In this lesson you will be taking the idea covered in our Four Sixteenths double kick lesson and messing with the timing of it a little to create some slightly syncopated patterns. I recomend working through the lesson linked above first as well as the similar lesson on Eight Sixteenths as the foot movements covered in both of these lessons will be applied.
Let's start by looking at the rhythm the bass drums will be based around. In the groove examples that will be given below various versions of the same pattern are used, all of which are based on the same basic rhythmic principle. The basic idea is that you will play four sixteenths, leave an eighth note rest then play the next set of four sixteenths. The simplest version of that would look like this:
When played over a bar of 4/4 like this the last set of four and the first set of four in the next bar will be played as a straight run of eight notes. This also works really nicely when spread over multiple bars and that idea will also be explored in this lesson.
When played on the feet each group of four will always start on a right foot and a single stroke pattern will be used. Make sure you are comfortable with the rhythm above before trying the groove examples given below. When constructing grooves around rhythms like this there are two options for snare placement. Either the kicks can maintain the syncopated rhythm at all points and snares will fall with kicks in places or the kicks can be dropped when a snare falls. When snares are removed you would generally maintain the ordering of the feet, so if the first note of a block of four was replaced with a snare the first kick would be played with a left foot. This helps you keep sticking matching the counting.
Example 1
Common time snare placement with just two sets of four.
Example 2
Half time snare placement with two sets of four.
Example 3
Common time snare placement with three sets of four, watch out for the run of eight notes when you repeat.
Example 4
Double time snare placement with three sets of four.
Example 5
Just one snare on beat 4. Three sets of four kicks have been used and in the last set the first has been replaced with the snare.
Example 6
A two bar version using common time snare placement. The syncopated grouping is maintained over the bar line.
Example 7
A two bar pattern in half time.
Example 8
A two bar pattern in double time.
Example 9
The final three examples are all played over four bars. The syncopated grouping is maintained over all bars and it can be quite hard to keep your timing. Playing to a metronome is really useful here.
Example 10
The same four bar pattern in common time.
Example 11
The same four bar pattern in double time.
TASK
- Using the 2 minute rule, get all grooves up to a tempo of at least 140bpm.
- Create further variations on these grooves. Think about how the hands can be altered to fit with the feet.
- Apply these grooves to a phrased piece.
