These little slick 32nd note groove ideas are always fun. This one is surprisingly simple, but it sounds great never-the-less. The secret to making these sound right is dynamics. The ghosted notes must be very quiet and the hi-hat notes should be significantly louder than the snare notes. The bass drum and accented snare notes should be as loud as if you were playing any funk beat.
I could write about this all day and describe it in even more detail, but why don’t we have a look at the notation and you’ll see for yourself how it works. Here is the PDF: Nasty Drum Lick 101
Print out the PDF and try it out. Let me know how it goes.
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He first gained attention as one of the winners of Modern Drummer magazine's very first drum solo contest, judged by Rush's Neil Peart.
He's played with Oz Noy, Will Lee, Alison Krauss, Curtis Stigers, Emily Remler, Joel Hoekstra, GE Smith, Andy York, Marshall Crenshaw, Tony Shanahan, The Drifters, The Marvelettes, Big Brother and The Holding Company, and many other artists.
For more info: onlinesessiondrummer.com
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Hi Mark: Thanks for posting this idea. You and I worked on something similar at my last lesson. Unfortunately, I did not practice it correctly the first time. It is good that you remind students that they MUST focus on the dynamics of the notes. Much better to play slowly and muscle memory in those dynamics, than move to quickly to get it up to speed. I did not focus enough on the importance of the dynamics of these esexrcises, and essentially wasted effort. I am back at it again…doing it the proper way. Reminded of my old Italian Grandfather’s saying…who hardly spoke English…”the hard way is the easy way”.
See you soon.
Lisa
Hi Lisa!
Happy Birthday!
I agree. It’s really hard to do, but otherwise, you’re wasting your time. Slow and correct, with the right physical motions wins every time. Looking forward to our next lesson.
Mark F