DVD 7 ROCK BEAT BUILDER 1 - icanplaydrums.com Rock Builder 1.pdf · the correct method for learning new, ... To begin with we will learn basic quarter note rock patterns. ... drums

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Copyright Rockyhouse Media PTY LTD. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. No Reproduction or Distribution.

By Jack Bennett – Icanplaydrums.com

DVD 7 – ROCK BEAT BUILDER 1

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

How To Practice – Page 2

Quarter Note Rock – Page 3

8th

Note Rock – Page 4

8th

Note Rest Beats – Page 5

8th

Note Gliss Beats – Page 6

1 Bar Fills – Page 7

Rock Shuffles – Page 8

12/8 Blues – Page 9

Busier Rock A – Page 10

Busier Rock B – Page 11

Bass Doubles A – Page 12

Bass Doubles B – Page 13

Bass Doubles C – Page 14

Displacing Snare – Page 15

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HOW TO PRACTICE The first thing you should learn before even picking up the sticks, is how to practice. Learning the correct method for learning new, challenging patterns will save you a lot of frustration down the track and also see you improve the fastest way possible. Sound good? Say you cant play a pattern that uses hihats, snare and bass. Break it down into units of 2, such as: hihats and snare, bass drum and snare, hihats and bass drum; learn those first, then piece the whole thing back together again. This is the fastest way to learn a pattern, and although it may seem like more work in the initial, you will still learn it faster than hitting your head against a brick wall whilst attempting the entire pattern. QUARTER NOTE ROCK To begin with we will learn basic quarter note rock patterns. In all of the following exercises the hihat just plays a consistent four, it is only the bass drum and snare that change. Make sure, as simple as these patterns are, that all the parts are exactly in time, don’t speed up or slow down. Ever.

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8TH NOTE ROCK BEATS These next patterns introduce playing 8th notes on the hihats, whilst playing either quarter or 8th note figures between the bass and snare drum. Make sure you subdivide 8th notes in your head as you play these patterns, and try to make sure there are no flams when playing 2 instruments at the same time, ie hihat and bass drum or hihat and snare. Make sure they notes fall exactly at the same time, not split apart. Repeat each bar 4 times then more on to the next bar

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8TH NOTE REST BEATS

Once you have an understanding and feel for playing 8th note beats, it’s time to add in some 8th note rests on the bass drum. This will add interest and variety to the beats.

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8th NOTE GLISS BEATS

Another thing you can do to regular 8th note beat to add a bit of spice is to play hihat glisses. This is where you open the hihats on one 8th note and close them on the next, while hihat them with the RH stick.

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1 BAR BASIC ROCK FILLS Now that we’ve learnt a fair few rock beats, it’s time to learn some fills to go with them, these fills are 1 bar fills. Play 3 bars of regular time, then the 1 bar fill, then 3 bars of time, then the next fill. Repeat until you’ve played all the fills.

This is a great way of learning to transition from regular time, into the fill, and back into regular time without speeding up, slowing down, hesitating or dropping your sticks ;) Here are each of the fills, make sure you play 3 bars of time before each.

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ROCK SHUFFLES

Let’s change things up a bit now, and look at Rock Shuffle beats. These beats are essentially triplet beats, and you can write them in 4/4 time with each beat written as triplets (which we’ll do), or you could write them as regular 8th notes without triplet markings, in 12/8 time. The RH plays on the first and last triplet per beat, with a slight accent on the notes that fall on the beat, this will help define the pulse. Make sure every note you play falls into a swinging triplet feel, and also make you’re alignment is spot on. That is, that between the individual notes, there are no flams or split notes being played.

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12/8 BLUES BEATS The following beats work well in slower blues ballads, again they have a triplet feel about them but are generally played slower than rock shuffle beats.

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BUSIER ROCK BEATS A – Adding 16th on the “a” beat. Within a group of 16th notes there are 4 notes counting as follows: The 1st note is counted as the number The 2nd note is counted as “e” The 3rd note is counted as “+” The 4th note is counted as “a”. In this section we’ll look at playing beats that play the snare drum or bass drum on the “a” 16th note, within any beat. To ensure that the 16th slots exactly into its space, make sure you’re subdividing 16th notes in your head as you play these exercises, so either hear rolling 16th notes in your head or count 1e+a 2e+a 3e+a 4e+a etc..

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BUSIER ROCK BEATS B – Adding 16ths on the “e” beat. Let’s keep building on our 16th beats by looking at playing both or either the bass and snare drums on the “e” 16th note. This further gives the beat a busier and more syncopated feel.

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BASS DOUBLES A – Adding doubles on the bass drum. In this section we’ll look at playing doubles on the bass drum within regular 8th note beats. This is where it gets interesting, you can play doubles starting from or landing on any 16th. The first group of doubles primarily focus on the “+a” double for any given beat.

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BASS DOUBLES B – Introducing the 4th

16th

. This next group of bass double patterns looks at playing the common “a1” or “a3” 16

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figure. In other words the 16th note just before beat 1 or 3, then also playing 1 or 3. This

becomes the double.

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COMPLEX ROCK BEATS B – Alternating Busy 16th Patterns Between Snare / Bass Since we’ve been looking at using 16th patterns both on the snare and bass, less now look at some busy patterns that alternate between snare and bass with 16ths continuously. These are quite challenging so take your time! Again, make sure you’re subdividing 16ths in your head so you are definitely getting the notes landing in the correct spot. You will find keeping everything even just as much of a challenge as actually coordinating the patterns to start with.

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COMPLEX ROCK BEATS C – Displacing The Snare Drum. OK! Having fun yet? In this section we’ll look at displacing the snare drum for the first time. Usually most rock/pop/funk/country/blues etc beats have the snare falling on 2 and 4 – otherwise known as the “back beat”. But that doesn’t mean you HAVE to play snare on 2 and 4. Sometimes the music require a more syncopated 16th feel, where the snare is actually falling around the beat instead of on it, and the following exercises will look at pacing the snare 1 16th note before beats 2 or 4. Which means it will be coming in on the “a” beats before 2 or 4.

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DVD 7 ROCK BEAT BUILDER 1 - icanplaydrums.com Rock Builder 1.pdf · the correct method for learning new, ... To begin with we will learn basic quarter note rock patterns. ... drums