For this groove concept you will be displacing the snare by a 16th note, like you did in our Level 1 Snare Displacement Lesson. In this case you will be moving from the 2 and 4 counts to the 'a' count before it. This is a cool concept as a standard groove but it works equally well as a variation for a two bar pattern or as a fill idea for larger phrases.

For this lesson you will be covering three ideas, one where only beat 2 is displaced, one where only beat 4 is displaced and one where both snares are moved. For each idea you will be shown various groove patterns using the concept and at the end of the lesson a short piece has been given.


Displacing Beat 2

Let's start by displacing just beat 2 in a standard common time groove. A simple version of this is shown below. Note that a dotted eighth note is used on beat 1 rather than rests.

A simple groove where beat 2 has been displaced

Spend some time familiarizing yourself with the new snare placement then have a go at some of the variations below. Patterns where a kick is played on the '+' after beat 1 have an interesting sound. The displaced snare also frees up beat 2 to have a kick on its own. Experiment with these ideas further.


Variation 1

A groove with beat 2 displaced

Variation 2

A groove with beat 2 displaced

Variation 3

A groove with beat 2 displaced

Variation 4

A groove with beat 2 displaced


Displacing Beat 4

Next let's try displacing just beat 4. These patterns will be very similar only the displacement happens in the second half of the bar.

A simple groove where beat 4 has been displaced

Spend some time familiarizing yourself with the new snare placement then have a go at some of the variations below. Like with the previous version, patterns where a kick is played on the '+' after beat 3 have an interesting sound. The displaced snare also frees up beat 4 to have a kick on its own.


Variation 1

A groove with beat 4 displaced

Variation 2

A groove with beat 4 displaced

Variation 3

A groove with beat 4 displaced

Variation 4

A groove with beat 4 displaced


Displacing Beats 2 And 4

Now let's displace both backbeat snares.

A simple groove where beats 2 and 4 have been displaced

Spend some time familiarizing yourself with the new snare placement then have a go at some of the variations below.


Variation 1

A groove with beats 2 and 4 displaced

Variation 2

A groove with beats 2 and 4 displaced

Variation 3

A groove with beats 2 and 4 displaced

Variation 4

A groove with beats 2 and 4 displaced


TASKS

  • Learn the grooves above up to a tempo of at least 140bpm.
  • Create further variations on these patterns.
  • Create some 4 bar phrases where this concept is applied. Experiment with different uses of this idea within the phrase.

Example Piece

The short piece below demonstrates the practical application of this concept.

A short piece using this concept

Lessons

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