Here is the follow-up to last week’s introduction to independence against the “e-and-a” cymbal ostinato.
These 16 exercises offer every 16th note bass drum possibility before two and four on the snare drum. The “e-and-a” cymbal pattern is laid on top of these grooves so you can work on the mechanics of developing this independence.
At first, this might seem like a weird cymbal pattern to work on. One thoughtful student of mine asked me if I thought it was worth her limited practice time.
That’s a difficult question to answer and it begs the question of artistic exploration. How could anyone know if the idea is useful unless they experiment? Personally, I had no idea if it would sound good but I dug into it anyway. Happily, I was surprised by how cool and different it sounds.
As I’ve been working on these kinds of independence ideas, I recently returned to using a second closed hi-hat on the right side of my kit. I used to be really into this, but I got away from it for a while. I’m finding that I really like it again. Combining the right side hi-hat with my left foot on the “main” hi-hat allows for the creation of some very cool grooves and ideas.
In this case, simply playing quarter notes with your left foot and playing the “e-and-a” on the right hi-hat gives you the complete stream of all the 16th notes, but with a very different sound,
Just another thing to think about and try.
OK, enough of my rambling! Here is the PDF with the 16 exercises: “E-And-A” Cymbal Independence Part 2
Let me know how it goes and post some comments below to let me know!
- Beginner Drummers Discussion Forum - February 14, 2022
- The Gift - December 30, 2021
- The Rock Drumming Six: A Simple and Solid Drum Fill Idea - December 25, 2021
As a beginning drummer I say many thanks for this exsercise.
Greetings from Tienen, Belgium, Europe.
D.P. (stands for Danny Pipe. Don ‘t ask me why.).
Hi Danny !
You’re welcome!
Thanks for reading.
MF