Thursday, October 23, 2014

Florian Alexandru-Zorn brush technique


Hey there,
As well as my double pedal adventures, I've been working on this brush technique from Florian Alexandru-Zorn. What basically happens that's new to me is that we accent on the sweep up the drum (when the brushes are moving away from usas well as when the brushes are moving toward us. It's a little awkward for me, especially in the left hand, but it's slowly improving. Anyway, check it out and see what you think.


Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Couple of recent videos


The title says it all. This is a performance of my composition "Monksonic" filmed at a recent gig in Kingston with John Geggie's new band "Six Friends".



Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Muting the Bass Drum with Double Pedal







Hey folks!
I recently acquired a double pedal for my bass drum after many years without one.
As well as practicing single strokes between the feet (yes I know it's a serious cliche, but it's the most logical place to start ) I found that if I did the "normal" things with my left foot as if I was playing hi-hat I could mute the bass drum. In other words, if I keep the left foot pedal resting against the head I can mute and raise the pitch of the bass drum, which creates some interesting possibilities.......

Try this foot pattern with any bossa or samba beat. (Note: I've written the left side pedal on the hi-hat space.)



In the second example, which also works well with Brazilian style beats, the left foot is muting on beats 1 and 2, resulting in a quasi-surdo feel. Remember not to flam beat 1.
(Although you should work on foot flams as well.)                            





Example 3 is the same as example 1 except now we're swinging the 8th notes. I once heard Steve Gadd play this underneath a shuffle (during a shout section with a big band no less!)


       

Finally, example 4isusing quarter note triplets in the same shuffle setting.              Have Fun!