 L RERERLRLLRERERL RLERRURLERLRRLERLLRL [Now kets ta nyo brs of time and evo bars of soking. 2 =a RR OL RERLRL 26 Odd Times 3RERRERLLRERRERLLAL R Finally, trace ours with yourself Play four bars of 5/4 time followed by a four-measute solo. The solo can consist of combinations of repeat- ce one-bar ideas or four invidual ideas 3 RLER RERLRE RERRERLER RRL RERER RI RERRERLERLRALRELRE | RRL RRL RRL am RLRERLRELRERERE Ce wt 2 R RER RERERL R RL RURLRER RL RL RELLRLLARLR RL RLURKERLLRRRL R LR REL ‘Once these ideas are flowing, look for opportunites 1 play vongs in 5/4. Tey adapting a song that you ronmaly play in 4 to 54. Phy slong with 254 wack lke Take Five." recorded by Joe Morallo with “Tho Dave Brubeck Quartet. The play-along CD Tura tt Up, Lay It ‘Down Vol Fincluks a good tune in five 10 work ou with Tneach case, sat by groovin, then insert one-messure fils inthe appropriate places and then crete a rading-foars scerio, Find a Si vamp like “Take Five” and ay creating longer fwing ideas—and sex some of Morllo’sheaatful phases, Finally, work on soloing ‘over song for in $/8, The previous examples are prcty dons; in a playing station, incomporate dyrami Contant and the use of pace 0 ‘make your drumming as musica x possible. PAA Tine 2 o7NCEPTS Chapter 13 28 Odd Times 4 Ly i i fa on hang gx en pape inn my povins afte, we wockd i bukit sls sobing memes prs ns Hr vomlas by employing 34.4 snd 38 tlio ea Hage beat a te seco a stretch the Lor’ begin with ideas built trom the sin-stroke roll, para iddles, and quarter-note triplets. Play two measures of 5/4 time before each phrase, Maintaining the standard pattern with your fest will be challenging et frst, but doing so will help you keep your place. (Be sure to swing all ofthe notated Sth notes.) Cm tock 43 in REE RR RLRRLRLLR ROR LER RERE f PREoR LRRLRLLR z js BP oe fa Ete Spee Sse ze ‘Odd Times 4Finally, hee area few solo ideas based on commen three fou, and five-note ideas. Thope these four chapters on oda time playing have inspired you to explore the genre, Once you'e internalized these ideas, uy playing them without their respective foot ostinatos. Combine these ideas with those from the eatlier column, and with your own phrases, to build longer solos in Si Experiment with these concepts in other odd time signatures the possibilities are endless. Strive to eliminate musical boundaries. There should be no esttietions on your musical freadom and expression, regard less of time signature. “Take Five and more: Joe MoelleLHE MASTERS SPEAK er 30 To Transcribe Or Not To Transcribe? jong dues, 1 nd gt a ing with eae Az Sometimes woul ea recording 8 aca, cn of gre ace. Atte nes wold a fino he msi was ern. Ts process ie ema sons abot paving fete epost, abot Hei he seein tn om’ Ra a oc he Ton een ours 9 ceca Pye wih cing io oe io wln ciyo sang md eb doe po Te bs ating sy rons fils ong 09 te SONS. | OW! a Coa ay sue espe, le ote fangs ttt re es yn dine here pose opt. ih he nd sel exouees amy pl, Toad bee sis ls bd Oto ng a ae Ca west ence. Though 1 sold red and ws woking tig a why ane yo” a wl fn np laet ny leing rces. Evel ny Kel of musta! sopbiieatn an epsiaon geese poston cn ne ate ye eens ef roves aly ied Te bskng pont ms Ds Goss int 6S Cakes" fom Tower OF Power's ack To Olen ‘expression. The great thing shout music is that you can pick who ‘you lear from—you san pick your musical parers! When I played my “fake” version of "Squib Cakes," was organ laing things that were comfortable for me w ply. What I discov ‘ered after tnscried it was tha the things David was confortable plying were really uncomfortable for me, like a foreign language. I shedded "Squib Cakes,” and eventually some of David's dialect became my dialect then went hick 10 check out other econdings E had “faked” ower the years. I transenibed Max Roach’s playing on “Conversation” Afterwards, | practiced! Max's language and more fully recognize the clarity of his dialect. Some of it entered my playing. BY mo ing ftom approximations of another person's phrases (consisting only of things you could slrealy do) to the seta rari (which is often very foreign), you'll gain a deeper masieal sensibility and Jpecome more atively involved in aceleraring your growth, have heoks ful of things I've transcribed, Some transerptions are only two er he beats ong, whic others are entte songs. sill have the book, cirea 1974, with the “Squib Cakes” saneription. I also contains some Harvey Mason, Mike Clerk, Pilly Joe Jones, Jak elohinete. and a Jo of Steve Gadd and Tony Williams transcrip- “| play transcriptions to expand the kinds of ideas that I’m comfortable playing, not to copy things verbatim. t's a kind of physical and mental lubricant.” 1 hed to figure it out. With peneil, paper, anc erasers at hand, I is tened to “Sib Cakes” over..and over.and over. Eventually 1 was able to accuretely write out the imo. My realization of the ‘value of transcribing, aot to mention being able to see what David scwally played, forever changed my approach to leaning. If you've soon my books or road my recent columns in MD, you'll know that T valle crnseriptions for this simple reason: The Old elichs tht muse is language is rus, Music is best leamed the same way we lear any other language. How do we learn to speak? Fist we copy the sound our paren make Bveaually we come © understand the meanings of those sounds. Finally, we arrange those sounes to convey our point of view. “Music isthe same. We copy things we heat, Eventanly we real ire why somennc played hat they played. Finally, we organize the sbings e lear from others into our own personal form of To Transcribe Or Not To Transcribe? tions, Every couple of years I stumble upon that book and play through it again. Tenvinue to discover hip ideas that 1 Haven't fally ‘explored and digested, Pye ako been intrigued by solos played by other instrumentalists and have ranseribed piano and horn solos and taken ideas fram hose 0 the kit ‘A studeat of mine ence balked at my suggestion that he tran scribe a solo hy Philly Toe Jones He as eancenmed that he might Selecta solo tna Pilly Joe might not have liked. 1 wld hin that it wesn"t important whether Philly Joe liked that particular sol. it was only important thet he liked the solo! Furthermore, i's quite likely tht if a stent learned solo that an artist played but didn’t particularly care fx, then the student would! most likely be devel ‘oping ideas that tht artist hadn't fully explore. ‘AL first, copying verbatim is exactly what everyone nseds to do—jast like you copy your parents’ speech patems to learn newwords, new phrases, and the subtleties of the language. Atthis point, though, | play transcriptions to expand the kinds of ideas that I'm comfortable playing. not to copy things verbatim. R's a kind of physical smd mental Inbyicant Bur in the end I don't really speak like my parenis do, ane I don't sound like the people tat I've ta scribed. just hop to he able to communicate Ment ages, So baw do you start? First ofall, transcribing is tedious work, 0 pick a groove cr solo that you realy love. But selet something tit You think will be easy to note. I promise it will ake longer than {you think to make it porte. ‘Start by listening and counting through the groove several times to get a feel forthe landmarks. Nex! decide on atime signature, Be ‘ste to tke into consideration which kind of notation youl be est comfortable reading whea you take the transcripion to the kit. For example, do you prefer w mead Sih nowes in a fast tempo or 16d notes at half the speed? If" ransribing a groove, often work from the tap (Hide cymbal o¢ hi-tat) down, x8 the top paris often the most consistent. After I notte the top pat, ill in the more ‘uid stort ‘When iranseribing a solo, T stan by listening and counting trough it. I do this te help me hear the phrases asd to determine ‘exacily Bow many measures long the solo is. As listen, T mike mental notes about how the phrases are shaped. Are they symmet rieal, ord they go across the bar Hine!) Where” ‘After hearing a solo-a couple of times, I'l have a pretty good