Friday, March 29, 2019

Page o' coordination: that with interruptions - 02

Another page of basic jazz comping/independence patterns, coming from a slightly different angle. At a recent John Riley clinic, he talked about one pattern he had been practicing, with variations, for about 50 years: SSBB. He treated that as a kind of scale, dropping out notes to make variations. This page is based on the same idea, but doing the pattern with a samba-type rhythm in the bass drum: BSSB.

Since many of us will already know these patterns well, maybe this is a chance to think about some familiar ideas in a slightly different way. It could also be a good tactic for teaching jazz coordination to some beginning and novice jazz students.




Swing the 8th notes. In a jazz setting, this pattern is more conducive to playing a 2 feel, with the bassist playing half notes. Handle the bass drum on 1 and 3 carefully— be able to play it in a subtle way. You can accent the 2 and 4 on the snare drum to make a heavier shuffle feel, or vary the dynamics to put the snare drum in a normal comping role.

You can also play this in a samba feel. Use the written cymbal rhythm (not swung, of course), or play straight 8ths on the cymbal. Play the left hand as rim clicks on the snare drum, or vary the articulation: rim clicks, rim shots, buzzes, dead strokes.

Get the pdf

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