by mark wessels
Creating More with Less: Using “Combos” for Practicing Grooves
May 22, 2010 4:55 pm in Drumset by mark wessels
In this article, I’d like to open up the topic of “conceptual” vs “literal” practice techniques for the drumset – and give a brief example of how I use a short 3 line chart in my own practice to open up a huge world of grooves.
Let’s start with a definition of what I consider to be “literal” practice techniques.
How many times have you cracked open a drumset book and it’s filled with pages and pages of groove permutations? You can easily spot these kinds of books – they are usually 5 inches thick and weigh 3 pounds! When you flip through them, you’ll see page after page of 8th note hi-hat lines with every possible combination of 8th note bass drum and snare beats.
Sometimes, there are whole books devoted to one style – with titles like
“The Definitive 8th Note Rock Book: 10,001 Great Rock Grooves!”
In my opinion, this “literal” type of book completely destroys a students’ (and my own) since of creativity and fun. Open the book to page 1, set the metronome on 120 and work through each line. Check them off when completed. On to the next page.
Give me a gun, I want to shoot myself.
The Conceptual Approach
A great example of “conceptual” learning applied to a book is “Stick Control for the Snare Drummer”. Taking the 1st page, you can apply endless practice techniques that will open doors of sound development, independence, groove and (of course) stick control. One short page can become a lifetime pursuit. There’s tons of other examples: Ted Reed’s “Syncopation”. Gary Chaffe’s “Time Functioning Patterns”. The list goes on and on.
When writing my book, “A Fresh Approach to the Drumset”, I wanted to have certain conceptional approaches that would give young students the tools to open up a huge world of groove possibilities. Here is an example of using a simple chart of 8th note rock permutations:
It actually looks quite boring, doesn’t it? Unless you’re a beginner, the thought of combining different measures of 8th note rock patterns can make your eyes roll back in your head!
However, if you apply an almost endless number of groove concepts to these simple patterns, you’ll soon discover that it’s not as boring as it seems. Here’s a brief list of how you can use these simple “Combos” to practice a wide variety of styles (from very basic to more advanced):
1. Basic combo
Mix and match numbers to come up with 4 count grooves. For instance, measure 1/measure 2 then 1/3 , etc.
Starting with the first line is very basic – starting with the 2nd is a little more difficult for younger players (since there’s no strong count one on each bar).
From there, you can switch hands for an open-hand approach (left hand on the hi-hat 8ths, right hand on the backbeat). And with all of these concepts, you should apply DYNAMICS and TEMPO VARIATIONS to develop a musical approach!
2. Add open hi-hats
For the sake of consistency, I’d encourage you to NOT make open hi-hat patterns random. Force yourself to apply ONE concept throughout the grooves – that’ll expose weaknesses in the independence between the feet. AND you’ll discover cool grooves that within various combos that you might have never thought of before!
3. Move to the RH to the ride cymbal and add the left foot
4. Vary the ride pattern
* Practice the 16th ride patterns with alternating strokes or all one-handed.
Next, move away from a duple subdivision and play with triplets instead:
Or, with a double time “hip-hop” feel:
Don’t forget that you can also apply open hi-hat and left foot hi-hats to all these ride variations! The upbeat left foot gets fun when you apply it to the triplet subdivision!
5. Play in different styles
Lite Rock/Country: Play the combo at a slow tempo with soft 8th note hi-hat and cross-stick snare (heel down bass drum).
Rock Ballad: Loud and slow with a trashy ride and slammin’ backbeat / heel up bass drum.
Punk rock: Ultra-fast and trashy with quarter note ride.
50′s Rock: Halfway between straight and swing – ala Elvis’ “Hound Dog”.
Shuffle: Add ghosted snare on the 1st and 3rd note of the triplet, but keep the original snare notes strong:
There’s a few ideas to get you started! As you can see, the only limit to what you can do with a few simple patterns.
If you have other concepts on how to apply these 8th note combos, I’d love to hear them!
Once you open your mind up conceptually to what you can do with a few simple patterns, you’ll never get bored – and you’ll never lack for a challenge. My problem is that I’ll start practicing this simple little chart – applying variations, dynamics, tempos, styles – and 2 hours will go by and I’ve neglected working on other important stuff (not to mention going to bed at a decent hour)!
In my book, I have many other combo pattern charts that you can use: 3/4 Grooves; Syncopated 8ths, 16th Beats, Triplets, Jazz Comping Figures, Reading, Duple/Triple Sticking Patterns and Duple/Triple Accent Patterns. If you like the idea, I hope you’ll check it out!
A FRESH APPROACH TO THE DRUMSET
A Drummer’s Guide to:
Rock Beats and Fills • Hand & Foot Technique • Coordination and Independence • Reading Music Understanding Song Construction • R&B, Jazz, Latin Styles and more!
Including: MP3 CD packed with 41 Play-Along Tunes (with and without drums) and over 400 Demonstration Tracks!
Whether you’re a beginner, intermediate or advanced drummer, you’ll benefit from the simple step-by-step approach for learning technique, independence, music reading and grooves.
A FRESH APPROACH to the DRUMSET will give you a solid foundation to take your drumming to the next level!
GO TO MWPUBLICATIONS.COM TO DOWNLOAD A
SAMPLER PDF WITH SEVEN GREAT PLAYALONGS!