understanding ofthe basic shape I staat uanscbing at the begia- ning ofthe solo, bu if at some point T ger stumped, 1 skip 10 the next phrase that {can bear clearly and contin from there. Often by fn both lane the time I've written out the restof the solo, TL have a beter under. sanding of that players islet. Then I ean go back tothe stuff that stumped me and figure it out with greater ease I prefer io wenserite from audio, not video. Watching a video offers to0 many dstoetions, making it difficult to focus onthe spe- cific measore at hand. Sif see some capkivating playing on video, PU transfer it to cassette, transribe it, and then check it with the video later “The reason to tunserbe isto acquire information and knowledge. If something excited me enoagh to compel me to transcribe it, [ ‘anc todo the tedious pete work us quickly es possible so T can take the new mesial ideas ta the drumset as soon as possible, I's ‘ot cheating to slow the music down. For years I transcribed in real time, But once I got 2 tape recorder that had pitch control, 1 used it tohelp me hear the material more cleatly, thus assisting me in write it down quickly anc accurately. ‘Last year I sequited an inexpensive digital machine that slows (CDs or tapas down—an Akal RE-O-Mavie U400—and the sonic quality is much botter than with cassetes, Digital technology is volving quickly, w there may be even beter options today, “The process of ranseribing is beneficial on many levels. Fis, it improves your listening and concentration skills. Seeond, it pro- Vides new vocabulary. And third, transcribing imprenes your ead- ing and writing skils. Plus, you can manipulate and permutete tran seribed material, merging ideas from diferent scuees more easily tan things leared by ear. You ean blend ideas from players from diferent cras: Take a page of David Gaxibald, mix it with some ‘Max Roach, and then link sha w some feff Wats. Give ta ty. 1 guarantee it will open many doors for your drumming, Te Ne a32 E MASTERS SPEAK er Maximize Your Soloing Mate rine Bt ee so ope hapemntqy—esone yn Met Rea insu prot ate mado oc oe Pate, Dj Gap es tied Meal sa emcee BABA en -Deh om th 18 met fe Ma’ otf” as ely is cos The fo ss du nd’ 4 ih sea tein tile cred afc spy so wi Tas os re i ste ey tv i, 18 te ost melodic Maximize Your Soloing Max Roach repeated and concludes on beat 3 of measure 180, On beat 3, Max ploys Loin noces on the snare drum as « “eonneetor” to measure three, where e plays the same thrce-best phrase again. On beat 3 ‘of measure four Max plays a triplet “connector” that foreshadows his next melodic idea, In measures five through eight, Max devel- ‘ops that tiplet connector idea, example B, and plays unother ces- sie phrase consisting of triplets on the snare and melodie ideas on the toms, example C. Note how he stars simply and bulk’ Measure eight conclodes with a fla on the snare drum, which foreshadows his nest move—the quarte-aote-ipltflams afvund the drums in measures nine through twelve, example D. Messarss thirteen through sixteen explore 16th notes arcund the drums, tainly in groups of six, exarnple E. ‘Thus far Max has played sixteen measures, which he has cleor- ly structured into four distinct ourbar phrases, each employing a clfferen subivision, Bars one through faur are based on a 6h note-tplet idea; in bars five through eight, Sth-note triplets are explored; bars nine through thirteen featare quarer-note wipes and in bars thireen through sixteen Max develops Léth-acte idoas. Much is revealed by simply looking at tis slo teansetip- tion, ‘The architecture almost looks ike Max is trading fours with himsett In measure seventeen, the beginning of the bridge of the song, Max plays another three-beat melodic phrase, chs time in 16th notes, which he repeats. example F. The sovond half of the bridge, measures twenty-one through twenty-four is made up of 0 10 ‘measure phrases. "The fist one is yet axotherthree-beat phrase that relates to the preceding phrase, example G, while the later is Similar tothe triplet ideas played in measures five through eight, examples B and C. Max doesnt toss off his ideas; he repeats and develops them ‘ith clrty and intent. "The last wight measures of the tolo are slauilar in sructue to a recapitulation in elassicel muse, Max par ‘aphrases ideas that he introduced earlier in the solo to bring the solo fall circle to a mature and pleasing conclusion. There isn't any “fillet” material or ambi be plays, and he executes his ideas flawlessly, The tempo of this song is moderate and could afferé one the ‘opportunity to play more elaborately and/or more borbastealy Howver, Max is a mature rassician, one who is more interested in developing a solo that builds on the moods of this sone rather than using his solo space asa showease for technical theatres 1s inceresting that there is no interplay between the hands and Feet in the solo, nor ate there eymbal crashes, Here are Max's main motifs to practice individually before tackling the entire sole, Pay particalar attention to the stickings Ive included; Max is super-eicent, so there are no awkward cross-tickings in this solo. Each idea flows best using altemat ing sticking ity in this solo, Max mcans whatpo ee CRER ALAL ALALALALRALAL ALALALALARLAL [Now work on capturing Max's ideas, flow. and sound through the entice solo, Play it with mallets rally eas ff ieee Te RURURL RL RIRL RERERURUR Mevvieniom Vewie Selivies aa“RERERE SEEDS. Si msm alas lips qtispoehs RL RAL OR R TL RL ee. Finally, here are sorne more clessic “Max-m as fouod in the five other great solos om this album Ess Track 46 ALALALR L ALALA ALALR Study Max's playing on this alburn; it will relly enlighten Undimited. os well as nwo others with Clifford Brown: Clifont ‘your playing, IF you'd ike to hear more of Max's great time play Brown And Max Rooeh Ar Basin Sree! and Brown And Rocelt ing, comping, and solo work, I recommend his album Drums Incorporated. Rd Maximize Your SaloineE MASTERS SPEAK Billy Higgins Style & Analysis never heard tbe drumming of Billy Higgins. Never mind ‘har he played on well over five hundred albums ond three Cf the most poplar—and sampled-jezz empssaner hits of the 1960: —Herbie Hancock's “Watermelon Man,” Lee Morgan's “The Sidewinder,” and Eddic Harris's “Freedom Jaze Dance.” (Mr, Higgins wus one of the most sought-after aceompanists in jizz. His buoyant, swinging fee] was coupled with a great pair of cars he always knew just what to play co bring cut dhe best in his ‘bandmates, Billy hada special warm and airy sound, and he played ‘with great intensity but very softly. “always wanted 10 hear what everybody. ele ‘was playing” he explained, Billy Higgins grew up in Los Angeles, where his first, jazz influence was Kenay Clake. Billy called to his childhood fiend and fine runs Bill Goodwin, that he “based his whole concept on Kemay Clarke's playing fon the song ‘La Ronde, from a 1952 Modern Jazz (QuareMile Jackson Quint reconding (Prestige #7058), In adalition to being inspiced by “Klook,” Billy was also infli- cnced by the other instrumentalists ho was playing with ard ll Ue major instrumentalists of the day, like Art Tatum and Chasic Parker, As ar as drum influences, Billy dug the melodioustess of -Max Roach and Philly Joe Jones, Ant Blakey's groove, Elvin Jones" comping, Fa Blackwell's groove orchestration, and Roy Haynes” individualist approach, Billy fist gained national exposure playing and recording with Omette Coleman in 1958. Omete's music was simulunecusly swinging and foe and required a new kind of suppleness and lex- biliky from 2 drummer, Through the years Billy shared the drum ‘ming duties in Omote’s band with Ed Blackwall, They were the pevfect drummers for Omete's open musical concept because they were able ta hear where the musie was going, support the now ditec= tions, and provide innovative accompaniment, To hear some eatly and freely innovacive music check out Bly’ “Slflass” playing on { j=: you're a hardcore jazz fan, you may think you've Inthe 1960s, “Senin” Billy" che appropriate nickname for this Joyous