I’ve been making my own clave exercises for years because I couldn’t find a lot of existing material that would help me. The one book that I did find helpful was Ignacio Berroa’s Groovin’ in Clave. Yes, I did borrow his title for the name of this post.
Since I’ve finally come to a point where I’m starting to feel like I have some control with clave independence, I wanted to:
1 Share a video that gives you a bit of a look at where I’m at with it playing-wise
2 Put all the links for my clave independence material in one place–here in this post.
So, first, the video.
And now the material/links to Clave Independence material here on this blog. The links below will give you everything I’ve written so far (as of this writing) on the topic. If you decide to dig into this, be prepared to spend some serious time on it. Patience will reward you…
- Clave Independence with Ted Reed’s “Syncopation” Part 1
- Clave Independence using Kim Plainfield’s “Advanced Concepts”
- 20 Clave Independence Exercises
- 15 Exercises To Develop Clave Independence
- Clave Funk Drumming Groove 1
- Clave Funk Comping 1
- Even More Clave Independence
- Groovin In Clave
- Clave Samba Independence Part 3.1
- Clave Samba Independence Part 3
- Clave Samba Independence Part 2
- Clave Samba Independence Part 1
- Clave Independence Part One
- The Benny Greb Clave Challenge
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
- 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
Hi Mark, thank you for for your generosity, and posting all of the material, that you’ve posted so far, they are really cool, so please keep tham coming. Oh and by the way, John DiGiulio, my brother from a different mother says hi, thanks Steve Thomas.
Hey Steve!
Thank you so much. I’m really glad you’re enjoying the material. More to come!
Mark F