Building Your Own Vocabulary – Trading 16th’s Part 2

Let’s continue with the same format as part one but now allow ourselves singles AND doubles – still only 16th notes but now we’re free to use doubles as well as singles, which opens up hundreds more variations and options. BUT, now that we’ll be playing doubles, particularly with the left hand on the snare, we have to be extra cautious about timing. The natural tendency can be to rush the doubles and therefore affect the overall smoothness and evenness of the 16th notes, so be careful, especially at slower tempos.

– After the count-in we play a groove together for 4 bars.

– Then I will solo for 4 bars while you keep time.

– Then you solo for 4 bars while I keep time.

We take four solo segments each before the tempo changes.

As explained in the introduction, hearing someone else solo while you keep time can be a great way to learn and pick-up ideas. You can copy some of the things I play or you can play off them (like a question and answer thing).

No matter what your level it’s important to keep it simple and focus on your TIME and SOUND. Keep everything nice and even using simple ideas and focus on a nice clean sound!

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