JAZZ 101 DRUM COURSE

Get started with jazz drumming

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Jazz Beginner Course Introduction

Welcome to jazz Jazz is not harder than rock, funk, pop, etc per se, but it feels a lot harder for many drummers because it is a totally different approach to what many of us are used to. For a start it is swung which means it’s based on the triplet subdivision. Secondly it uses the opposite limbs to rock for our main emphasis. In rock the rhythm is dominated by the bass on beats 1 and 3 and the snare back beat on 2 and 4. So it’s your right foot and left hand predominantly. In jazz the foundation of the rhythm comes from the ride and hi-hat pedal so we use your right hand and left foot. The third thing that seems tricky is the fact that we don’t use those big back beats on the snare so a drummer needs to get used to comping. What is comping? Think about the word comping as deriving from the words ‘accompanying’ and ‘complimenting’ so every little snare or bass comp serves to enhance the soloist or singer rather than just adding notes to stroke your ego. Here we will learn some jazz drumming vocabulary but as with any style, you must also listen to the original artists to really understand how these beats should be executed. Once you have learnt the different examples on the sheet music you will see some bars with just the ride and hi-hat parts written in. This allows you to write your own bass and snare comp ideas out and then learn to play them. Do this because it helps you to develop your own ideas as well as improving your understanding of writing and reading music. Let’s get started.

Jazz Drums 101 Course

1Basic Jazz Pattern

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Comping with snare drum

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Comping with bass drum

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Jazz Drum 101 Course

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Add your own comp ideas

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Jazz Drum 101 Course

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Jazz Beginner Course Call & Response

How does it work? When you visit the playalongs page you will see the jazz backing tracks to accompany this lesson pack. First we have a standard backing track at 120bpm which you can use to jam along with and get musical with your new jazz grooves. The second and third track can also be used in this way but they have another fucntion too. When we play jazz the comping is improvised and it’s usually in reaction to what your fellow musicians are playing. Sometimes you follow them, sometimes you anticipate and sometimes you just fill in some space with your comps. But all of them require good listening skills so we need to develop that. The exercise here involves you playing the standard ride and hi-hat jazz part along with the track. The teacher either plays with you or simply claps rhythms. They will clap a one bar comp idea and the student’s job is to then play that comp back whilst maintaining the ride and hi-hat parts. Once this becomes easier the comps can become more difficult. Start on the slower, easier track and progress on to the quicker track when ready. Thsi develops good listening as well as the independence to freely play comps whilst maintaining the foundation rhythm. Have fun!