PERCUSSION
Robb Ryan in a drummer , author , educator , and online instructor with Drumeo . com . Robb specializes in the work of Gary Chaffee . For more information , visit www . robbryandrums . com and www . facebook . com / rhythmicvocabulary .
By Robb Ryan
Getting Musical Mileage from Simple Patterns
Many drummers will work at a new pattern until they nail it , but only play it verbatim and not explore all the additional musical mileage that is available to them . Without taking these patterns further , you are really just learning a lick and not the concept behind it .
Most of today ’ s top players have taken very simple patterns and learned them every way possible , squeezing every ounce of possibility out of everything they learn .
This makes sense on several levels . Your body already knows the hand and foot patterns . Your muscle memory is set from learning the initial pattern , which makes other variations a lot easier . Also , learning how to use patterns in different ways makes you more open to playing them musically in different situations .
Let ’ s take a look at getting a lot of mileage from the basic paradiddle , though recognize that these concepts can be used for any pattern that you currently know . Ex . 1 is the basic paradiddle :
Functioning Patterns and play the written bass drum figures against this hand pattern to gain a high degree of coordinated independence with it .
Ex . 3 is an example :
EX . 3
From here , we can flip the pattern around and play it between the right foot and left hand , as with Ex . 4 and 5 . The same rules will apply – all unaccented notes must be ghosted . Again , explore multiple right hand ride patterns against it .
EX . 4
EX . 1
EX . 5
EX . 2
This pattern should first be worked out on the practice pad or snare drum . When you ’ ve nailed it , experiment with it around the drum kit . The easiest way to begin is to move the single stroke portion of the paradiddle to other sound sources , such as your toms and / or cymbals .
Once you ’ ve got that , try moving the double stroke portion around the set while leaving the single strokes on the snare drum . Eventually , you will gain full flexibility around the kit with this pattern . Set up a basic time feel and use this as a two- or four-beat drum fill .
The next step in this process is to use the paradiddle as a groove , as with Ex . 2 . This should be fairly easy as you ’ ll have the necessary muscle memory from practicing it around the drum kit .
By now , you will have a very high degree of usability from this simple pattern . Ex . 6 and 7 involve playing the paradiddle over different rates , triplets , and sextuplets . This will give us an implied time feel . ( In other words , we can use this pattern to make it sound like we are slowing time down by playing it over triplets or speeding time up by playing it over sextuplets .
EX . 6
EX . 7
It is important to note that you must control your dynamics or it will sound very heavy handed . The snare drum notes in parenthesis must be played softly ( ghosted ) with your stick no more than an inch off the head . There should be a very clear difference between the accented notes on beats two and four and the ghosted ones .
Once this pattern is feeling good , you can start to explore different bass drum figures against it . I suggest taking a good reading text such as Reed ’ s Syncopation , Chester ’ s The New Breed , or Chaffee ’ s Time
It ’ s a good idea to learn these patterns on their own with a metronome first . Once comfortable , you should set up two bars of basic eighth note time and then play two bars of either of the above patterns . Be careful using this stuff with other players as you can derail them quickly if they don ’ t know that it ’ s coming !
As you can see , you can get a lot of usage from a simple idea . Apply these concepts to your own patterns to see what you can come up with .
28 • CANADIAN MUSICIAN