Book Description

Generally, in most performance scenarios, drummers are called-in/hired for one main particular purpose - to play solid grooves with good time and with a certain amount of creativity. This is the primary role of a drummer in most band or ensemble settings. In my opinion, the path to being a drummer with a successful musical career is all about having a sense of solid time, good knowledge and vocabulary of drum grooves in a variety of music styles and genres. The way I look at it, drumming is an art form, for example fine art or martial arts..in a way. As such, any art form has basic skills that need to be learned/studied with some kind of framework to work with. The basic skills or fundamentals are a prerequisite to setting ‘play’ in motion. The stronger your understanding of the basics and fundamentals, the journey in the development of study and play will be easier. The idea and concept of this book is to guide and tutor the budding drummer to get a grasp of the foundations and fundamentals of groove drumming in a variety of music styles. This book is tailor-made specifically for the sole purpose of rhythm study, hence there is no reference to or material on technical development. However, having said that, of course some measure of technical ability is required to pay drum beats convincingly. But here it’ll be more about hand & feet coordination as opposed to being able to play fancy fills and tricky sticking patterns. However, feel free to add your own fills (rolls) while morphing from one rhythm to another but it is imperative you stay aware of timing issues like rushing or dragging..work towards making smooth transitions.This tutorial will address the basic rhythms/beats of the following music styles: Rock, Shue,Bossa Nova, Funk, Cha-Cha, Samba, Hip-Hop and Slow Rock. The grooves are organised in groups of 15 variations per rhythm study, so there are a total of 120 drum grooves arranged in sequence for the beginner/ intermediate drum student. Notations of the various goose studies are included to give a clearer picture of the respective parts that make up the groove.