This groove concept sort of ties in with our lessons on using Toms And Hi Hats together to create a more interesting sound. In this lesson, you will be taking the idea of playing toms and cymbals together and using it to further emphasize the first beat of a phrase. You will achieve this by hitting a floor tom along with the bass drum and crash you would usually expect. The sticking for this will be the right hand on the floor tom and the left on either crash.
The concept looks like this, the rests will obviously be filled up with groove:
It's a good idea here to keep those notes as at least quarter notes. You can use eighths if you wish but it involves a quick switch around of the hands and could get messy. Applying this concept to double time grooves presents a similar issue. It can be done but will take a little work to get the switch from open haded to closed.
Listed below are five grooves with this concept applied followed by a short piece that demonstrates it's use as part of a larger phrase.
Groove Example 1
Groove Example 2
Groove Example 3
Groove Example 4
Groove Example 5
Example Piece
Notice that in this piece the fills end either with a bass drum or enough space to comfortably get the two hands in position. Also notice how the idea is used at different points in the bar to create fills.
TASK
- Learn all exercises upto a tempo of at least 150bpm.
- Experiment with placing the floor tom and crash at different points within the bar.
