In this lesson you will be exploring a syncopation idea where a rhythm is played using two hands. Throughout this rhythm one hand will be playing groups of two whilst the other plays a '3 3 2' pattern. This is far easier than it sounds! Throughout this lesson you will be learning the pattern in the full 16th note version it is intended to be played as a long with an 8th note version to help clarify the rhythm. These patterns have a lot in common with those given in our Offbeat 16th Note Snares In Grooves as they involve adding notes between notes, or sub division. If you have covered this lesson already you may find this exercise about easier, if you haven't this exercise will make those groove patterns a little easier.
Lets start by going over the rhythm the pattern is based on. As eighth notes the rhythm looks like this:
Check Your Counting:
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The counting for this rhythm is: 1 2 + 3 4
And as sixteenth notes like this:
Check Your Counting:
Can't work it out? Click here for the answer.
The counting for this rhythm is: 1 + a 2 +
Full Eighth Note Exercise
To create the full exercise you will be splitting the rhythm up between two hands. In the extracts shown below I have shown what each hand is playing throughout the exercise, on the left is the left hand and on the right the right hand. I have included counting in each example. Spend some time making sure you can play the two parts independantly then we will move on to combining them.
Finally, the full exercise. In this example I have split the two hands between two toms to distinguish more clearly what is doing what. The left hand is on the high tom and the right hand the floor tom. Also to help clarify more clearly what is happening, I have notated the pattern two different ways. On the left the two hands are split between two voices and on the right they are combined in one voice. Both exercises will be played the same way.
Spend some working on this pattern, make sure it is rhythmically correct then try to push the tempo upto around 130bpm.
Full Sixteenth Note Exercise
You'll now follow the same steps to create the full sixteenth note version of the exercise. As in the eighth note version, the extracts below show what each hand is playing throughout the exercise, on the left is the left hand and on the right the right hand. I have included counting in each example. Spend some time making sure you can play the two parts independantly before combining them.
Then these two parts will be combined to create the full pattern. As before I have used two different notation methods, these are laid out in the same way as the previous version. Remember, the two bars will be played the same way.
Spend some working on this pattern, make sure it is rhythmically correct then try to push the tempo upto around 110bpm.
4/4 Sixteenth Note Version
To finish with I'll give the notation for a 4/4 version of the sixteenth note exercise. This is just the original pattern played twice but it is worth having written down. The two forms of notation have been used again.
When practicing these try to hear it as two separate parts being combined to create one rhythm rather than just hearing it as one full part. In later exercises you will be orchestrating these patterns to further highlight this idea and if you can get into that mind set it will open up many new doors for melodic playing.
TASK
- Using the 2 minute rule, get all exercises up to a tempo of at least 130bpm. Don't be afraid to start slow.
- Add feet under each exercise in the same way you would add them to rudiments.
- Try moving the hands to different parts of the kit.
- Try orchestrating the patterns so each limb moves around the kit.
