Spanky Beat (Subscriber Only)

I found this week's beat it on Instagram, where you can Get Humble in a hurry if you play the drums, and Spanky's (@yospank) beat was no exception.

It has so many "hooks" to pull attention, it can be hard to tell where "1" is.

I sure couldn't.

I experimented for the better part of a half hour, before I finally picked up something in the beat that anchored me.

(I probably could have just counted the 16ths...)

To find out what it was, how I reverse-engineered the beat, and what Spanky might have been thinking when he invented it, just check out the lesson.

There's an approach to playing licks that's "additive".

You had a certain "bag of tricks" before, and you're adding a sticking or rhythm you've never played.

Then there's an approach that's all about transformation and enhancement.

Both are necessary, neither is wrong, but the "enhancement" approach is the easiest-to-ignore...

...and also the thing most of the greats have in common.

When you listen to a Spanky beat, it's often a variation-on-a-variation-on-a-variation. Which is probably how he arrived at the beat that's the subject of this week's lesson.

Here's the transcription:

Spanky Transcription

"Old School" Funk Beat (Subscriber Only)

I bought it too.

The siren-song of the hipsters.

"Just play linear. It'll all be easier."

Well, not-so-fast, young'un.

Drummers like Nate Smith, Questo, Kariem Riggins, Harvey Mason, Bernard Purdie, Jeff Porcaro, Anderson Paak, and Corey Fonville want you to know they're judging you hard.

Why?

Turns out, linear is out.

The new hotness is the Old Hotness.

The New Hotness is constant, straight-16th, with one hand. (The whoooole gig;)

Thought you were gonna get out of practicing your drop-catch?

Thought you were gonna escape the Pocket Police?

Nope.

Anderson's bringing it back on Come Down...

...Corey's bringing it back on Forest Green...

...and Nate, Questo, and Kariem are playing like it never went away.

Luckily, it's easier than you thought.

Yours Truly has been Eating His Brussels Sprouts, and I've come back from The Edge with a couple of...shortcuts. (Yes, I said it.)

For starters, you can play almost every constant-16th groove under-the-sun by learning 3 simple idioms you can get under your hands in under-an-hour.

(To perfect them, you've got the rest of your life.)

Ready to see what they are?

Download the transcription here:

Funky Drummer Transcription

Be good, killaz.

N

Slick Linear Hi Hat Lick (Subscriber Only)

Can we talk about my track jacket for just a second?

I know it looks like I'm wearing the same thing every day, but I'd ask you to keep two factors in mind:

First, I record lessons every week, and it often just-so-happens that the taping days reoccur at around the same rate I exhaust the options in my wardrobe. (Laundry day is no longer an issue, since I'm washing gis every day.)

Ok ok - you're not here for that. You're here for the hi hat slickness. So let's rap:

The more time I spend on this planet, and in the shed, the more I start to hear things that are uniquely "me". (I suspect part of that is youthful ego giving way to Old Man Idleness.)

Around a year-and-a-half ago, I realized I was playing the hi hat in a way I hadn't heard others do exactly. If I had to reverse engineer it, I'd say it's decades of jazz vocabulary switched over to the hats, and played dry.

Now, Guiliana does tons of stuff like this. But so do Dana and Justin Brown. All of whom studied jazz, so there might be something to that. (Ooh, Bill Stewart too.)

Happy now? Can we talk about my track jacket again?

Ok - the Second thing happening is that unique New York weather weirdness.

I'd put it this way: we've got MONTHS of cold-as-hell, and MONTHS of "it's so hot I need to go commit homicide right now."

And between them, on either side, a few weeks of "aaaaaah, it's between 60 and 70 and I can wear all the clothes I look good in."

Maybe...6 weeks total. Out of 52.

Oh - before I lose you: here's the transcription...

Slick Linear Hi Hat Lick

Cool?

So 6 total weeks out of 52 when it's mild enough to wear something as fashionable as, say, a Fly Ass Collarless Nike Track Jacket. Or, just for instance, a Hot Navy Blue Uniqlo Bobby Axelrod Hoodie.

And how much time are you going to spend shopping for new options you're only going to use six weeks out of the year. Hence...limited options.

Anyway, I realized this lick could work equally well on the left side of the kit, with the right hand leading on the hats...

...as on the right side, with the right hand originating on the floor tom.

Dig this lesson? Do a fella a favor, and share it far and wide!

Play Like (the Other;) Nate Smith (subscriber-only version)

It must have been my second or third semester in music school.

I'd long-since been introduced to the Dave Holland Quintet, with Billy Kilson...

...spent almost an entire summer wearing out  Prime Directive whilutst sleeping off cannabis hangovers on my buddy Dan's couch...

...transcribed at least one Chris Potter solo to sing along with, then analyze for a term project in Dave Liebman's class.

Not to mention seeing the quintet live.

So when my buddy Scott told me that a guy named Nate Smith was now playing with Dave Holland, I assumed he was fucking with me.

"Nah, buddy. That's the ten-year plan. You're too soon with that."

Nope. Turned out he wasn't. Another, totally different Nate Smith was now playing with Dave.

There went my life's plan. The odds of lightening striking twice, and Dave hiring two guys with the exact same name seemed slim.

To make matters worse, Nate, when I finally listened to the new record, was killing.

Fast forward more years than I care to admit, (skipping past a bunch of years of Chris Potter's Underground band) and Nate's sounding better-than-ever, and writing great music.

The song that inspired this week's lesson is Skip Step, from the recent Kinfolk record, in particular the Tiny Desk performance.

Like Butcher Brown, about whom I just shot the lesson you'll see in two weeks, Nate and Kinfolk manage to "smooth the edges" of the previous generation's fusion. It's some part motown, some part Headhunters, many parts Dave Binney/55 Bar, and so on.

Skip Step epitomizes the group, and Nate's playing.

Make sure you grab the transcription below:

Nate Smith Skip Step Transcription