Natalie: Hi there, welcome to Gigajam. This is episode six of the essential drum skills course, part one. I'm Natalie Barrass, this is Brian Greene. Brian…
Brian: Yes
N: Or Bri as I like to call you now
B: Whatever
N: I feel we're on good friendly terms
B: Absolutely
N: We are now halfway through
B: Yes we are
N: We're at that point where it's the homeward stretch
B: It is, yes. Towards the grade one
N: Fantastic! At the end of all ten parts, we will be a grade one drummist
B: Well that's right, yeah. Once you get to the end of the first ten lessons
N: Mmmhmm
B: You've completed your part one, you're then in a position to attain your grade, your grade one certificate for passing all of the, all of the necessary hurdles that we put in front of you
N: (Laughs) Fantastic, okay what are our hurdles for today?
B: Yeah good. Learning outcomes for today is lots of development, so we're gonna be developing our understanding further, of quarter notes, eighth notes and sixteenth notes, by putting lots of different grooves together. So mixing up a lot of the information that we've learned to create more interesting and varied grooves, and also more, increase our repertoire
N: Right
B: Okay? What we're also going to do by using those, the quarter notes, eighth notes and sixteenth notes, is we're going to strengthen our overall coordination so we've got a greater control of the drum kit
N: Greater control of the drum kit
B: Absolutely
N: It needs controlling
B: It definitely needs controlling…
N: (Laughs)
B: …there's no question about that. Then we're gonna move on to really broaden our, sort of, theory and understanding of, of the technique in the coordination. And we're gonna take a little bit of time over this lesson, not to play all of the exercises that are contained within the lesson, but to look at perhaps some of the pitfalls of when you're developing the coordination
N: Mmmhmm
B: And perhaps use some common experience as to where students have gone wrong in the past
N: A bit of sort of tips and advice session
B: Yeah, absolutely
N: All right then
B: Yeah
N: Let's…
B: Lots of, lots of playing though
N: Let's start with the, d'you wanna start with an exercise?
B: Yeah I think so. I mean the first thing that we need to look at is to go back to the basic concept that we've been hammering on about
N: Mmmhmm
B: In developing grooves, so that the big thing that the viewers out there should be getting a hang of is the fact that we build our exercises together. When learning new rock grooves it's a question of constructing the exercise, so getting the hi-hat line understood, understanding the position of the bass drum and the snare drum. Putting them together through one-way, two-way then three-way coordination
N: Mmmhmm. Step by step on the structured pathway
B: Absolutely, yeah. So what we're going to do is, referring back to lesson two, those of you's that have seen lesson two and have got the lesson notes will see that there's six rock grooves in that lesson. Now in lesson five, we looked at quarter notes, eighth notes and sixteenth notes on our hi-hat
N: Yes
B: So if we take the six basic rock grooves that we learnt in lessons one and two
N: Mmmhmm
B: And then we apply the three hi-hat patterns, you can see now that we've got eighteen rock grooves
N: Six times three equalling eighteen
B: That's what it says in my notes
N: When you put it like that (laughs). I've got a calculator down here, I…
B: Oh right…
N: …just…
B: …okay
N: …just checked it out. No when you put it like that it's amazing how these little steps
B: Yes
N: Can then massively, in a very short space of time, increase what we've got
B: Well exactly, so by the time somebody gets to grade one, they're gonna actually know an awful lot of drum grooves and drum patterns and have quite a bit of variation in their playing
N: Mmmhmm
B: So this is what we're going to be building on in this lesson specifically. So it's kind of closing the end of the first half of our grade by looking at all of the rock grooves that are available to you, with those combinations
N: Mmmhmm, and has we are halfway, it's a good point to close it
B: Correct
N: Alright
B: Okay
N: Start playing for me
B: Let's move on then, shall we? Just to describe what's in the lesson, we have the rock grooves with all the quarter notes as a reminder
N: Yeah
B: Okay? What I'm going to do is I'm going to dive into the eighth notes section here and have a look at some of the real common problems that we have. So looking at exercise seven here, you will see that this is the exercise that we covered in lesson five
N: Right
B: Okay? So it's bass drum on one and three, snare drum on two and four
N: Mmmhmm
B: And then an eighth note ride line
N: Yeah
B: And what I'm gonna do now, is have a look at exercise eight in this, in this lesson, play along with it
N: Mmmhmm
B: And you'll see that this is one of the exercises that we covered in lesson two
N: I remember this, mixing it up a bit, adding the extra note on the bass
B: Yes, on the 'and' of three
N: Mmmhmm
B: Have a listen to it with the hi-hat pattern, very common. And then we'll play along with it, build a groove up as usual, just to show how it should work
N: Mmmhmm
B: And then perhaps have a look at some more examples, and where, where it can get a little tricky
N: Mmmhmm
B: Now the crucial part about this is when playing along, is to make sure that your, your tempo is correct, that you're nice and steady with your performance, and that you're counting so you know where you are
N: Mmmhmm, wh…
B: Okay
N: …what speed are we gonna go at?
