drumming secrets

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Shaker & Brush "mellow groove"

On this groove we are going to use the right hand for playing the shaker. I have chosen to play an egg shaker; it's frequency is very high and can easily uplive the overall sound of the drum set. However as you can hear on this take, you need to play the kick, snare a bit softer, yet tight and the hihat foot pretty clear in order to get a nice balance in the groove going!

Now watch the movements I am making with the shaker in my right hand; it's almost as if it goes in the shape of '7' (for details about this subject, please open the PDF file).

If you watch closely to the brush, you can see and hear that it produces 3 different sounds:  muted taps, accents and an 'open' hit. Make sure that you keep contact with the drumhead when you play the muted notes. You might have noticed that I am using a traditional grip when I play brushes; this grip gives me the possibility to play with more nuances.

Check the pattern and you will see it's not really something that is dreadly difficult! However to play this smooth with a nice laid back timing, you will find out that it does need some practice...

Open the PDF to find out more about this groove and exercises to get grooves like these sound awesome!

Try and play it slowly first! Keep time when you practice at all times.....

Juan

Click on the the PDF icon to view the handwritten score. You can print it out for your covenience during exercising.