man, played on huadrets of recordings with veterans lke ‘Thelonious Monk, Devier Gordan, Joha Coluane, and Soany Rollins, and with the new wave of jazz tars—among them Herbie Hancock, Lee Morgan, Eddie Harris, and Hank Mcbley Billy played che sundard four-piece drumnit with two cymbals and hi-hat, He was a fantasti brash player and was also deft with malls Tn every seting, his mama was the sme: “The music is rmore important tha tho individual.” One of my favorite recordings of his is Heshie Hancock's 1862 recoreing Tatin’ Off and we'll stat our inside look ot Mt. Higins* eusi- iunship with this recoding (Qn “Tada OH you ean ber that Billy got « becuti fal sound from his instru ‘meat, Higgins tuned his kit faidy high, like most jazz drummers, and used a rivet ced cymbal as his main ‘The cymbal 0 his left was tased more as @ secondary ride chan as a erash. Billy favored this type of tuning and cymbal soune during his ene career. ‘Conceptually, Billy was aac,” not a dominator; he would ‘enhance th dieeticn thatthe music “wanted” to go in rather than impose his own will on the composition, You can hear that Billy ‘vas a master a eeating a good fecling in the ryt section. His supple rde-cymbal phrasing, which was hased ditecly on Kenny ‘Clarks ride boar has heen admired and coveted by alms: every Jnzz drommer to come efier him. ‘Reuthering the bass drum was also un important part of Billy's groove, Dynamically he used the entice speotum-—tut with grea resaint His snare drum comping ideas were ofien played as buzz strokes to lesson ther sharpness, Along the same lines. ho carly rvarked the sang form by playing & cymbal crash a’ tk beginning fof achonus ort a change in solbists. His camping and overal flow was very precise but very Lesato. Bilhs Hinmine Sila @ Anohcic a82A (On “Watermelon Man.” Billy plays a straight8th-note “bogs: Joes “ype groove, which became known by several names “the Billy Higgins boat” ané “that Blue Note fun groove.” This groove is built ff ofthe piano eomp figure, but Billy fs numerous interesting ‘ways fo vary the pater 1 [> “Three Bags Full” isa walt, and Billy plays some realy hip and flowing across-the-barline phrases, somewhat reminiscent of Elvin Jones, 1 complement the melody: Notice how his comping propels the musi during tho solos; it's always uplifting, foe ch th, RRLRLR RL RLRC PRLRLRLeLRERORE oe Zo tee ey a “Empty Pockets isa twelvesmneasure medium swinger. The head tad frst chorus ofeach solo are played witha relaxed broken feel, ‘which evolves into a romping swinging groove, Heres Billy's weat- ment ofthe moody “The Maze is another swinger, and during the ea! Billy plays off the piano comp. For the plano imerlaces, he goes toa nice b> Jen “Latnish” Roy Haynes-fype thing onthe hi-bet. The comping is also charceristc, stfu Billy Daihin"™ is an apt title for ths coo! thiny-swo-measire tune. ‘During the melody Billy plays ahip, swinging version of tae “bongo bea” anc eomps superbly thrxghout. Here isthe groove playes dr- {ng he melody, ‘The concluding truck, “Alone And Lis a lovely balld, whieh Billy supports with brushes. Billy plays memorably on everything he reeorded, Here area cou ‘le more favorites. Lee Morgan's 1963 hit, The Sidewinder, features [Billy playing catchy "Swing.a-nows cn the tide rack Another grea recording is Dexter Gordon's 1962 cassie Go! Billy ‘lays magically throughout, but one groove in particular catches my sate brisk stick/orush boss be played an “Love For Selo He played this holding bees in his righ band and a stick in his ket) Ce Troct 48 u to Se Se [eS Sea ay ReteRLRR LERLRR LR Another classi is Eddie Home's “Presdom Jazz Dance’ from the 1966 recording Te in Sour, Hexei the basic poten, though Billy Played endless denceable variations, CD track 49While Billy Higains was a revered and renowned accompa nist, be was also a great melodic drum soloist, and there are sauraerous “open” solos on his recordings with Omette, While ‘many drummers foel the urge to match the volume and “mass” fof sound produced by the entre bard when they solo, Billy alvaiys maintained his “cool” when he soloed, One of my favorite Higgins soos is from The Oracle, a 1989 trio date led by pianist Hank Jones, Billy plays three choruses on. the sixteeo-measure swinger “Yesterdays.” Notice that his solo efintely relates to the meckody and that he uses orchestration to delineate the form and build the solo. The fist chorus is built ofT of the ride cymbal, and the second chorus works its way onto the ‘drums, developing triplet ideas reminiscent of “Three Bags Full" The third chorus is centered on the snare drum a la Kenny Clarke; Where appropriate, ve included the stickings that work best for me lL = Ah, signs RLRLRLRERL RLRLRERERRLL sve the = = RRLRLR LRLRL eee = RLRLRLRL LRL RL RLERRERLERRERLLRR LRLLRRL ipo bs OD Srasny ne etdjaenjens 7 R RERERERR RR RR RR RLLR seals ae: MG, Pere =| LERLLRELRERL RLRLRLRLR LRUR LR Billy Hinning Sie & Analysis a7a0 suis is > RRILRLERERE RR RRLELK RER LRURERLRERLR LRLRLRI > > De me > 3 > >> >> >> eS = = = dddesseeeeewe to z — & fy ts 7 a9 4 Peon er pea eet RELRELRELR LRLRLRLRER After hearing only one Billy Higgins recording, one would possibly come assay frum the experience feeling that he was “a good drummer.” When you get into the body of his work, you realize that this min made a whole lot of grea’ recordings. He always played with @ mature, practical approach that was 1aUsi- cally and sonically pleasing, and, most of all, his heat was always “inviting.” ‘While playing, Billy was a joy to behold: he smiled continu ously. His besming atiude infected the other musicians, the RL rusic, and the audience. You Hear the affect of bis happy beat and joyous disposition on the recordings; everyone always sounded like they wore having a ball playing together. As tos sonia] to his understated greatness, many drummers would say “But he didn't do anything.” But most maricions considered Billy Higgins the perfect jazz deaeamer: Billy, very time I hear you, cant halp but smile, and 1 know you're smiling too, Thanks forthe great music and all the good Aibes Rilke Hinnine Cada ® AnkaLHE MASTERS SPEAK Chapter Philly Joe iment elm pea it ale R: Vc ei is od Ox bef so il opel ones ee Ply SeSacan fay dee ag, Fo view cro te Chr Wien bons cul ne an ye ean tha mbes ei sora lot Sek ee ening fr fe pine on eg out ter Mien Dev’ case 198 Pree womans diy at's mae Lisen othe wea and es Ce) Track 50 RURRLLRL RRR RLRLRL So Phil Joe Jones “Fours” solos, Notes all the variety and swing that Joe created employing only a couple of smal ideas and phiying them on drumset co: sisting of only 0 soare Gram, bass drum, floor tom, eo eymbals, and bi-ha ‘Mix and combine idees from one “Tour” with those from the other “fours” to cteate new solos based oa this vocabulary. Then blend these Philly Joe ideas with your ovm ideas «0 add some “roots” to your playing. With a foundation in these “Yours” go) ahead und learn the other fantastic Philly Toe Jones sols om this swinging Miles Davis CD. Have fun with these solos, RLLR R LRUERLLEWLR LRLERLRLRL Pe teees re Se ie Soo aaa feos! eer i Fo oo a eo 2 Rak ROR iRo Sk ye R PES atari eet LLRERRLRLLR 3 LL R LERLRRERLLRERR LRLRLLRLRRLIR 5 oR ee RLRLLRLRLR R LRLRERLLRLRL oe ea RLRRLRLLLERL RLRL RIL WL RLEL RLRLR hills Ia *Pruiee™ 20cha ior SPEAK Chapter 1 Comping With Philly Joe solos tha Pilly Soe Tones played an Miles Davis's Workin’. hope you've listens fo that CD and are inthe process of digesting and cesptimenting with that vocab, Philly Joe was undoubvedly « fers, cresive, ad slick soli But Limagine tat is services weve guested on so many second dats sll ese great has primanily becouse his greene ae corp ing were lays super-winging, In this atcle we'll examine Joe's playing on the melody of "Blues Re Pilly fe" fom Sonny Reins 1957 recording Newt's Time “Biues For Philly Jos” sa twelve-ressure bles witha syncopated ‘melody: Sonny plays the melody rwioe. Joe's playing duplays that highly desirable but very elushe combination of great stability and intense forward moment, On paper his paying isnt