This presents a method of developing independence & coming up groove ideas by combining a single paradiddle sticking over a 2:3 rumba clave figure. It goes without saying that you should be familiar with those two separate elements first, but once you are there's loads of fun to be had with this idea & ideas like it. This is in three bite-sized steps, happy to email the on-screen notation to anybody that wants it, just email me at pat@patgarvey.net.

This is a one minute excerpt from a session I did for iDrum Magazine back in 2011, focussing on developing the left foot to be able to play more of a musical role. You'll find the complete lesson in my iDrum Magazine Lessons section. This is a really useful independence exercise & works flipped as well, putting the exercise on the BD and keeping a stepped 1/4 note on the hi hat. The main theme - once the notes are in the right place in the bar for each section - is 'togetherness'. It should sound absolutely together, no flams, no doubt from any of your limbs as to where the notes are being played and how they're being played, e.g. strongly & with intention.

Here’s a cool little groove that I first recorded in 1996 with a band called Zonefly in a session with legendary metal producers Andy Sneap & Colin Richardson. It borrows from a few styles really but the main theme is the ride pattern which has ‘Latin’ leanings, broadly speaking. Probably the most awkward part of it is the left hand & left foot part, in so much as getting the open hats the right note length. It’s fun though, & whilst I’ve re-recorded the guitars from the original track to put it in a musical context at the end of the video, it works nicely regardless of genre, & there’s a nice little fill at the end as well. As usual, feel free to email me at pat@patgarvey.net & I’ll happily send you the notation.

This ostinato is so useful that I thought I’d put this one minute lesson together on it. It works in loads of styles, tempo’s & feels, & whilst I’m playing it on the hats & forming a basic groove from it, and putting it to music at the end of this video. Once you’ve got this kind of thing down it really is very, very useable, but it's all about doing just that first - getting it down.

Cool little rock style Cha-Cha pattern broken down into four bite-sized sections. Note: I'm not using a cha-cha bell in the video, I'm using more of a Mambo bell. One of the reasons this works so well in a rock context is because the basic cha-cha feel is a straight ¼ note feel. In this vid the right hand is playing the basic cha-cha bell pattern, the left hand is playing a guiro pattern on the hi hat & I'm using a bass drum pattern similar to that which Mitch Mitchell played on 'Stone Free' - Jimi Hendrix's ‘Stone Free’, and Santana's version of Tito Puente‘s ‘Oye Commo Va' were early reference points for me with this rhythm, from a rock / Chicano rock perspective. What I'm presenting here doesn't present the independence challenges that a lot of other Afro-Cuban rhythms do when applied to drum-set, but don't let that fool you into underestimating it.

The Flamacue, the 5 Stroke Roll, and the Flam: Three standardised stickings that I'm using to build a musical line, before building a groove around it. Any sticking pattern in any style works here (although there are some better fitting patterns than others) and these 3 patterns are good examples of that in so much as they work individually or together in any workable combination, and demonstrate what you can do at a basic level with any sticking pattern or combination of patterns in terms of turning them into nice little phrases that you can apply to grooves in every day drumming life.

In part one we explored how to hear and play a 5 over 4 #polyrhythm. In part two we’re looking at playing grooves within the 5 over 4 polyrhythm. I’m focusing on back beat placement and bass drum placement within that context. You’ll notice from the notation that the back beat is just on the two & four, and that it’s the bass drum notes we’re moving around. There are two very important things to bear in mind with this material. The first is to always count the quintuplet. The second is to keep that hi hat stepping away on the ¼ notes because between these two things – the counting and the ¼ note pulse - you’ll build a real foundation for how this stuff works more widely speaking and how to comfortably move notes around the tuplet subdivision. Feel free to get in touch with any questions: pat@patgarvey.net

An introduction on how to hear and play a 5 over 4 polyrhythm in this short lesson. A 5 over 4 polyrhythm has a rhythmic ratio of 5 to 4, that’s five notes that fit evenly into the same space as four. Think pulse: four is our basic pulse e.g. the beats of the bar. Five is our counter pulse. It’s how you place the counter-pulse over the basic pulse that’s important, so that’s what we’re looking at here.

This is a cool little double kick groove. Double kick has long since graduated the genres of #rock & #metal in it's exclusivity. This is more of a #funk groove if anything but it works either way. The last section puts it into a musical context

This is a cool little double kick groove. Double kick has long since graduated the genres of #rock & #metal in it's exclusivity. This is more of a #funk groove if anything but it works either way. The last section puts it into a musical context

This is nothing but a cool, fun groove to learn & play. I came across this just messing around in the practice room & ended up using it on a recording session a few years ago. I thought I'd put it down on a one minute lesson because it's fun, a bit of a challenge & nice to play once it's up & running. Feel free to email me on pat@patgarvey.net if you want the notation.

This is all based on the #paradiddle & accent permutations. These kind of ideas are great for building on in a multitude of ways & it’s highly useable stuff for everything from groove work to simple fill ideas, building chops, licks & forming more advanced vocabulary. It always starts simply though, so, start slow at around 40bpm & make sure you get the articulation right, the hands relaxed & the motion flowing. Work on stepping the 1/4 note with the hi hat so you can feel the flow of the accents against the beats of the bar. As usual, feel free to email me at pat@patgarvey.net & I'll send you the notation.