More with rock beats using Syncopation

Going a little further with my earlier piece on making rock beats using— say it with me— Ted Reed's Syncopation. In doing this, there will be many duplicate beats, but that's not important— our purpose is not to create new beats, it's to apply a thought process: taking a melody line, converting it to a drum beat, and then doing basic modifications to it. It's the beginning of playing with creative control over what you are doing, rather than just playing familiar beats. It's all simple enough that most people will internalize the concepts quickly, and begin applying them purely instinctively.

Be sure to review the previous thing first, and be able to play it with Reed Lesson 4 (pp. 10-11 in the old edition), #1-15, straight through without stopping. The current exercise involves shaping your phrases by doing things with beat one of the second and fourth measures— omitting the bass drum, moving it to one side or the other, or bridging beat one by playing on both sides of it.

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Alan Dawson's “Ruff Bossa”

We're laying it on pretty thick with the Reed interpretations right now, but I just went over this with a student, so I need to put up one more. It's a swing interpretation with partially filled-in triplets, using the 8th note rest and syncopation sections of Reed (pp. 29-44 in the old edition). Alan Dawson called this the “Ruff Bossa” interpretation for reasons I can't fathom— there are no ruffs involved, and I can't discern the Bossa Nova connection.

So here's how to interpret each written beat of the exercises, based on how the notes sound; after p. 32  you'll be dealing with rhythms that are equivalent to the ones below, but are written differently.

Play written 8th notes as alternating swing 8ths:

Play written quarter notes (or the equivalent) as an 8th note triplet with a RLL sticking, accenting the right hand:

Play notes sounding on an & only as a triplet with a RRL sticking, accenting left:

On beats where there's no note sounding— like if there's a rest, or the end of a tied/dotted note, or some combination thereof— use whichever triplet sticking you like, but don't accent.

Examples after the break:

Rudimental Reed: ruffs

Today's Rudimental Reed entry is pretty straightforward— just make a ruff out of any note that doesn't have an (untied) 8th note before it.  That's an awkward way of phrasing it, but I think you'll find it's very intuitive once you play the examples. The rudiments covered, or generated, include ruffs, single drags, and double drags, similar to a lot of the things in the Wilcoxon etude Roughing the Single Drag, from Modern Rudimental Swing Solos— I would recommed playing through that as a companion piece to this item.

As always, we'll first see how it applies to the first line of Exercise 1, p. 37 in Syncopation:

I've given both alternating and natural stickings— play it both ways, leading with either hand. I haven't included the multiple-bounce strokes in the stickings, but they happen with the opposite hand. Swing the 8th notes.

Here's a denser example, which is the first line of Exercise 2:

If you have questions about how to play a ruff, there's a pretty good video after the break:

Rudimental Reed: paradiddles

Another entry in our “Rudimental Reed” series, in which we outline some methods for apply rudiments to the long exercises in Ted Reed's Syncopation, this time using paradiddles. Here's that well-known opening line from the first long syncopation exercise in Reed, p. 37 in the old editions, as written:

First, play the quarter notes (or the equivalent) as 16th note paradiddles. On the longer values/rests, play a paradiddle with an unaccented ending note, as on beat three of the second and last measures:

Next, apply an appropriate paradiddle-type sticking to the longer values/spaces— double paradiddles / paradiddle-diddles, or triple paradiddles / paradiddle-diddle, diddles as I'll call them (there aren't enough commas in rudiment names for my taste) since that rudiment doesn't exist to my knowledge. I chose the latter rudiments:

With that last, we arrive at something pretty similar to an interpretation in Ramsay's Alan Dawson book; the one additional step there is to play the 8th notes as two alternating 16th notes, with an accent on the first.

Another example after the break:

Half-time feel rock using Syncopation

Extending my previous series on making rock/pop beats using Ted Reed's Syncopation, here is a way of making a half time feel using the same concept, except we play quarter notes on the hihat, and catch beat 3 on the snare drum, instead of 2 and 4. The tempo of the quarter note pulse should be bright:

Many of the resulting beats will be useful as conditioners and for gaining familiarity with the feel as anything else; some of them have very dense bass drum parts, and this has a much lower percentage of ordinarily usable beats than the regular rock piece did. You'll have to play a lot of exercises and find the ones that work for you musically.

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Listening example and explanation after the break:

Houghton's triplets

From Steve Houghton's book Studio and Big Band Drumming, here's an alternate sticking method for making triplets out of Syncopation. For most people the most familiar method is to play the melody notes— the written rhythm in Reed— with the right hand, and fill out the triplets with the left. I'll modify that to avoid playing more than two hits in a row with the left, using (as few as possible) alternating strokes. Houghton also puts all of the accents on the right hand, but takes the opposite approach with the inside notes: he plays as many alternating notes as possible, and as few doubles.