overly com ple: e plays the regular eal pater (except as ote! in messures 18 ane 24) and 2 ara on he bial oe aks simple syncapatons on the snare drum, and though he drops few bombs with the bus drum, he feathers therugheur. (The writen bass drum notes ae accented notes within the festering) The buoyant groove comes from the ‘metronome nature of his ime and he hypnotic effect of his unchaag. ing cymbal Dew. Joe generates frwant mementum by the exact place ‘ment and authoritative stud of his snare drum and bass drum ideas When you Tock at the ranexiption, please novice that Jee rr comps on peas Io 3, Playing on those points inthe measure rely may Cm pack 51 KF | 1 Chapler 17 (“Philly Joe “Fours”. we looked tthe greet four-bar a While playing the hi-hat on 2 anc 4 and keeping + consiste ride pattern, practice the following comping ideas (which stress ees Track 52 Boceenene cess the middle triplet note) as both one-measure and Four-measire Phrases. A good tempo t sta a is quarter nce SS eee Elvin lones Camnine aElin varied his touch on the snare drum by doubling or buzzing the miciéle tiple note, Prctice the folowing ideas as fone-bar phrases, then combine them into @ fourbar phrase 4 Moke sure that your snare drum phrasing s accurate; don’t play the doubled middle triplet note as the “e-&” of straight 16th a Elvin mesimized his “one instrumeet” concept by completely hat into the comping scheme. By playing the triplet, he integrating his h bass drum or Ai-hat om the middle note of the snerated more Variety, which resulted in an even more “topsy- turvy" fel, Play the hichat as writen. hep om on ee ea A Tee pa ne mae tel ey Elvin created long phrases by incorporating mixed three-beat motives, asin the following example. Be careful to keep your ride pattern steady. COD trek 53 7 = ‘The ideas above represent “concentrated” excerpts of Elvin: like phases. After you're comfortable with them and beve ‘worked through ther intrinsic esorinaion cstacles, experiment with allowing your ride cymbal pattem to aesommedate—ic., follow—the flow of the other three limbs. This loaser ride approach wil help complete the “one instrument” vibe ‘To have & better undersianding of Elvin's intense aoproseh, check out his video Digerens Drunumer: Listen 10 the 1960s John Coltrane CDs such us Colnane Play The Blues and Crvscers, of McCoy Tynes The Real MeCoy. The recent CDs by Joe Lovano (Drie Fascination) and Michael Brecker (Time ts OF The Essence) are alo great and show that Elvin, at over seventy years old, was scl playing with fre! My book, Beyond Bop Drumming, includes related information Elvin Jones was one of the all-time masters and wuly one of a ind, Every serous player, regardless of style, can learn fiom and should have knowledge of Flvin's consutions to music 42 Elvin Jones Compinar Chapter 20 MASTERS SPEAK Elvin Jones Soloing ficst you're unsure of what you're viewing, but shortly you begin 1 reer become a litle clea [= you're looking at an abstract painting by Picasso. At ize eyes and a nose, and eventually things The features ia this portrait are in strange positions, and heir proportions are very unusual. Though the por. tmut is abstract, it's clearly the work of a gifted and visionary To many a musician’s ears, an Elvin Jones drum solo is even ore abstr than a Picasso paiming. A painting is in 2 frame, ‘which creates an outline or border for the work. An Elvin drum solo isa fluid event during which the “Frame” may noe be appar: ‘2nt until the solo’s completion. Furthermore, though Evin rarely played a “tice” solo, he was cunning in bis displacement of musi cal landmars, znd his solo phrasing symmetry is dificult com prchend—a solo’s “face” might uve three noses and...is that an ee? Some people have difficully folowing the phrasing ‘For me, Elvin's pecormances are very melodie and incorporate restcrfl facility, ingenuity, and passion. They're abstract master pieces in their own right. ‘Elvin stted that e always played off ofthe melody, so the first sp 10 “hearing” one of his solos fe (@ listen 10 the so while simultancously singing the song's melody. This will help you hear his phrasing. You'l potice thatthe phrases eat be several mieas- ‘ures long and don’t necessarily begin or resolve on beat 1 Like his comping (discussed in the previous chapter), many phrases ane made up of three-beat motifs, which go seross the bar- lime and, st times, aeross the phrase ine. (The phrase line iso ig niflant laradmark in song's harmon, usually every four or eight measures.) Elvin also liked to “shit the frame" by developing simple motifs—Iike right, lef, foot—at various rates oF speed. Below are several three-beat Elvin motifs, First, prectice them as individusl- measure exercises, CED tors [Now go back and combine the motifs into four-bar phrases to boarlines. To help you keep your place and internalize the phrases, it will be Relpful for you to 1234, 2234, 3234, 4234" “frame shifting”) device feel havr they unfold across count out Loud: Here's favorite time-stretehing (.. Incorporating athree-acte motif Ce Track 55 Once you're comfortable with the previous example, exper ‘ment with reversing some of the hand combinations fram right. lett co left-right, Then experiment with substituting the hi-hat for some ofthe bass dw The (riplet-on-triplet rate in the second half of measure three above contributes lot of elasticity and mystery to Elvin’s play ing, He ofien shifted between the H6th-note rate, the 8-over-2 ra, and the 9-over 2 rate of triplts-on triplets Tipleis-om-triples can ‘be bes felt hy practicing this exercise < rac COD Track 56 A ae eee: pa oe A i 3) = 3 a ween: ioe Sean ——— = RE RE CR R RURERCRE ef ea Tin the 1960s Elvin played the standard four-piece drumnkit. fy later years he playee a kit with four toms, wit his two floor ems often tuned lower than his bass drum. This tuning really cpenest ‘up the possibilities for creating ear-stretehing phrases cut of the ideas above. Flvin lanes Salina 4344 Finally, here's one of my favorite Elvin Jones soles Its & very deceptive conclusion on beat 4 of bar eight, the thee-eat phrases concise, passionate sttement from Wayne Shorts aloum Night 17-24), and he solos explosive final phrase. Dreamer rvorsed in 1964. “Block Nilo” isa thity-ove-noeasure Get the CD, sing the sone's melody along with the drum solo, song on which Evin takes a ée-choras solo, Check out the variety ane! eam this soo! Ive included the sickings tht help me agprox- ‘of mateial he enooses to develop, his long opening phrase with iis immate Elvia’s sound and flow, but fea fee o experiment et a> a3 mae a -——— a LR OR OL RL RCRELR LRERERLERERLL, RL RL LR RL RL RERLRERLLRLRELR LR See ee ee z R RE RL RL RE RE RERLRL RERL RLRL RUERLRLRLALRL jsp cea omc RLRERL RLLRRL = Sb 2 aaa ae ee a RLRLRLRLRL RE TRE Elvin Jones SoloinaRS SPEAK Tony Williams Style & Analysis first time T beard Toay Wiliams was in Barney Lane's ‘dorm room ai Noth Texas, ft was the frst week of my freshman yeas, and Barney Wus my source; he was a rans fer student, had been deing jazz gigs, and knew a thousand LPs [Every night after the practice rooms were closed, Barney would play select cuts of his favorite drummers, He would tell me, a {zz noviee, exactly what was happening in the masie, why it was hhappening, and why it was hip. Barney was turning me on to all of bis spacial finds—Grady Tate, Mel Lewis, Erie Gravan—guys, ‘who were really playing tut weren't household names, ‘Then he realized just how green T was: "You mean you haven't heard “Tony?” be said with disbelief, The next thing I knew he wa play ing "Seven Stops To Heaven.” “Walkin,” and “osha.” all from the live Miles Davis recording Four & More, and my Wife was changed for ever. The following day I wen! tothe record store and ‘bought every record they had with Tony and Miles. In the twenty or so years since that aight, I've heard a lot of music and played some myself {continue to enjoy and study the work of all my favorite players. But after all these years of living with Tony's playing, I must admit thet 'm not much closer t unraveling