B: We've got eighty
N: Alright then
B: We're gonna go for eighty. Here it comes (Xtractor starts playing)
N: (Laughs)
B: Two and, three and, four and. Okay so we've got the hi-hat in
N: Mmmhmm
B: Usual routine. Bass drum on one and three and. One, two, three and, four, one, two, three and, four, one, two, three and, four. Snare drum. One, two, three and, four, one, two, three and, four, one, two, three and, four. So the usual routine there for building up your groove
N: Mmmhmm
B: Now, it's the same process… (Xtractor stops playing)
B: …one-way, two-way, three-way coordination for all of the exercises. Now what I would do now is, with the exercises that you have there, is work through them methodically
N: Yeah
B: Look at the hi-hat line, look at the snare drum line, look at the bass drum line, and understand how they fit together. Now I'm going to use number ten as a prime example if I may?
N: Mmmhmm. A prime example of what?
B: Well a prime example of where coordination can be a little tricky when learning
N: Mmmhmm
B: So let's just have a look at the computer and the score that we've got here. The first half of the bar is almost identical to our first standard rock groove. Bass drum on one and three…
N: Yes
B: …snare drum two and four. But we've got a sneaky little fella here on the end, where we've got the bass drum
N: Mmmhmm
B: On the 'and' of four
N: Ahhh
B: Now you will see that that is attached to the snare drum line here
N: Yeah
B: Now this causes some confusion sometimes, and people, some of my students get confused as to where this note is played. Is it on the snare drum, or is it on the bass drum?
N: Mmmhmm
B: Because, just because it's joined to another note, they can be on different voices
N: Yeah
B: Yeah? So we've got snare drum then bass drum N Yeah cos we've got the snare drum being just there
B: Yeah…
N: And then…
B: …on the middle space
N: And then bass
B: On the bottom space
N: Down there, and then also if you're repeating that, rather than just playing it as one bar on its own
B: Yeah
N: You've then got the repeat of the bass drum again, which could throw you into a
B: It could
N: A heck of confusion
B: I can do indeed. Now what I would ordinarily explain to a student in this particular example is to say look, look where the notes tie up together. And, you know, in other exercises look at where the notes don't tie up together. You know we discussed unison and independence…
N: Yes
B: …in lesson two. So it's a question of, it's almost like following it along graphically in lines
N: Mmmhmm
B: To see where the notes fall with each other, and against each other. So what I'm going to do here is with exercise ten I'm just going to check my understanding, by counting it out…
N: Mmmhmm
B: …and making sure I'm positioning my bass drum underneath the hi-hat
N: Alright
B: In this particular example we're very fortunate because the bass drum always falls with the hi-hat
N: Right
B: Okay? So let me, let me demonstrate. So if we get our hi-hat line going
N: Mmmhmm
B: Two and, three and, four and. Bass drum on one, two, three, and also the, four, and a four
N: Mmmhmm
B: It's not easy for me to count and talk at the same time, so…
N: That's alright
B: …I'll do it this time. One and, two and, three and, four and, one and, two…
N: That is…
B: …and…
N: …tricky
B: …three and, four and, one. So it's also leading back into the next bar which can be a bit tricky, and one. So it's making a connection between bar one
N: Mmmhmm
B: And bar two
N: Yeah
B: So it's almost like going over the bar line
N: What I find really helps is sometimes maybe if you're sort of a bit confused by looking at the music, is if you listen to it. If you hear someone like yourself play, a…
B: Yeah
N: …tutor, or if you look at the video
B: Yeah
N: Then you, you actually get an idea of how it sounds, and how you should be sort of imitating it
B: Definitely, no question about that. What you would do in the process here is look at the video, which we can do very briefly, is have a quick look at the video to see what the exercise is. The great thing about using the videos here is that you can stand back and have a look
N: Mmmhmm
B: Count it through, check your understanding by looking at the notes and the video
N: Mmmhmm
B: Run it round as many times… (Video starts playing)
B: …get it clear in your mind, and then have a go yourself. Two, three, four and, one, two, three… (Video stops playing)
B: …four and, one
N: Yeah
B: Yeah?
