Applying Groove Concepts

In the 'grooves' section of each level of lessons there is a sub category of 'groove concepts'. In this lesson we will be discussing what these are and how best to use the new ideas provided. I will also give an example that shows how to combine the new concepts with both basic groove patterns and other concepts you may have learned.

We call these sections 'groove concepts' because they provide a new idea for playing and creating a groove. When used correctly, these ideas will provide you with countless different groove patterns based on just one small idea. We could just list hundreds of different grooves, but this way you are encouraged to be creative and build your own patterns using the ideas presented.


Practical Example

In this example we will take the Moving The Left Hand concept and apply it to some of the grooves in our Introduction To Grooves lesson series. In this new concept you learn how moving the left hand from the snare to other parts of the kits can create some interesting patterns and you are given three examples of other parts of the kit you could use. In our introduction to grooves series you are provided nine example grooves, each of which is split into two similar grooves (one with eighth notes on the right hand and one with quarter notes). That means that if you apply the three different ideas from the concept lesson to all of those grooves you have 54 different combinations.

To help work out these combinations we have provided a handy Recap Of Basic Grooves PDF that you can download for free, get a copy of this now as the next section of this guide will be using it.

Starting in the top left of the PDF you've just downloaded, we'll start applying the new concept. Our concept is to replace the snares with either high toms, floor toms or hi hats and there was a note in the concept lesson saying that these things are far easier to do if your right hand is playing the ride. So start off by playing that first groove, but move the right hand to the ride rather than the hi hat shown and move the left hand to the high tom. That would give you this groove:

Moving the left hand applied

Using the floor tom would give you this:

Moving the left hand applied

And using the hi hat would give you this:

Moving the left hand applied

So that gives you three new grooves right away. What you can also do if you're struggling to work out the changes is use some Blank Manuscript Paper and write out the new part.

The next step would be to do exactly the same with the pattern in the top right of the PDF download. All the parts will be the same but the right hand will now be playing quarter notes rather than eighths, this will raise the total of new grooves to 6. Once you are happy with that move on the second pattern down in the left column and do the same, then keep progressing through all grooves on the sheet. By the end you will have a whole bunch of cool patterns.

Another thing mentioned in the concept lesson is that you can move the left hand to any part of the kit you like but some will sound better than others. So during the variation process of each pattern on the download sheet experiment with different parts of the kit such as the mid tom, cross stick, second snare, tambourine, cowbell or any other parts you can think of. Each new part gives you another unique sounding groove! Using a bit of imagination can also give you new ideas. No where in the concept lesson does it say the left hand has to be moved away from the snare on every hit. What if you played the snare on beat two then moved it on beat 4? What if you did the same but the other way round? What if it was a two bar groove where you move the left hand on beat four of the second bar? These are the sorts of things that will create really cool sounding patterns and all from just some simple ideas.

It really is as easy as that. Just follow the concept lesson and get the idea of what it is teaching you, then go back to the downloaded PDF and apply it to the grooves shown there. Of course, the PDF isn't an exhaustive list of grooves, it's merely a list of some simple ideas for a beginner. You can also try creating your own combinations of kick and snare then apply the concept to them.


Combining Concepts

The good thing about our concepts lists is that all the ideas presented can be combined to create even more grooves. Lets try that now!

For this example you will be combining the Four On The Floor concept with the 16 Beat concept. To create a 'four on the floor' groove you just need to play bass drums on every quarter note. A '16 beat' is a groove where you play sixteenth notes on the hi hat with two hands as a single stroke roll. So if you were to combine the two concepts you would have this:

16 Beat Four On The Floor

You could even take this a step further and throw in the 'moving the left hand' concept from the example above. That could give you something like this:

16 Beat Four On The Floor

The most important thing to do when learning using our concept lessons is to experiment. Don't be afraid to use the new ideas to create your own grooves. If something sounds bad, so what? You've learned that those combinations of ideas don't work for you and you will more than likely come up with many awesome sounding grooves. Also don't be afraid to make notes, we provide a free PDF of manuscript paper for this purpose. Jot down the combinations that you like, jot down the combinations you don't like so you know to avoid them in future. Most importantly, have fun! Try playing your new grooves a long to some songs and see what works with what style. Get your friend who plays guitar to jam with you and try out your new grooves. This will really push your creativity and give your playing some purpose.

Now get to work applying and combining concepts!

Lessons

Buy Me A Coffee

I hope you are enjoying this free content. If you feel like buying me a coffee to say thank you you can do so here.

Buy Me A Coffee