the mystery of how he arrived at such an orig 20k, s0 fully formed, at such a young age. But I do know thet whenever [feel at a loss for what to practice, all T have to do ists vento some Tony. Suddenly I become very inspire. final con Early Approaches Here is an inceresting quoce from Tony. Williams char appeared in a Modem Drummer interview in 1984: “When T ‘was 4 kid, for about owo years I ped like Max Roach. Max is my favorite drummer I don't know if U've ever said this clearly and plainly, but Max Roach was my biggest drum idol ‘Ant Blakey was my frst ido, bur Max was the biggest. So I ‘would buy every record I coukd find with Max on it, and then would play exactly like solos and everything. also did that with drummers like Art Blakey, Philly Jo Joves, Jimny Cobb, Roy Haynes, and all of the drummers I admired. I would ever tane my drams just ike Ley were on the eeosd.” ‘One cam hear very fant similis wo the players Tony men- tioned 28 his main sourees (though you certainly don’t hear anyone else's licks). At slow tempos his ride cymbal beat is phrased kind of tightly and on top of the best, ike Jimmy Cobb's 1—exactly what was on the record, His irregular use ofthe hi-hat reminds we of ideas from both Art Blakey and Roy Haynes His up-iempo ride cymbal phrasing is very “fla,” und he plays a lot of five-note ideas, similar to what you bess from His occasional use of unison snare and ride cymbal figures is reminiscent of Roy Haynes’ approach. al Shelly Manne’ playing years earlier * ss lbs fay Tanv Willinms Ste & Analvsis 45“The “snap” and virtuosity of Tony's solos communicates the ‘Sane Kind of feeling of command of the instrument that hear from Max Reach snd Philly Joe Jones, However, these compar- isonvarea very small part of the picture to me, pot even as appar lent as the shadow of a ghost. 1 seem io remember Tony saying in an old Down Beat intrview that he had learned to play like bis Idols, and then ereated his own voice by playing all he things that his idols weren't playing, My main impression of Tony is that of a master who invented his own super-sophisticote language for the drumset by blending bebop ideas with more abstract concepts of playing. ideos that he hod heand in the avantgarde Sone, while a the sae tie inf ing the musie with the eneray of rock. This amalgam was ot just | new way to play the drums, but « completely new way to play ‘muse. Ie appears that Tony made it his responsibility to take the music in a new direction by playing it exactly the way he wanted to play it, Fortunately Tony found in Miles Davis leader withthe temperament and the vision to encourage these explorations. But ‘every ad that Toay worked in souncked special da to his “g0 for st" artrude—ho loved to take chances. And trough his playing he ‘compelled his bandmates to relly stretch, “Nofertti” On the following page is transcription of Tony's playing of the song “Neferit” from the Miles Davis recording of the same name. “Neferti” isa sixtoen-measure form, and this is the sec: ‘ood version Une hand recorded oa that day in June of 1967, IF you listen, you will notice that this performance is somewhat ‘unusual in thet there are mo solos during the entire 7:49 take. | ‘understand thatthe fst take of this tune, dane just peior (0 this fone, was among the most amazing things that the band ever played, bur due o some technical problems in the sia the tape ‘was unusable, Upon learning thatthe fast rake was lost and thar they would have to play another, the musicians were quite disep- poiated, nd noone fet ike soloing on this seegnd take. However: ‘what you do hear on the second take is prime Tony Williams; he completely directs the shape of this amazing performance by Jeading ths slowly evolving, tance ike tune through a series of intense climaxes. ‘The accompanying tancipcion begins near the top oF their ascent, at 5:20 imo the pose, whieh isthe beginning of the tenth chorus and i continues for three choruses. Looking at this tran- scription will defintely give you some aew drummi “licks” are there for you to sift throug, but [think your degree of Tony Willioms Style & Analysis understanding and appreciation for Tony's level of musicianship will be Infinitely more enanced if you get this recording and is tent the entre eane—and the entire CD. ‘While there isn’t space here o analyze each and every aspect of | ‘Tony's amazing thiry-plus-year recording career, in regards to this transcription, I'd like to point out some of his main concep- istic tendencies, Ths sixteen-bar sone is structured as to eight-bar phrases, and drummers tacitionally would subtly delineate cight-bar sections by playing some sont of SIL a the end of tho eighth and sixteenth bars to show these musi- cal landmarks. A big reason Tony's playing always sounded so fresh was that he almost never spelled out the phrases in such a syrametrical fashion. He intentionally avoided playing 2 big *1” At the top of a phrase, prefering insead to create deceptive ceadences. He did this in several different ways ‘A) by playing a fill that sounded like it was going to end om the “I but continaing past the normal resolution point to a later Accent 'B) by playing a fill tat climaxed early —very often on one of ‘the two most unsettling points inthe measure-the & of beats | oe 3 before « big 1 C)by ending his fi, either before or afer beat 1, and eturning {o the ride cymbal without playing any accent a al, giving us the “hulp” but not the resolution “erash.” ‘You can see examples of these tachniques in bans 4, 8,9, 16,20, and contioully throughout tie char. Al of these devices kept the ‘music from “resting” too much; they pushod i forward in search of e rel zesoltian, (Other innovations include Tony's use of “odd” groups of notes, Uke the ive-nowe mou ie explores in measures 13 and 14, snd his tse of metric modulation, or the variable-speed phrese, as in the shift from bar 21 t0 22. Measares 25-27 are an emotional peak in the performance. Notice how Tony's energy changes the music, and then bow he releases thet energy in bars 28-22. Messure 33 is the beginning of the thied anseribed chomus (6:30 on the CD). At tis point Miles and Wayne Shorter stopped playing the melody. Observe how patient Tony was, as well as the . _ 2 pL SS Soe iad = _ a = a R RRE RRI RRR OL LR ORL RERL CeO Track 59 DS i is RER Rl SRLR = Rb Funnndine The lanrninn Process “2‘With come prsetice you should be able t play the phrases as well as you would if you'd feared them by ear. But let's go a litle deeper in the hope that you'll begin to make the phrases C&D Trock 60 Sasa es Fy § Fr ‘your own. Looking at phrase A, play it starting in the second measure. Play A2, 3.4, |. in that order. 3 ‘The phrase sounds and feels completely different, Now start on the third measure. Play A3, 4, 1, 2, Start on the fouth measure: Ad, 1,2, 3. Mix it up. Play Al, 3, 4. 