N: Keep that playing until you get it
B: Yeah, short clips, and again it doesn't matter how many times you repeat the video. You know, just keep looking at it, make sure you get the exercise, looking at the music…. (Video starts playing)
B: …comparing to the video. Three, four and, one. See how….
N: Mmmhmm
B: …that's sort of… (Video stops playing)
B: …pulling it back into the next exercise
N: Mmmhmm
B: And what's quite nice about that is that by putting different notes in different parts of the bar, you create different sensations to the grooves as well. So each of these grooves has a very different feel
N: Yeah
B: So when you've got a bass drum note following a snare drum, it often pushes the beat forward it, you're not changing the time, the time remains the same but it has that sensation of moving it forward. Let me demonstrate with exercise ten
N: Alright
B: So if you, if I just play a straight forward groove, bass drum on one and three. Two, three, four, one, two, it's got quite a chunky downward feel
N: Mmmhmm
B: The minute you put the bass drum pushing into the next bar you get this. One, two, three, four and, one, two…
N: Mmmhmm
B: …three…
N: Pulling it…
B: …four…
N: …along
B: …and, one. Yeah it's kind of pushing it, the beat forward. Now that same sensation is created in exercise eleven. But it's in a slightly different place where what we've got here is the bass drum on the 'and' of two. But actually it's the same coordination and the same sort of pattern as you've got from the 'and' of four going into beat one
N: Absolutely, but it's just a different positioning in the bar
B: Correct. I'll just demonstrate that for you
N: Alright, let's have a…
B: One…
N: ...listen to…
B: …two…
N: …hear how that sounds
B: …three, four, number eleven. One, two and, three, four, one, two and, three, and just compare it to the straight forward groove. And then again one, two and, three, four, one, two and, three, four. So it's got that sensation of just moving the, the beat, the pattern, the groove forward a little bit
N: Mmmhmm
B: That's the beauty of these, of these new grooves, and having new grooves to play in different musical situations. It increases your musical vocabulary
N: Mmmhmm. Increasing our musical vocabulary, it's what it's all about. We've got some more new grooves coming up after the break, so join us back here for part two
N: Hi there, welcome back to part two of episode six. Before the break
B: Yes
N: In part one, we were doing a number of different exercises in isolation
B: Yes we were
N: And sort of looping them round
B: Yes
N: Can we not just do them all together?
B: You can indeed….
N: (Laughs)
B: …actually, yeah, we were talking about that, weren't we? And the point being is that, you're not always just going to play one pattern, one groove all the way through a song. You may wish to change in the chorus you know to, to give you that push, you …
N: Mmmhmm
B: …know we talked about the way that our standard rock groove, you know, lays the beat down quite heavy, but by adding a note on the 'and' following a back beat on the snare drum
N: Yeah
B: That pushes it forward. So yes, it's absolutely crucial that you're able to move between different rock grooves in the same way that we looked at it being crucial to be able to move between a rock groove and a fill
N: Mmmhmm
B: So you've got to have that fluency of movement between the different things that you're being asked to play as a musician
N: Mmmhmm
B: But also keeping it completely steady…
N: Yeah
B: …so that's what's really difficult and hopefully that's why, you know, playing along with band tracks as support actually helps you do that, helps you maintain your fluency. I mean let's just take an example, right?
N: Mmmhmm
B: So quite often, you know, I break a rule, let's break a rule. I can take a backing track…
N: What kind of rule?
