First things first - grab your free transcription here.
Today’s video, like the video that started the series, began as a practice-room accident.
I’d been working on constant-16th grooves and coordination, as you do, and at the end of session I was experimenting with a little morif that had been giving be coordination trouble.
“Ok,”, I decided. “Let’s make this as diabolically hard as possible.”
I’m fascinated by beats that seem easy, but are actually hard. And true-to-form, this is a beat my ten-year-old self probably could have sung. But actually playing it tests the limit of two of those “subtle drum skills” I’m always going on about.
First there’s dynamic independence.
Say what?
You heard me. The ability to change the volume of one part of a drum beat independent of the others. Like feathering the kick drum during a jazz beat without playing the snare any softer.
In our example beat, the “tap” strokes of the left hand rarely intersect with those of the right. Instead, one hand is often tapping while the other is accenting. Which isn’t rare in modern drumming. Indeed, if you look at Purdie, Garibaldi, Porcaro, and Gadd, you’ll find examples of dynamic independence everywhere.
But our example beat doesn’t just ask you to play one thing soft while the other is loud. It asks you to play accents with one hand while the other is in the middle of a dynamic movement - for instance the second of 3 bounces. Which requires a different technique for each hand. (Just for instance, a full stroke accent with the left, while the right is in the second of a “drop-single-catch”, not to mention at vastly different volumes.)
And that’s not to mention all the underlying technique mechanics that have to go right to do this without straining or muscling it: the Moellers and the push-pulls.
Which is why this week’s beat is a brain and body teaser I hope you’ll love to hate, and eventually hate to love.