2.04, 3,2, 1, and so on, Undoubtedly not every combination will be ager,” but you will begin to lear ard hear this new material aiore thoroughly and >3 Now ty A2, A3,€3,Ci, or AL, BI, Cl, DI, or D3, C2, Ad, B2. ‘The possibilries are almost endless. Les take it even further, Go back wo phrase A and modify ie by probably come up with some phrases that the originator would never have thought of. Now go through the same process with stheases B,C, and D, “The next step is to cornbine ideas from the different phrases. For example, play Al, A2, BI, and B2, 32> ‘making the second beat of measure one the “I” of the phrase. Play the bi-har on the new 2 and 4, wpa [Now start the phrase om beat 3 fi 4. cor measure 190, beat 2, ior bes CH OD Trock 61 > 3 ‘The Final result of this process is that you'll sound lke some- fone who has studied —but aot copied —a particular player. You'll hear your ows ideas. Consider what the possibilities are if you ‘combine ideas from two different players from differen: idioms! Expanding The Learning Process ma ae : potted EB hid aa ; AE: Here's phrase D stating on measure 1wo, best 4 SS Seas ‘You would begin to hear and play things that are compleely Unique, and tha’s the goal—to com from the tradition of great cirummers that preceded you, but sil sound like yourself1 —E CHOP SHOP er 23 The Warm-Up throogh Swiss Amy triplets (example ‘Mam paradides (7). spend a min 1, lam accents (6), and ‘or owo playing each. ough esis ELE bie strokes—a 4" wrist stroke followed by a bounce—with little markings as a guide; a warm-up should be relaxed and smooth, not rn - . _ er shops barn) jp aatatee P= [prepared to play the drums the same way I prepare RELIRRLiRRT ROLLER LERL dhe | “Erte RL RCIR RLLRALLRACLR Lome . SS Sos es [oeedere Bao = z = r - | “TrRECORRCORR CRsLURLEREL ‘The frst objectives of the warm-up ace 1 remine my hands the feeling ofthe rebounding sticks an to get some blood moving in their diection. After a minate or two of playing doubles my | 6 "yy yg hands will feo dhe sticks rebounding nicely and the musetes in my =a FR FS ee. fe il ein rs dag ces for doing. | === MEER na ere waa Tee] Next I'l move on to. minute or two of dop ripe sokes, a wrist PRAM ERR: Trek Cnc oRo stroke followed by two bounces. i ; j j i 8 2. > | RUUD Rat RLCR tC RLERE RACAL ee EE eo oF oF kG poe Po Now Pl feel warm enough to play larger, mere controlled strokes, and Tl slow the tempo to phy a succession of 12° wrist | “REEL RLTR T REL RLRELRTIR TRL stcokes with an overlapping fla, 7 ena quel STS TEER RRCRLE RAURRECRUL ck RRR aL - cL ‘Once the previous move feels good, I'll up the ante and play a combination of singles and paradiddles, like in the Following WLERRTRaLL RORGRERLKL 4 tee In addition v9 physically getting ready to play, throughout the warm-up I'm also thinking about what I hore to accomplish once T get co the drums. Give this ten: to ffteen-minute warm-up 3 try each day for 1wo My final three warm-up sequences involve: Mlams moving | weeks and see how it works for you. RURURLALRLL ck The Warm-lin SI52 Basic Training | een Te Ne Tew a (Jp setetieen oe ange toc reason at ut cn ark tea enor, fr Mi Fr Ware Ce, ak pone ot ny spt cna coma, spc wl aati ec pcs nd bin ana SE Di witout ng cei The tial etn ogo sn ome sie LL pe Tessa aay ee ed inca ech en pling te Wan eae a eat ong ba ct eee eo ed wily ig vets dm To ua cool naan itis, eas poe, get al pl tere fois oi ar aoe ao eee il comet Let TV fess rey geting stpe eee hen ee sie yng rn in ero ‘The exercise below is designed 10 help you gain more contol ‘of your hands. The idea isto repeat each one-measute paradiddle phrase a @ relaxed tempo. Play the unaeeented notes “low,” and use height, not wnsion, t generate the aecens. In order to make the accents “pop” out, you must read ahead and prepare the eor- rect stick heights Before you do the paradiddles, try the two warmup exer cises, wihich go through the eyele of basie stoke moves: the full stroke, whieh starts and finishes high and is played when ‘you have an accent followed by another accent with the same than; the down stroke, which stars high and finishes low 1 create the desired accent and fo finish in the most efficient position to play the next soft note; the up stroke, which stars low and finishes high to prepare for the next uecent; and the ‘ap, which starts and finishes low and is used for consecutive soft notes by the same hand, ‘Warm-Up Exercises all Down IL = = Tp Up > fill Fal Doxr Down ay Te Up up R T ® T E T R T “The correct moves for the frst paradidle measure are: The first lou right iss down stroke because the next right is soft note on beat 2.'The next not, 1 soft le, is an up stroke because the next left is « loud note on beat 3. The next note, soft right, i a tap. Then the following nove is another tap. The not on beat 3 is a Toul Jet down stroke (the left head should already be in the “igh” position) The next right is soft going to loud—an up stroke. The last to lefts are taps ‘Once you're familiar with this epproach, practice the exercise by playing each measure fous times, then continue dowa the page ‘A goed starting tempo is quart 50, bu the sky's the Limit Just be sure that you maintain control RURUL Fac! Bosic Trainina 1WERRCRCE RURACRCL RORRTATL RCRELECL RURRUREE RURRLREL RERELELE Ga aaa ge aay aetna eo Se Deere ee dee Prrerrs reali that thi hind of chorcography is prety awicwasd at fist. Tecnique and Gary Chatfe's book Rindon And Meter Volume. butte resting gain in conzol and consistency of sourd! is work the Next sme we'll dig ite deeper into snare drum furcanencals cffort. Ln time these motions become sscond-nature and lead to Until then, remember tht procicing in a sow, relaxed fashion while increased speed, relaxation, and clay, For more information on the concentrating on minaining perfec “form is much moe beneficial jeneepl check out Joe Morello's video The Natwral Appreach To ia the long run than recklessly mascling itcut. Basic Trainina 1 = 53Chapter 25 Basic Training 2 tol 2 itd ost ha gees [sissies ose este oun repo red uta yor pan apn aie Tap aces we sat aa eta Tin ine yuan ne tse tea un ers one es This. This, bacomes this: BREE RRRELLR LLLLLL ‘Thin, corwert each accent ito # lan. becces this poe aa a becomes this This, | © TLRRE Tbk Ttre | Second, convert each accent nto an unaecented ile stroke. This . bosoms his q — See zo = = ct SSS SaaS rn ro or 5a Baie Tertinines 2 ‘You'll find shat the issues related to stick heights ate the same as with the original aecected parades,‘Now let's up the ante and play accented paradidiles in wiplets. read ahead, and prepare foreach “nest movs" in oxdor to muiaiin The triplet rate really creates havoc with making the accented — good form. pojes flow. AS with the new approaches inoduced earlier and ihe IF you're really ambitious you exn also ad dewhle stokes ‘original concept (Chapter 24), you must take this material slowly. triple stokes, and flams to te triplet paraixles. aS SaadCHOP SHOP Chapter 26 The Moeller Stroke Revealed Speed, Endurance. ..And Drumming’s Fountain Of Youth? cs Chapin ond Joe Morello ae among the elder siatesman of Jin We fe pen ager al finesse, power, endurance, or speed, Chapin and Morello have developed and maintained their chops by incorporating the “Fountain Of Youth" of drumming, a technique promoied by legendary per former and educator Sanford A. Moeller Tiny Chapin was a student of Meller ad is muanificent tele and tsless “pier of Mocller’s concepts. f you've ever amended a Percassive Ary Society International Convention or a Modern Dnormer fev, you've surely seen Jim. generously shring bis knowledge with any eager stadnt of drumming. In his video Speed Power, Control, Endurance, Tim clearly demonstrates Moeller’ methods, makiagita mas:have for aay drurnmer seeking te impeove his faci ‘Another must-have is Joe Morello’ video The Natwal Approach To Teclnique. When T was in high school Thad the goxd fortune study with Joe, He tayght me thst drummers use three gro0ps of mus cles: the arm, the wrist. and the fingers. Mos playing is done withthe wrist, the aris used for poe, while the Bors ste «xed for low volume speed. Each ofthe thee muscle groups i trined separately, and each bund is wained individually, Bsennally everything is inte rated, The key was, and stil 5, t0 allow the sticks to rebound nat rally Repetitive setions like a singl-stoke roll—played loudly using the arms, at ameditm volume using the wrists, or soil wsng the fn _gors—natully cause ftiguo.To combat fatigue, drummers "pees" We tighlen up. This allows us to temporarily persevere by incressing ‘the tension in our grip: we squeeze I out, Buin short cr, ll con- tuo breaks dowa, Joe develop his “natural tasorical concepts by studying with the great oki masters of drumming. George L. Stone and Billy Gladstone, and be leamed Sanford Moelle’ concepts from his fs. teacher, Joe Sefeik: These masters aereed on the fundamentals of ‘good technique, but zewed in on diferent areas: Stones aponaach {ocused mainly on wrist development, Gadstone Was mere Finger cricnted, and Moeller employed a tension-breaking combination ‘sake: Joe demonstrates the atsbutes of each ofthese approaches on his vide. Early in the 19006, Sanford Moeller realized that one reduces and ltimatly eliminates