Examples after the break:



Here are a couple of examples, from the first long exercise in Reed, on page 37 in the old edition. The first line as written:

Played:

Another line from that page:

Played:

These fairly dense examples don't end up being all that different from the way they would be played using my method; they become much more alternating stroke-dominated when interpreting melodies that have more long notes and rests.

Rudimental Reed: five stroke rolls

I've been fooling around with applying some rudiments to the long exercises in Syncopation, by Ted Reed. We'll start humbly with it, converting the written quarter notes (and tied 8ths) to untied rolls-- an 8th note roll with an 8th note release. There are a few dotted quarter notes, which become a quarter note roll with an 8th note release:

This should be played at a medium to bright tempo. The release notes are not part of the written melody, obviously, and we're trying to give the impression of untied quarter note-length rolls, so don't play the releases too strongly. This method is easy enough that you should have little problem using it on the fly to the other long exercises in Reed. You can do the rolls open or closed, as either 5-strokes or 7-strokes-- or 9s or 13s on the quarter note-value rolls:

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Stick Control implied rhythms

I hope you dig all of this Stick Control stuff; I just happen to be working with this book a lot right now. One of my reservations I've always had about it- about the way the first three pages apply to the drums, anyway- is that the musical content is hidden behind the sticking patterns. And I don't want to base my playing on patterns of Rs and Ls, I want to base it on common musical language. So what I've done here is give the rhythm suggested by the right hand part of exercises 1-72 from the front of the book; if you drop out the left hand, or accent the right, these are the rhythms that pop out. I've written the more syncopated rhythms jazz style (as in Ted Reed), with long notes on the &s wherever possible. For easy reference, I've put them in the same format as the original:

Keeping these pages handy while working with the Stone exercises on the drumset will get one seeing the rhythmic content behind the exercises in fairly short order. If like me you use Stone and Reed a lot, hopefully making the connection between the two will encourage some different ways of thinking about each. I would be cautious about the way you apply this to snare drum practice, however; hanging everything off of the right hand is a normal thing on the drums, but when working strictly on hand technique you want to be more balanced.

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Basic solo vocabulary with Syncopation

Hey, it's been awhile since I've posted anything downloadable of my own, and you don't want to hear me prattle on about cymbals and crap, so here's a basic solo vocabulary builder I've been working through with a couple of students. Use lesson 6 out of the new edition of Syncopation, or pp. 14-15 from the old version:

You have to apply the variations with a vengeance to make these sound like anything. Especially vary the accents- give the thing some shape. 

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Todd's methods: Son of Daku-daku-paradiddle

Right, I'm starting to regret the name I made up for this thing- until I think of the alternative, long-winded description for this very common pattern. Now if I can just bring myself to call it that without an equally long-winded exploration of why it's embarrassing to do so, we're golden.

Anyhoo, this is a simpler version of this earlier piece, using my old favorite, Lesson 4/pp.10-11 from Syncopation. I conceived it for practicing at fast tempos in jazz, with even 8ths, but there's no reason you can't play it at moderate tempos and swing it, or apply it to other styles of music. 

A good format for practicing these would be four measures time/four measures exercise. Once you're comfortable playing ex. 1-15 that way, you can experiment with moving around the drums, and adding accents/embellishments, and finally, improvising with this concept. 

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Big band figure builder

Here's another installment of a thing I've been doing with several students, using Syncopation lesson 4 to get familiar with the basic moves and reading associated with setting up and kicking big band figures ("cutting" them, that is), or just interpreting a melody line on a lead sheet. The process is broken down to a number of logical, easy- darn near banal- interpretive steps. Read them carefully, and apply them to exercises 1-15:

These related posts should be very helpful: simple variations on lesson 4, kicks and set-ups using Syncopation, and basic big band set-ups.

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Simple variations on Syncopation, Lesson 4

That's pages 10-11 for those of you with the old edition- as you can see I've given up completely and started referring to the parts by their new edition names. I've been working with this section of the book a lot with my students, for rock (and another), jazz, and Latin, and have developed a few methods for my own practice for it.

These variations require just a little selective reading, and are very good for making this underused section of the book a little more interesting. I'll outline later the exact method I've been using with my students; I've found it's very helpful in getting them accustomed to reading figures, and manipulating some of the basic elements of ensemble playing in jazz drumming.

This is a good companion to my piece using this same section for making big band kicks/set-ups.

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Page 37

From my torn-up original 1982 copy of Syncopation, still in use:

 

Two simple rock applications

You've probably noticed by now that I do a lot with Ted Reed's Syncopation? Here are two more methods which I have developed (along with my Rock beats with Syncopation piece) to introduce my intermediate students to interpretive reading, and to begin teaching them to think like improvisers rather than beat-regurgitators. The resulting patterns have a sort of 60's bubble gum feel, with a strong quarter note pulse throughout. Some of them will make good, simple grooves on their own, some can be used as fills, some are only good for reading practice.

Once you're able to play the exercises (including the 16/20 bar exercises) all the way through without stopping, practice improvising with concept, changing patterns every measure. To play the exercises as fills, play one or three measures of a rock beat of your choice, then one measure of the pattern, and repeat.

