RAPS-

6 82
TEXT AN TRANSCRIPTION by WALI SHNALLE
any musical boundaries
were either crossed or elimi-
nated in the early '705 by
early fusion bands. One of
the leaders of that pioneer-
ing pack, Mahavishnu Orchestra, debuted in
1971 and kept the original lineup together
until 1976, with John Mclaughlin on guitar,
Jerry Goodman on violin, Jan Hammer on
Keyboards, Rick Laird on bass, and the
powerhouse at the drums, Billy Cobham
This commanding combination of talent
was hugely influential at the time and stil
leaves its markin the work of many of to-
day's musicians.
The music these talented musicians
played was avve inspiring, but for many
drummers it was all about Cobham, whose
jaw-dropping drumming sent many of us to

the practice room with our tails between
our legs. Even though he only recorded
three albums with the original lineup, Cob-
ham's drumming remains an inspiring
touchstone for all drummers, so let's take a
lookata classic track from the band's sec-
ond recording, 1973's Birds 0f Fire.
The following transcription is of the en-
tire track, “Miles Beyond," and it embodies
a lot of what Cobham's drumming was at
the time. He had power, speed, double bass
chops, funky grooves, and amazingly intu-
itive communication with the rest of the
band. This is especially true of the interac-
tion between John Mclaughlin's guitar
work and Cobhamts drumming, which, un-
fortunately, this transcription cannot
demonstrate. It's necessary that you check
out the track to get a full appreciation of
Cobham's drumming and how it works with
the other great musicians. Here, however,
we can check out some of the nuts and
bolts Cobham uses to assemble this power-
ful performance.
BILLY COBHAM
At the beginning of this transcription in Ex.
1, after the keyboard intro, Cobham comes in
and lays down a funk groove that s vaguely
similarto Clyde Stubblefield's groove from
James Brown's “Cold Sweat.” I's a classic
example of the use of the shoop sound (the
sound of striking the open hi-hat eymbals
before closing them again). In Ex. 2 you can
see that Cobham uses that shoopto accen-
tuate the rhythm of the chords the band
plays, and also keeps the snare backbeats
solid on 2and 4. In contrast, Stubblefield
= E—
keeps the shoops leading into beat 2 and 4
in EX. 1, but shifts the backbeatto the e7 of
4 in the first measure. It's all about the
backbeat. Also, Stubblefield's two-measure
beat moves the bass drum off of beat 1in
the second measure, and Cobham plays
with bass drum placement a lot, as you can
see in measures 2-9 of the transcription. Ex
3 shows another classic example of Cob-
ham's use of the shoop excerpted from the
opening groove of the tune "Red Baron"
from his 1973 solo album, Spectrum. Here he
uses the open hi-hat shoop to accentuate
the chordal rhythm
EX. 4 extracts Cobham's ol double bass groove
from measure 15. And Ex. 5 is another groove in
9l from the tiletrack.of Brds 0f Fr (though
one could argue thatitisin 18/8 due tothe
phrasing of the guitar). In the "Miles Beyond"
example he phrases with nine backbeats per
measure that emphasize every beat. Cobham
places backbeats on beats 4 and 7, ceating
phrases of three in the "Birds Of Fire" example.
Ifyou dig through some really old rudimen-
tal drumming documentation you'll come