tension by dstsbuting the “oad” of repetitive motions among several muscle groups. The Moeller stoke incespo- rates the arm, rit, and fingers oto one flowing action, and is pe. fect for playing flowing accents within a single-stroke roll. Once you've mstered the Moeller sivke, you make the motion ax! the Stic almost plays by tel, To learn this motion, we'll go through the mechanics of the Moeller stoke in slow motion, step-by-step, The more thorouahiy you understand these fundamental principles the easier it wil be 10 ‘make the mosion flow st faster tempos, Let's sar by parting our sticks down and siting in fron of larg mimo Sonford A Maelo (1879-1961) var bom in Albany, New Yorkard ved Inthe New Yer Gly cea, Moar begen playing the drm 0 tone hough his et ircrumey wos he plore, shcying wth August Felice of ohn Pllp Sout's bond Vs acid tht Moeler wos 29 curious abcat the od way of crumiog ‘hot ora young mon, he sought ext he surviving Cid War dure ond peted har bars aboxt how why, and whot hey peyed. ble, @ pb Thess note an page T of the Moeler Book sates rol Savors Rexhing sh end concope wore bored or George . Braces 1862 US Ary pre- sere hom metccs | “Mealler ws a renowned maker of Colonist aye ro esion parade hans. He aio ccozhed bugle, ff, and dum caps. Mosler Eecore @ seughroer teacher, with Gene Krupo, Jin Chopin, and Frork felto ang his many sud “he Maal Book vn rigrely cublshed in 1925 and ln pin, (Ws curry bang published by Ludwig Music Pubishieg. 557-47 East 40h Saat, Ceveland, Chia £2110) bed a capy of tor lic, ard the tf Fis mation invigued me. But somehing about than oso Cxrhued | vas eve wher len Chop iol me hat Meeker hinse ss wae wil he oy i concn care ccs th pion, Rages ok oe iar eee became grme for of wo oer very popular a ee ie Gene rom Mod Dre kop lec Sanford, brows a) "Gus this ene wot © contrbaraurseierctaen by ho time Joe Morelo approached hi fo es ‘enn, Jo id me Macler tok ere lok ot hm ord, bore Joe sven ployed @ no, 114d, “You dont realy won! fo be a drvemer—go home!” Thankully Joe clit hood Mell: advice. And, Feruretah for us, teuah tha nating of Joe ond peepee Jim Chop, we con of ener understore! ard t+ liao he Motte ake. Tonks bo Derik Logaz a he BAS Archies iol formation. ‘Rly 56 The Moeller Stroke RevealedRight Hand Begin by resting your right forearm on your floor tom or on «| table (Figure 1A), Put your wrist joint exactly atthe edge, relax, ‘and let your hand hang limply over the side towards the floor. This isa neural positon, Now, while maintaining your relaxed wrist, slide your arm off the surface. Let your upper arm hang down from the shoulder don't hold it into or away from your torso (Figure 24). Allow {your forearm to relax ia a postion parallel to the floor and let {Your hand continue te hang towards the floor ina neattl positon, ‘with your palm facing down, From this postion we can begin to explore the Moeller motion. (Because It accommodates a greater range of motion, the Mosler stroke works much better with « German-type “palms dwn” grip than it docs with the Preach type “thumbs up" grip.) Gently swing your upper arm six inches avay from your tors, and allow it to fall naturally back into your body. This action should cause your Timp hand to wiggle a bit (Figure 34). Increase the swing toa foot or moze, and be sue that your hand remains relaxed ‘As your upper arm moves zway from the torso, the limp hand stays down (Figure 4), Now, iastead of allowing your arm to Siroply fall back ino your body as before, aecelerate towards your body, The instemt you change direction and accelerate backe towards the 1080 the land i forced to flop up (Figure 5), Allow your rapidly moving elbow to bang into your ss, If ‘you've maintained that limp wristhand combination, this acceler ation snd “pop' ato your its will saap the hand beck to its sea ing positon cowaeds the floce (Figure 6A), (Observe haw your hand is “following” the mavemtents of your elbow: try thinking of your erm as a whip and your hand as the tip of the whip. This snapping action is exactly whe breaks the The Moeller Sirnke Reveniad 575A The Mallar Stenke Revanlad [Now puta stick in your relaxed. “banging” right hand. Your grip shoul be 4s Toose andl a minimal as posi, bu ech finger shouldbe in coniat with the stick. Your fingers should simply rape arband the stick, Now try the motion, Don't worry about the ssund, ed, or enything eles Jus ‘observe how the mosercent of Your arm: comtols the tion ot your hand and the reaction ofthe stick, Set your rptronome a 60 bpm and psform one arm move per beat. IP your wrist is supple and “hh ce result will snot likely be thee notes The first rote is loud, and i's the esul of your clbow popping ino your sibs and snapping your hand back down Subsequent notes ire softer-volumne bounces where the hand "des" the natural motion of the stick ‘As you repeat the motion in thythin, the unseceated notes will Fear as ‘eresult of your elbow moving away from the ors Tip: make your elbow op into your ibs just buf the “wick” s0 that your accented note is synched with the metroncir:) Even though your arm has alge renge of motion, te sick should play ins semall ara in the center of he drum, As you become more comfortable end the motion becomes more fd gradually increase the tempo. The three nots will begin © rape accurate ly resemble a tripkt. Av this early stage of mestery the triplet i perfectly balanced forthe Moeller motion, When used for gmups of oso foes, the ‘xm pumps too fast Whea trying fo make four note between whips, your stick runs out of mementura, Figure 74 shows the motion st a moderate speed sd eatchos tao accon just os th elbow is bout 9 change direction and aocelerate back towards the rs. (ln the pot, the motion “shadow dng” shows the “ttuwre"—the direction my hare wll be going) FFigure 8A catches the motion fraction ofa second later, just asthe elbow pops into the torso ad snaps the wrist ack towards the drum, (The “shadowing” shows swhere the hand is going.) ‘Naw that you have an tea abou the orion, et’ check iio the wirver ‘one-more time, Put your sick down and make the movion. Though your cba is moving quite a distce from side-to-side. your hand should be ess sid side movement ‘When you get above 120 bpm, the moti shrinks and has much loss of an elbow swing, (This makes it lificul to capt om fk.) The wrist sap, Which is cruial fo breaking the tension of repeated actions, is accom plist in x lighy ferent, more compact Fashion: With the wrist limp, raise the forearm four insbes while allowing your hand to hang down Like ‘before. Now snap your forearm down, Use a force similar to whea you snapped. your elbow into your treo, so thal Your waist ops up and is ‘whipped back dowa, Try visualizing a cobre coiling and then striking & ‘eaget onthe grou, Your forearm i he bey ofthe soake, and your hand is the snae’s head, This should produce a festa version of the cxiginal motion. Ifyou have further questions about this, refer to the videos mea- tioned above, If you play matched grip, use your right hand and the directions above asa guide forthe It hand. Everything works the same way. IF yon play tmacitional emp, the fandamentuls for the let band ar exacty the same, but the sating position is lithe diferent,‘Rest your left hand as shown in flgure 18 above, an et your writ hang, [Now move Your lef forearm off the surface and west iti a position with your wrist hind, ‘and fingers relaxed (Figure 2B). Your forest shovkl be parle to the looe Rote your forearm counter-clockwise so thatthe palma of your hand is perpendicular to the flo: The bck of your han shook! be in Hine with, and an estension of, your force. Tiss the left. ‘hand traditional rip staring position. Gently swing your upper arm about six inches way from yourtorso anc allt fll at urally back ino your body (Figue 3B). This avon shoul cause your limp hud wo wiggle Increase the swing toa foot or more, and notice thet your left hand remains relaxed (Figure 4), "Now, instead of allowing your arm to simply fell back imo your body, agcelerate, The instant you change