Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Groove o' the day: Al Jackson, Jr. — Crosscut Saw

Here's a sort of a blues rhumba groove by Al Jackson, Jr.. The song is Crosscut Saw, from Albert King's classic album, Born Under A Bad Sign.





Play the housetop accents as rim shots. Use the sticking of your choice— it's just the nature of this type of groove that you find your own way to do it. You might try playing the 16th notes and the tom note with your left hand, and the rest of the pattern with your right. You can experiment with accenting the 2, 4, or & of 4 to varying degrees, as well. Jackson plays the bass drum with a slight accent on 2 and 4; on the last chorus he plays the bass on 2 and 4 only. He often accents the 1 with the bass drum at the beginning of new sections, so leave yourself some dynamic room to punch that. There's no hihat on this song, but you could play it on 2 and 4 if you want to.


1 comment:

Ed Pierce said...

Thanks for the transcription! I always thought that he was riding with his right hand on the snare on all the 8th notes (except for the "and" of 3) and that his left hand played rim clicks on the accented notes (along with the right hand on the snare), as well as lightly on the "a" of 1, on 4, and on the "and" of 4. At least that's how I've always played it, but maybe yours is right. :) I usually play the tom with my right hand, which is a little awkward, but less awkward than playing it (in "my" version) with my left hand (without some practice to get it smooth).