B: Well it's a simple one
N: Alright
B: I can take…
N: A musical rule
B: Absolutely
N: All right
B: I can take any of these, of these backing tracks, mute out the drum part
N: Yeah
B: And then play my, my version of the drum part. So in other words creating my own exercise. So I'm just gonna fly up one of these exercises backing tracks
N: Mmmhmm
B: I'll mute the drum part, and then I'll play a series of different bass drums parts
N: Alright
B: So you can create, you can say to yourself right I'm going to play exercise seven, and then I'll play nine, and…
N: Mmmhmm
B: …then I'll go to ten, and then you can discover which, which ones are harder to move between. So I'll just give a, you know, a few bars example of doing just that. I'll just, I'll make a few up from these exercises
N: I mean… (Xtractor starts playing)
N: …cos we've got them on screen there, go from ten to eleven
B: Ten to eleven, okay. Yeah, cool. Two, three, four, one, two, three, four and, one, two and, three, four, back to ten, two, three, four and, one, two and, three, four
N: Mmmhmm
B: So you're creating new patterns
N: Yeah
B: And one, two and, three, four, one, two, three, four and, one, two and, three, four. So you can actually (Xtractor stops playing)
B: More than the eighteen grooves we've got in there, by the time you combine a couple of bars into two bar patterns, three or four bar patterns
N: Yeah
B: You've got a real, almost
N: Infintisinimal
B: Thank you
N: That's not even a word
B: Well it was close
N: I just made it up for you
B: Loads
N: Yeah
B: You've got…
N: Absolutely
B: …loads
N: Tons
B: Yes, pages and pages and pages and pages. Now actually I have to say that when I'm teaching my students, most of the time I say look don't try every single combination there possibly is, because you'll just spread your practice far too, far too thinly
N: Oh that's quite an interesting point
B: Yeah, so you've gotta be quite selective with what you choose to do, but basically the options are there for you, and the method in which you can practise is there for you, there's a template to follow
N: Alright
B: So mix a couple of bars up, create new grooves, and just see which ones you like. I mean the fact that I've written them down, big deal. Make your own up you can, by making different combinations, find the ones you like. Because what these lessons are about, they're not about me and what I've written
N: (Laughs)
B: They're about you, you know, and your learning, and what you want to turn these in to…
N: Mmmhmm
B: …to become your own individual drummer, with your own individual style. Just taking these tools, and carving out your own kind of playing
N: Yeah expanding your own development and kind of, you know, giving it your own stamp
B: Yeah definitely
N: All right
B: Definitely. Okay cool, so that's, that's quite nice. What I'd like to do now is, in the first part of this lesson we talked about eighth notes on the hi-hat and we talked about the eighth note patterns on the bass drum
N: Yeah
B: And that gave us unison all the time
N: Ah unison, we talked about that in, sort of, a few episodes before
B: Yeah
N: Recap what that means
B: Okay unison is where you're playing two limbs, maybe more, but in these instances two limbs together at the same time
N: Mmmhmm
B: Now generally speaking that is, generally speaking that is easier in a coordination because if it's your right foot and your right hand, hi-hat and bass drum for instance, they're going to go together. So they find that reasonably easy
N: If it's your left hand and your right foot, is that still classed as unison?
B: It is still classed as unison, but that's called cross body unison
N: There you go
B: We're gonna leave that for the moment…
N: (Laughs)
B: …because that comes later on in the course, now that is tough, that's really tough
N: I'm glad that you've said we're gonna leave that for the moment
B: We're gonna leave that for the moment. But same side unison, as it's referred to, and as is in those first set of exercises, those six exercises using eighth notes on the hi-hat and some eighth notes and quarter notes on the bass drum, they all fall together. Okay? So the, you've got that motion going on
N: Mmmhmm
B: Now, we looked at some independence in lesson two, yeah? And now what we're going to do is we're going to use the sixteenth notes hi-hat pattern
N: Mmmm
B: To identify the difficulties of independence, when it's in coordination. So what're we gonna do now, is we're gonna have a look at some of the exercises for rock grooves with sixteenth notes in the hi-hat line
N: Jeepers creepers
B: Correctamondo. So the example I would like to take is exercise fourteen here
N: You didn't go for thirteen cos that's quite unlucky isn't it?
B: Well B&
N: (Laughs)
B: Thirteen we've actually covered effectively cos that was in lesson five
N: Mmmhmm
B: That was our introduction to sixteen the notes. So the guys and galls at home should be pretty familiar with that by now. Of course they should recap that and then move on but diving straight into exercise fourteen as an example here, although we've got unison between the bass drum and the hi-hat
N: Mmmhmm
B: On beats one, three and 'and', because you can see these notes fall together
N: Yeah
B: Yeah? What you've actually got is independence on the 'e' here
N: That's a tricky one
B: And the 'a' here
N: So there's gonna be a tendency, you want to play that beat
B: What often happens is the 'and' of three is dragged forward to play with this note here, as if it's an eighth note. So quite often students bring that second note, they know they've got to play a second note on the bass drum in beat three
N: Mmmhmm
B: And so, as soon as they play the second note on the hi-hat the bass drum falls forward with it. So this is what students often do
N: Yeah give us an example of what not to do, or what is the tendency to happen
B: I'll try
N: (Laughs)
B: So if we…
N: You're so good you can't do it wrong
B: I find it hard I have to say, except when I'm not trying and then it all goes horribly wrong…
N: (Laughs)
B: …without any effort whatsoever. So what we're gonna do here is play exercise fourteen
N: Yes
B: Yeah? So it's, watch out for beat three. So we've got one e and a, two e and a, three e and a. Now that's often what happens
N: Mmm
B: The student knows they've a got a second note to play and they drag it forward onto the 'e', okay?
