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GROOVES

Rhythm Charts
RC 1: “Pop Rock”

RC 2: “Pop Funk"

RC 3: “Salsa Funk ”

RC 4: “Rock"

RC 5: “Smooth R & B”

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RC 6: “Funky Rock”

RC 7: “Contemporary R&B”

RC 8: “Steely Pop”

RC 9: “70’s Funk”

RC 10: “Progressive Rock”

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GROOVES
Essential Ghost Note Grooves
Now that we have established the foundation of the bass drum, let’s add some color with10 Essential Ghost
Note Grooves. Again, each track is in a different “groove style”. You will see that the music compliments the
drum groove to help you lock into the phrasing. Once you have the part down, try to use some of the Groove
Variations on top of these as well.

E 1: “Pop Rock” Let's start with the most basic and standard ghost note grooves.

E 2: “Old Skool R&B” Taking a tip from Clyde and Jab, this groove uses multiple ghost notes.

E 3: “Contemporary R&B” Another common way to phrase ghost notes after the snare drum accent.

E 4: “Jam Band” A fun groove that breaks up the snare and bass every other 16th note.

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E 5: "Fusion" The bass drum gets more involved, using a paradiddle type of phrase.

E 6: "Grunge" By not starting with the bass on "one", it pushes the feel forward to the "and" of 4.

E 7: "Half-time Funk / Rock" Laying on beat "3" creates a funky, half-time feel..

E 8: "Smooth Jazz" This groove uses three of the most common ghost note placements in one groove.

E 9: "Nawlins Funk" Let's start to displace the snare accent, shifting the feel, putting a "swang" on it!

E 10: "Neo Soul" The feel of Neo Soul is laid back, but this groove adds a little more spice on beat "4".

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2 Bar Nastifications
As the name implies, things are going to get a little nastier, in a good way!. These are two bar phrases, allowing
the rhythms to breath, creating various "over the bar" feels. Now we will start getting into "beat displacement",
which is created by moving the snare away from the normal "2 & 4" to create rhythmic interest.

N 1: "Jam Band" Here's is a jam that lets you fall right into the guitar player's syncopated phrasing.

N 2: "Old School Fatback" A variation on the classic "fatback" groove, with an accent on the "and"
of 4, and no bass drum on "one" in the second bar.

N 3: "Neo Soul" This groove aims for the "and" of 4, then adds some interesting interplay in bar two.

N 4: "Nawlins Funk" This swingin' syncopated groove is a challenge to negotiate, but listen to the
bass player, he will guide you through it.

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N 5: "Funk Rock" Again, listen to the phrasing of the bass player to get the accents in the pocket.

N 6: "Electric Jazz/Funk" The first part of this groove sets up the second part, aiming for the "and" of 2.

N 7: "Grunge" This sounds like it is in an odd time signature, but it's the way the accents fall that
makes it sound different.

N 8: "Brazilio-Funk" A partido alto type of Brazilian Funk, this groove works on syncopated accent
phrasing.

N 9: "Drum'n Bass" Shifting gears into a faster tempo, this groove bounces the accents between bass
and snare.

N 10: "Rock Fusion" An orchestrated groove based around the phrasing of the guitar and bass line.

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Advanced Groovalations
These grooves progress in technical complexity, each using a very specific ghosting technique, adding
contrasting accents, and dropping diddles in places where you may never have thought to place them.
Practice them slowly first, then lock in with the band, and let it flow.

G1 "Fusion Funk” Sort of a "West Coast 70's" approach, displacing the accents.

G2 "Jam Band” Combining a couple of standard ghosting techniques with syncopated phrasing.

G3 "Rock” A syncopated beat "2" gives this groove a bit of a "stuttering" feel.

G4 “Reggaeton” This reggae/funk type of groove creates interest by shifting accents.

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G 5: "R & B" Starting the groove on the "e" creates a cool "over the barline " feel.

G6 "Jus' Funkinwicha" This groove feels totally because of the displaced snare, and chord changes.

G 7: "Second Line Funk" Giving the groove a slight "swing" brings it into a "second line funk" feel.

G 8: "Funk Rock" Two syncopated snare accents kick starts this groove in a different direction.

G 9: "Slam Rock" Slammin' the snare on beats 1 and 2, makes a great contrast to beats 3 and 4.

G 10: Drum'n Bass" Here's a cool way to drop ghost notes just before an accent.

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"User-Friendly" Linear
Linear simply means creating a musical “line”, where every note has its own voice and instrument. The 16th notes
rarely, if ever, fall together. With these 10 grooves, I try to take some of the mystery out of linear playing, and create
some very interesting, yet not too complicated, very usable grooves that truly add a welcomed variety to a song.

L 1: "R & B" Playing quarter notes on the hi hat opens up interesting possibilities for interplay.

L 2: "Acid Jazz" A little "backwards" feel, created by shifting the phrasing.

L 3: "Jam Band" Playing the "and" on the hi hat creates this very usable, standard linear groove.

L4 "Fusion Funk" Now let's syncopate the snare, using an inverted paradiddle sticking.

L5 "Reggaeton" Linear works great in this feel, as the hi hat acts like a percussion part.

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L 6: "Gospel R & B" Here's a spunky track that swings, splitting up the 16ths.

L 7: "Funky Slow Jam" Taking that concept a step further, the hi hat has a distinctive voice of it's own.

L8 "Salsa Funk" Inspired by Songo, which itself, is a linear groove, let's "funk it up" a notch.

L 9: "Drum'n Bass" Although this is fast, try to let the interplay between the hi hat and snare flow smoothly.

L 10: "Half Time Rock"I tried to take a regular rock track and apply a complicated linear pattern to
create some rhythmic interest. I'm not sure if I succeeded, but's fun to try!

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Swingalations
Finally, we get into playing some Hip Hop/Contemporary Gospel style grooves, “swinging” all of the 16th notes, and
adding some sextuplets as ghost notes. These “Swingalations” are the most difficult, and you will notice that one of
the grooves use a ratamacue type sticking. This is where your work on the rudiment combos comes in handy.
The ghosted sextuplets should be extremely soft. The play along track can be used with all of these Grooves.
Actually ANY and ALL of the preceding grooves, from the Bass Drum Rhythms, to all of the Ghost Note grooves can
be played in the “Hip Hop/Swing” style, simply by swinging the 16th notes. They should be practiced this way as
well as straight. I feel that both are very important and valid. Basically, music is either “straight” or “swung”,
so it would enhance your versatility to do all of the grooves both ways.
S 1: The swing 16ths in the hi hat part "set up" the bass and snare placement.

S 2: This is used a lot in "Go-Go" style, and can be played on hi hat or cymbal bell.

S 3: Here is a way to ghost sextuplets in a ratamacue type sticking.

S 4: Breaking up sextuplets between hi hat and snare creates sophisticated phrasing ideas.

S 5: Utilizing a straight "4 on the floor" bass drum, the interplay and syncopation are created between the
hi hat and the snare.

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