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Most Drummers Never Learn This Groove Concept

Nate Smith June 11, 2025

First things first - grab your transcription here.

How to make the case to the “just give me the groove” crowd that metric modulation is worth your trouble. Increasingly, I’m avoiding the temptation to assume everything is inherently interesting.

Why did the feeling of meter shifting beneath my feet first captivate me ages ago when I watched drummers like Ari Hoenig and Dan Weiss? Or listened to Standard Time Volume 1 with Wynton Marsallis and Jeff “Tain” Watts. And how can I encapsulate that feeling for an audience?

For starters, it’s a feeling that there are higher dimensions within time. I know that sounds woo, but for me the sensation was akin to possibilities I hadn’t realized existed unfolding. I then became fascinated with being able to hear this stuff.

Now, of course there are “higher order” metric modulations from the likes of Tigran Hamasyan and Vijey Iyer.

But even the boilerplate 3 to 4, 4 to 6, etc are fun.

And easier than you might think to learn!

And I’m not saying you’ll pull these out on a bar gig. But they’ll expand your sense of possibilities within rhythm. (And probably make your time better.)

Hope you enjoy!

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