N: Yeah, you've gotta give it that little extra time
B: You've gotta give it a little extra time which is the independent side of playing the 'e' and the 'a'. So what I invariably say to the student is just look at this beat in isolation
N: Oh really? Break it down to that point?
B: Yeah, you know, you know we've talked about building and building blocks, understanding the patterns? What you can also do is within a pattern, hone in on the problem. It's just like taking a microscope and saying, you know, you've got a, you've got a problem it's covering a large area
N: Yeah
B: Well don't waste your time playing those first two beats, cos you're playing them fine, and the last beat is taking care of itself. The problem is occuring in beat three. Well just look at beat three, and what the coordination is
N: Mmmhmm
B: So if we just take beat three for instance, on the hi-hat it's three e and a
N: That's easy enough
B: Easy enough. So the bass drum is on the three, and then again on the 'and'. So the 'e' and the 'a' are on their own on the hi-hat
N: Would a good piece of advice be to maybe really stress the 'and' when you're saying it so you know when you've said it you've gotta go down there
B: Definitely, counting it out loud, making you very aware of what you're trying to do is incredibly important. Always, always, always count, is what I would say to the, you know, the vast majority of players need that counting out loud, articulate it from the lips as it, like a physical motion, like the physical side of playing the drums
N: Yeah
B: Okay, so you've got, I'll play as slowly as I can here, three e and a, so it's three e B&
N: and
B: a, three e and a. So it's unison, independence, unison, independence
N: (Laughs)
B: Unison, independence…
N: That's like a rap
B: …unison, independence. Well, I'm well known for that, and a. Okay? And then….
N: Yeah
B: …you put that into the context of the whole groove. Okay, really really slowly I'm going to do the whole of that exercise at that pace…
N: Alright
B: …if I can? Hopefully you won't all get bored out there
N: (Laughs)
B: So I'm gonna go one e and a, two e and…
N: This is the tricky bit
B: …a, three e B&
N: and
B: a, four e and a, one e and a, two…
N: There
B: …e and a…
N: Bass
B: …three e B&
N: and
B: a, four…
N: Snare
B: …e and a
N: Would you increase the pace a bit there?
B: Oh absolutely, as soon as you know that you're getting it right, move on. Now I want to make what I think's a very important point here, some of the viewers at home will have got that straight away, they're fine
N: Mmmhmm
B: Some of them won't have. The point is, you're studying at your pace
N: Yeah
B: Not my pace, not the person who's practising next doors pace…
N: Certainly not…
B: …your…
N: …my pace
B: …pace. So whatever works for you, you do it
N: Mmmhmm
B: Do not listen to anybody else…
N: Mmm
B: …so if you have to go through that process, which I have to say I would have done
N: Yes
B: As a learner, I had to break everything down, then do so. Some people are able to pick these things up much more, physically…
N: Mmm
B: …much more quickly, in which case fine don't go through that process, get on with it
N: Yeah
B: Yeah? But if you need to, you've got a process that means that you'll be able to play that exercise, and that is what our courses are designed for
N: Mmmhmm
B: To try and help everybody have a go at playing the drums
N: Ah, you fill me with hope Brian
B: Well I try my best! B&
N: (Laughs)
N: No you do, you do very well
B: Thank you
N: We're coming to the end of the episode now
B: That's a shame
N: Episode seven, obviously, will be coming next
B: Yes, okay, looking …
N: The theme tune…
B: … forward to it
N: …the theme tune's coming very soon
B: I'll try and play something
N: Okay
B: Yeah
N: I'm looking forward to interesting little bits that you'll be playing now on this
B: They'll be modest
N: (Laughs) I want interest, I want interest
B: Okay
N: Okay that is the end for today, join us again for episode seven, that'll be coming up but keep listening to find out how you can get hold of your copy of the Gigajam course notes. Brian, get interesting
B: Okay, there's a first!
N: (Laughs)