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Buy Progressive Steps to Syncopation for the Modern Drummer, by Ted Reed

Basic big band set-ups

Another in the recent series of easy stuff, here is a page of basic set-ups for ensemble kicks on the & of 4. You can apply these to my earlier piece, Kicks and Set-ups Using Syncopation.

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Todd's Methods, pt. 3: Rock beats with Syncopation

Most drum books present their stuff fully written out verbatim for the drum set, which is fine for learning patterns, but not for thinking like a musician. This is something I made up to introduce the idea of taking a melody line (which could be the melody of the tune, the bass line, or a rhythm part) and making a drum part of it. It's simple enough that it probably exists elsewhere, though I've never seen it.

It's a good idea to already be able to play at least a few basic rock beats; that will isolate this as a thinking problem rather than a technical one. As always, we'll be using Ted Reed's Syncopation:

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16th note fills using Syncopation - Part 1

This is the first part of a method for working on 16th note fills, which I developed for my intermediate students. It requires some selective reading, but in a constructive way- the same type of skill is required to read a chart or lead sheet. Use pp. 22-23 from Ted Reed's Syncopation. I suggest running through Reed ex. 1-15, plus the 20 bar exercise before proceeding to the next numbered item.

Feel free to post any questions in the comments.

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Best books: Like Syncopation

For many years Progressive Steps to Syncopation for the Modern Drummer (better known as just "Syncopation") by Ted Reed was virtually the only drum book I used. As I alluded to in the Joe Cusatis book post, I'm a big advocate of the interpreting-a-melody-line approach to practice, for which Syncopation is basically the Bible. Or Das Kapital, Origin of Species, whatever you like. It does have its limitations, which caused me to look into sources for similar materials. Here is a survey from my library:

Modern Reading Text in 4/4 by Louis Bellson. A classic in its own right. I find the majority of it a little too difficult for daily use- either Bellson is going way outside what is conventional in order to challenge the user, or maybe he is including things more likely to be encountered by horns. I use it primarily for its "10 Syncopated Exercises", which are long exercises similar to the ones in Reed. I haven't devised much in the way of practice methods adapted to the strengths of this book.

Odd Time Reading Text by Louis Bellson and Gil Breines. A thick book dealing with a wide variety of odd meters. There are several pages suitable for Syncopation-type applications, and quite a few more involving triplets and 16ths. Much of it is extremely difficult, in changing or */16 meters, which are frankly of limited value to me.

The Rhythm Book
by Martin Bradfield. Bradfield is a teacher in Pennsylvania who has self-published this book and two accompanying volumes of interpretive methods. Covers roughly the same territory as Syncopation, but with a number of rhythms Reed left out. Maybe the best companion volume of these, and a great value. Highly recommended.



Syncopated Rhythms for the Contemporary Drummer by Chuck Kerrigan. Includes a list of interpretive methods for application on the drums. Four measure and longer exercises, using quarter notes, 8th notes, triplets, and 16th notes. Includes exercises of "equivalent" rhythms- the same rhythm (ignoring durations) is written using ties, dotted notes, and rests. Takes Reed's somewhat annoying convention of including quarter notes on the bass drum a step further by including quarter notes on the bass drum and the hihat throughout. The 16th note section is more valuable- more real-music like- than the 16th note sections in some other books.

Syncopated Big Band Figures by Jake Hanna. Two volumes, one of which is in duet form. Exercises are written semi-big band style, with combinations of syncopated passages, fill indications, occasional time indications, written out accented singles.

50 Syncopated Solos for Snare Drum by Joe Maroni. Snare drum solos in 4/4, 2/4, 3/4, and 6/8. Mostly in the style of the long exercises in Reed, with some 16th notes, triplets, accents and rolls added. A lot of material, easily adapted to the usual Reed applications, and a good value.

Studio and Big Band Drumming by Steve Houghton. A great book all around, includes several long exercises written quasi-big band style, and also a number of short exercises for working on common figures.

Basic Drumming by Joel Rothman. Includes several pages similar to everything found in Syncopation. An excellent book on its own, but maybe not worth purchasing just for this type of application.

The New Breed by Gary Chester. I only have the second volume of this book. Includes long exercises in 4/4, 6/8, 12/8, 5/8 and 7/8. Emphasis is on 16th notes. I've used this book very little. A sacred text of fusion drummers.

Kicks and set-ups using Syncopation

Here's a little method I devised for working on basic big band-style kicks and set-ups, using Ted Reed's Syncopation. Like many of the ways of working with Reed, it involves some selective reading/interpretation, but in a constructive way. We're not just making things difficult because we don't feel like buying another book- the interpretive skills developed in this method are very close to what's required in playing actual charts. The biggest leap of imagination is putting in the ties, and you can mark those in with a pencil if you want.

Download the pdf from www.pdxdrummer.com.