SPRING 2008 TRAPS 69

across something called the "ratatap," often
listed as number 25 of the 26 Essential
Rudiments. Fast forward to the 21st century
and that same sticking pattern has become
number34 of the Percussive Arts Society's
40 rudiments: "The Lesson 25." Confused?
Well, look at Exs. 6 and 7 and you'll see a
couple of inversions of this rudiment with
an identity crisis. Now loolcin measures 42
and 13, and you'll see Cobham putting this
phrase to good use. A rose by any other
name ..
PARADIDDLES IN A
TRIPLET ENVIRONMENT
Cobham s also fond of employingthe para-
diddle and all its variations, and we've list-
ed the standard ones for you in Ex. 8. In
measures45 and 50 you'l see sixteenth-
note triplets that are punctuated vvith crash
cymbal and bass drum every four notes,
which Cobham pulled off by using the para-
diddle (see Ex. 9 and 10 for sticking and or-
chestrations). He also used paradiddles as
triplets in other ways, such as Ex. 1, which
= —
is another excerpt from "Red Baron," where
he uses the paradiddle between his bass and
snare as triplets.
HEMIOLA
The tight interplay between Mclaughlin and
Cobham is very evident in measure 55. Cobham
accentuates the guitar line by playing the
hemiola figure you'll seein Ex. 12 (a hemiola
figure s one that creates musical tension by ei-
ther phrasing in two in a three-based envi-
ronment or in three in a duple environment,
u
as Cobham does here). See Ex. 13 for the un-
orchestrated rhythm, which should not to be
confused with triplets, as you'll see in Ex. 14.
SINGLES
Finally, check out measures 47 and 57, which
reveal Cobham's super fast, dean, powerful
single-stroke rolls. So how can you play sin-
gles like Cobham? Well, you can practice, but
result lke this are certainly not guaranteed.
Examples 15 and 16 are a couple of exercises
to get you started.

The Funky Shoop Exl Clyde Stbbleich's amove from “Cold Sweat P. L ames Brown,1967)

B2 Bily Coman's rovefom “MlesBeyond”(Maliisn Orches, 1973

EE
=
y— — — ——
Ti laye by bad H a mensre.
EA
4
7 D — E
= 2- )
Ex.3 il Cobtan's goove from “Red Brar (Ny Cobham, 197)

4
FE T =

—‘—f
- 1

7 = = = =
x J—X = :J:a‘ WP ;Lí ===
T r ¢ l _a
—

- o | -6 46 46 46 — hd 1
222
22 228 25 22 222 208
2 - 2

70 TRAPS TRAPSMAGAZINE.COM
 Double Bass In Nine d

Ex$ — BinlsOF Fire

D ——
D | x|x|

did , A

*l

*
o _6 X X % % X _%e x,;LJ__q %
T - - - - - =

D % x % % x X % x & 26 ñ
T 2 - - - s e 4
— — — oo, = o

bl * _ % | - % 38 | +
m
H
do 6 - d
oo L - -Y!
.. ’_'_.ÉIJJ-'_'
0— 0— n

par ed E E

SPRING 2008 TRAPS 71

 Lesson 25 — Ex6 — Leson2s
vi alemas nn

R LL R L R LL R L R MR L R IR L
L RR L R L RR L R L mL R L rL R

ExT — Lesson25 invertion

L R TR L R
L R L m R L

— —
40 =

=e 7
2
-
— 2—
2—
- = !

— = > > >

42 7
- : =
fi %

> > 3 3
43

— | I ==
; — — S —

dije a [
— =

T— S
44 =

H =
—a —
= L

72 TRAPS TRAPSMAGAZINE.COM
 Paradiddles in a EX.8 - Single Paraiddie
Triplet Environment = ) ; : - , f
ErE= - - - = - - - E)
R L R R L R L L
DoubleParidale
> -
1 1
EE 5G i
— — — 1
R L R L R R L R L R L L
TipleParadidal
P -

' & o o o & o o |9 & & 5 5 o o &

R L R L R 9 R R L. R L R L R L L
Pa ida
f — — — f
- -

W%Éi-dñmp_ii_-d
R E R R L L L R L L R R

r PE
45 —

r y y 7 7 7 7 J '

b 6
46
36 46 2636
—— — d l E .
— 2a

7 2 é 2 é 6 6 6 6 6 6 3
*Z = = = — E ==

SPRING 2008 TRAPS 73

 Paradiddles in a E t Bh u > — mé
p Ea — S I d aa da ia ara daaa
RLRRLRLLRELRRRELRRELERLLRLRR

Ex 10 L b 6
x É E
-
RLRRL
RL L RLRRRLRRLRLLRL
R R

Ex 1 Excerptfrom “Red Baron" from Billy Cobham's

1973 recording. Speerum,
6

74 TRAPS TRAPSMAGAZINE.COM
 =

E1a

55

56
36 36 6_

E ia Ea
57

58
EEl m l m m m m |

59

Singles En 1S

SPRING 2008 TRAPS 75