direction and accelerate buck towards your torso the left hand is forced (o Mop up (Figure $B) Allow your rapidly moving elbow to bang in your ibs. I You've maintained that imp \wrisihand combination, this acceleration and “pop” ito your rits will swap the hand ack 16 its sorting position (Figure 6B) The Moeller Stroke Revealed 5960 Again, chscrve bow your hand is “following” the movernents of ‘your elbow; inf your left arm zs a whip anc your hand the tp ‘ofthe whip, Chosk the flow ofthe motion a miror Now pur the stick in your relaxed, maditional-grip left hand Lot the stick “st” in the fleshy web between your thumb and first finger. Bring the index finger over the stick. Don't clamp {your thumb down oa the stick, Allow your middle finger to “ride” alongside the stick, while gently curling your fourth fin {ger and pinky under the stick towards the palm, Repeat the process as described above to get the feel of how the stick responds to the movements o Figure 7B catches the left-hand motion at « moderate tempo, just as the elbow is about to change direction and accslerate towards the torso, (The mation “shadowing” shows where my hana! is beaded) Figure BB is a froction of a socond later, just as the elbow pps into the torso and snaps the wrist back towards the drum (Here the shadowing shows where my hand has been.) ‘AL faster tempos the left hand motion shrinks too. i becomes 4 side-to-side forearm flick that snaps the wrist and breaks the tension. Be sure to maintain a loose wrist throughout the entire motion eycle Ti help you develop this concep, acti the flloring exercises to eiaforee and master the movion, Remember, the whipping metion generates the assented notes. Eventually you'l be able wo empkay # more radon ad Kess-accen- ed “ain” Whiping metion tD produce “wave"-tke singl-sroke rolls fast tempos. In time, i's possible to work this “Suess free” ration o speeds in excess of wipes at 200 bpm, RLRERE | “REWDRTRCELRCRCRLRCRERLET anny Gotlish, Jolo Mayer, Ed Soph, Dom Famvler, Vinnie (Colsuta, and many othees can alle seen capitalizing onthe mechan ical a includes very good information on the srok. Te patient and relaned as you go about perfecting the Moetcr motion, Use this text and phctos as your guide. Develop the whip slowly infront ofa minrr, ard refer to the videos mentioned above. Bur start werkiog on today! sof the Moeller motion. Dor’s book M's Your Move The Moeller Stroke RevealedE CHOP SHOP jer 27 More Moeller n this Chapter we'll explore some ofthe drumsee applications ofthe Moeller stroke. You may want to refer hack to Chapter 26 before "working on the examples her, Although the suoke was originally used while stag and playing on 2 parade drum, the mevion is perfectly suited fr tay’ drum ‘2 player use the motion to help me play a weide amay of brisk repested notes in ether hand or both hands together. ‘The Moeller stroke works perfecly when playing a fast bossa nova, Use the whipping action to execu unison with the erose stick om the snare drum, accents the eytnbal in Cm Teck 62 > > > > ‘When playing up-tempo jars, vary the cymbal pattera by interypersing groups of repeated notes that are accomplished incorporating ey Oy oo ze 1 ‘Moeller also works great for adding variety to comping. At medium tempos, play triplets on the snare drum. The whippi cea he used to create accents on downkeats or upbeats Cem Tock 63 23 as ss ce Contrapuntal solo material can be developed by playing 1 Moeller ostinato in one hand while plying syncopated phrases with the other hand, Ce Tok 64 Be ee | ee Pre ea ay 3 We. ‘Chapter 26 contains exercises for developing the motion. Those same phrases can be played on the drumset, ‘Try patting some of the accented notes on the toms Experiment with Moeller. Refine the motion through repetition on the prtice pad, and then have fun with iton the drumset More Moeller 41Ve ter 28 SHOP Chapter 28 The Pyramid Challenging Your a Mind, And Ears bal pater played at various rates of sped ‘Our foundation myth is the six-nove taplet pater played RLLRLR. Example | shows this sticking at four dierent rates of speed, Them it sequences the patterns to create a fourmicaswve phrase (exarnple La). This gives the impression of speeding up and slowing ddowa, Play euch pattern on a pad or snare drum, One it begins o flow, play it on two different sound sources 1a =o -S ‘ pple De gacedanl} cadddiwandvedecensigerisey) ct RETRLR RUERIRRLTRURRETRER RELRLR Track 65 la x dat —— TULEURRCURERR TCRUTMELURCREITURCR ee ee RrURCRREIRLERT ORL RELL ELRRITRLERTERTS Examples 2 and 3 go through the same kind of process with five- and ssven-note sticking patesns 3 Be ee ee Track Ce Tock 66 2a ao prea ae reer HURLRRTRUTRRD RERRUMLTR RCL RRIRCE RORURELCRUCRRURLARERE ARE RURRLRTRRURIR £ REURTOIR WLCRTTRREERLTLRRCTLRIIR 62. The PyramidPractice example 4 wo yet comfortable shifting herween the five, Six and seven-nowe stiekiag pater atthe 16ibenote rate. [ve added secon to sugges! the "2 and 4” ofthe ride pater. Once it flows, ry it on two different sound sourees, TROGRURLARUERTRRE “The fi 1 example is pyramid where, aver the couse of welve measures, we Tink the vatious sticking pattems together to erate the illusion of « very eracual seeelexation uni, in the seventh bar, the original tempo is doubled. Then a very gradual deceleration ‘hegins that leads hock to the exiginal time feel. While each separate time-shit sequencing of them and fiading the exact points to shift from one co another is crucial [Pye written the pyramid out withthe hands spit becween the ride cymbal and snare drum, but first play through it on eae suctace ‘Set your metronome 10 quarter note = 60, a tap your foot with the click es er 68 might already be familias, the seamless The Pyramid 463[Now go back snd play the pyramid ss writen on your ride eymbal and snare drum. Use a mewonome, and play quacier notes along with iton your bass drum, and 2 and 4 on the hi-hat, to belp stabilize your pulse. Once you're comfortable with tat, play the snare «deur parton your leg so that you really hear the cymbal beat weelerating and decelerating. Finally, ply the “bongo beat” with your left hans. Here's hour i its with each of the sticking pattern, gpl fed ded Best of lack with this material, and fel free 10 use these concepts to exploee fies Hill and solo ideas as wel Essential Listening Here's a list ofthe recordings mentioned in his ex Pease refer to these CDs o help you get deeper into the scund and feeling oF the music Artist Album Michaot Breskar Tims Is OF Tae Essence ‘Ctford Brown And Max Roach Clifford Brown And Mx Roach (Cito Brown And Max Roach Incorporated CCifion! Brown And Max Roach Live Ai Basin Sweet Dave Brubeck Time Out Omett Coleman The Shape Of Jaze To Come Jot Coltane Creteen! Jota Coltrane Plays The Blues Miles Davis Four Aad Mone Miles Davis Nefestit ‘Miles Davis Workin’ Dexter Gonon Go Heroic Hancock Takin’ Off Edie Harnis The In Sound Roy Haynes Ou OF Te Afternoon Haak Jones The Oracle Joe Lovano Trio Fascination Lee Morgan The Sidenindet Tio Paome Top Parcustion Max Roach Drums Uolimiced Mix Roach Comersstion Sonny Rollins News Tine Wayne Shorter Night Dreamer Michael Spiro Bata Ketw MeCoy Tyner The Real MeCoy ‘ony Willams Believe i! ‘Tony Williams Emergency ‘ony Williams Tum kt Over Sa The BeomidAbout The Author. ohn Riley is a renowned player, ait Jest ‘and author, He has performed with o viral Who's Who ia the jazz music field; Miles Davis, Dizzy Gilespi Woody Hermén, Sten Gelz, John Scofield, Mike Stern, Bob Mintzer, Joe lovane, and many others. ‘A Grammy-winning recording orlist, John has appeared on hundreds of ‘tecord dates ond on numerous television ‘anid film preductions As an cuthor, John hos writlen two enicolly acclaimed Books: the At OF Bop Srumming and Beyond Bop Drumming, And os an educator, John has given master classes ‘around the world, He's also a faculty member at the Manhaiian School of Music, SUNY:Purchase, and an ortishin-residence at the.Amsterdam Conservatory. 0-b34-05004-x US. $17.95 {M0 - ma 988409114K om HALeLEONARD* Sad Csncep HLOss20089 CORPORATION