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Drumkit
Jazz, Blues, Funk, Rock, Pop, Drum n' Bass
Key to Drum Music used on this website
Shuffle (Jazz/Blues)
The shuffle rhythm, heard in so many blues and jazz tunes, is based on a triplet feel which you should have no trouble accomplishing if you have been practicing the triplets on the Exercises page.
The sticking of this triplet is - Right Left Right. If you repeat the triplet and leave out the left hand you have the shuffle that is played on the cymbal (or on the snare drum with a brush and sometimes a stick).
Develop the fluency of your shuffle playing with these exercises for full drum kit. Repeat them individually or play straight through the section, ignoring the repeat marks.
When you have mastered these, substitute more advanced bass drum and hi hat pedal parts with the same patterns.
Shuffle - Bass Drum Variations
Here are some variations for the bass drum. Repeat the patterns or slip them into more basic patterns at strategic places. "Mix It Up Kid" as my old drum teacher Jack Peach used to say.
The second pattern features a 'pick-up' note on the bass drum at the end of the bar. You can use the pick up note at any time to re-inforce the first beat of the next bar. The fourth pattern features a bass drum note in the middle of a triplet and this is an introduction to another level of difficulty.
End of Shuffle
Bass Drum with Funk
This set of three rhythms make excellent funky sounding patterns in their own right. They all have in common the same bass drum part. As a group, taken from 1-3, they help to develop the ability to play the bass drum part correctly and effectively.
The first pattern has all the sixteenth notes played on the hi hat. It is easier to slot the bass drum notes in the right place when playing with all the sixteenth notes and when you have mastered this, pattern 2 will be easier to play. Pattern 2 has eight notes played on the hi hat and five of the six bass drum notes in each bar fall in between beats on the hi hat. This the area that seems to confound some players at first. The third pattern has just the off beat eighth notes played on the hi hat. The third pattern sound great on a ride cymbal bell as well.
A Sixteenth Notes
B Eighth Notes
C Offbeats
Jazz Funk Bass Drum
The sixteenth note bass drum beat in these patterns may elude you for a short time but when you get this pattern you will be extremely satisfied. fairly obviously, the bass drum and snare drum are the same in each pattern but the cymbal parts are different.
Jazz Funk Bass Drum Midi File Eighth Note Cymbal
Jazz Funk Bass Drum Midi File Sixteenth Note Cymbal
Jazz Funk Bass Drum Midi File Ostinato Cymbal
Latin Grooves
These grooves will work in a number of situations. The first pattern features the three-two clave on the snare drum crossed stick and the second pattern, the two-three clave. The third groove has a Merengue feel.
Latin Groove 1
Latin Groove 2
Latin Groove 3
This third pattern will fit well with the Merengue rhythm or Lambada and the crossed stick can be played as a full snare sound.
Latin Groove Merengue Feel midi file
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The next rhythm falls well outside of the latin category but features in so much pop music these days that it will be useful to drummers viewing the page and so I have included them here. The pattern seems to occur in some Merseybeat music and can be heard on Jimi Hendrix early work, played by Mitch Mitchell. It resurfaced in the Indie rhythms of the eighties and is nowadays common in Drum n' Bass.
Chop and change it around for a whole range of Drum n' Bass and Funk patterns. You do this by whipping it up a bit on the hi hat and maybe leave out one or two of the bass drum beats. Perhaps leave out a snare beat or just play two and four snare. Liaise with the bass player and drop to just hi hat or something else for dynamic effects. Then bring in a clave from the Clave and Bells page and you will sound great.
The first group of patterns features the same bass drum and snare sequence with eighth notes, sixteenth notes and off beat eighth notes on the hi hat.
Indie Eighth Notes
Indie Sixteenth notes
Indie Off Beats
Indie Sixteenth Note Variations
This second group contains some sixteenth note variations with a 'four on the floor' bass drum and these should help you get used to the motions of moving between the hi hat and snare drum
Drum Fills
Due to popular demand there follows a selection of fills for straight patterns on the drum kit (shuffle drum fills appear in the shuffle section above). These examples can be played with most bass drum and hi hat patterns and the fills are played over the last half-bar of a two bar phrase. These are played with eighth notes on hi hats but you can play them on the ride cymbal if required. In the context of a song, the fill might be played at the end of an eight or sixteen bar section. Some passages of music may require a longer fill, in which case it should commence earlier, eg. taking up the whole of the last bar in the section.
Short drum fills.
Some drum fills with a different sticking from the usual right,left,right,left etc.
We hope this has been useful to you. If you have any comments or questions, please e-mail me.
E-mail phil@littledrum.co.uk
All material on this site is copyright Phil Little 2001,