vital beats every drummer must know 1

7/26/2019 Vital Beats Every Drummer Must Know 1

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Vital Beats Every Drummer Must Know

The beat you play has to gel with the band. But every beat must also be interpreted

correctly so that it makes rhythmic sense within the context of its particular style. So no

matter what style you are asked to play, you must never forget that the patterns you play

are only as important as the way in which you play them.

In this article we attempt to marry those two concepts together. The following 18 grooves

span a wide variety of styles from funk and reggae to punk and flat-tire shuffles

presented as both musical notation and tips on how to manipulate the feel of the notes.

Since our goal is to help you play each beat with the appropriate groove and feel, we

intentionally pared the following examples down to their most fundamental forms, without

fills or variations. After all, you can always elaborate on our suggested patterns in the

privacy of your practice room.

Lets check out some grooves and styles and how they are often interpreted.

Rock

Tempo:Varying tempo

Beat Placement:On the beat

Time Feel:Even or slightly swung

Dynamics:Varying, but when in doubt, play loudly


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Rock is usually played on the beat with a straight, even feel. Think Bon Jovi. Sure,

drummers sometimes add a hint of swing to grooves, like John Bonham did, but generally

those drummers are the wonderful exception to the norm. The drumming tends to be very

loud, so wear earplugs.

DRUM! Notation Guide

Swing

Tempo:Wide range

Beat Placement:Sometimes manipulated for effect

Time Feel:Usually has a triplet feel, but this straightens out at faster tempos

Dynamics:Varying, but when in doubt, play softly

Drummers often think swing is based on triplets. While that is generally true, it can vary

depending on tempo. At most medium tempos, the standard jazz ride pattern is played in

triplets. However, at slow tempos a drummer may choose to play something closer to a

dotted eighth-note followed by a sixteenth-note to keep a sense of urgency in the groove.

At very fast speeds the cymbal pattern tends to straighten out into a quarter-note

followed by two eighth-notes. This occurs not primarily out of choice but out of necessity

since at very high speeds it becomes physically impossible to articulate a strict tripletspacing. So even if a drummer could play it that way, it would sound wrong to our ears

since we never hear it played like that. These differences in feel occur gradually as the

tempo changes, so you may find yourself playing anywhere between two of the notated

feels depending on whats physically necessary.

Reggae

Tempo:Slow to medium

Beat Placement:Behind the beat

Time Feel:Varying degrees of swing
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Dynamics:Wide range

Most reggae has a laid-back, behind-the-beat feel. At faster tempos, the feel moves more

toward the middle. Tip: remember to start all reggae tunes with a peculiar fill!

Hip-Hop

Tempo:Slow to medium

Beat Placement:Behind or on the beat

Time Feel:Varying degrees of swing

Dynamics:Varies

Obviously, a lot of hip-hop music uses samples and drum machines, and the feel can be

straight or swung. While dynamics may be pretty flat, ghost notes are often used to add

dimension to the groove. Patterns are often repeated without variation, so the ability to

hold a tempo and control your dynamics is very important in this style. Instead of a

traditional fill, you may just stop playing for a measure to set up a chorus.

Funk

Tempo:Medium

Beat Placement:On the beat, but can vary

Time Feel:Even or swung

Dynamics:Wide range

Hip-hop artists frequently use funk grooves for their samples. Funk is often played with a

wide dynamic range, buzzes, bounces, open hi-hats, and unusual snare placement. So if

you want to become a good funk drummer youve got quite a task ahead. Lots of funk

grooves are medium tempo, which gives the drummer the option of playing the beats

straight or with a little swing.


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