Ted's Linear Adventures

Hey folks,

Those of you that have followed me have probably noted that I've often wished for more linear vocabulary on the drum set. I have decided to address this. One way to achieve this might be to go through one of Dave Garabaldi's great books, or to learn some Steve Gadd grooves and the like. I decided, however, to come up with my own solution to this. I think it's an important part of the creative process to approach difficulties and limitations on the instrument in an individualistic way, and hopefully that's what I've done here.

It's pretty simple, I first took doubles between the hands and inserted the right foot in place of each of the different strokes. I'll use "F" to signify the bass drum.

1. FR LL

2.RF LL

3.RR FL

4.RR LF

Here's an example of me playing this:

Then I did the same thing except inserting the hi-hat instead of the bass drum. Here's an example of this while playing a samba pattern with my right foot:

Next I did the same thing with paradiddles:

1. FLRR LRLL

2. RFRR LRLL

3. RLFR LRLL

4.RLRF LRLL

5. RLRR FRLL

6. RLRR LFLL

7. RLRR LRFL

8. RLRR LRLF

For this one as well you can use either bass drum or hi-hat for the F part.

Finally, you can keep a pattern of paradiddles going and assign one limb to interrupt the pattern to play a melody. Here's me playing paradiddles between the hands with the melody to "Sonnymoon for Two" with the bass drum.

For some of you that have worked extensively on funk playing, some of this may seem basic, but for me it's a matter of working on one of my weak areas.

Thanks for stopping by!