Left hand drum comping book exercises

If you do these for a month or 2 your left hand will notice a huge difference. The two most important exercises i used to do to improve and still do were quite a bit more simple than rudiments. Any time youre faced with playing straight chords or even playing melodies from a fake book which pretty much just gives the chord names, youre left to your own resources to supply an interestingsounding. Jazz drumming lessons free drum lessons learn how to play. Drum set method books drum set steve weiss music list all. Then start playing quarter notes with your right hand im not typing that one out, it would be a nightmare, haha. Great lefthand accompaniment patterns for the piano or. This is what we will begin most practice padsnare drum pieces with. Nov 18, 2015 for more rhythmic drum exercises, i recommend purchasing ted reeds book progressive steps to syncopation for the modern drummer. The feet play the rhythm from syncopation between the hihat and bass drum while the left hand fills in triplets. This roll, apart from its regular form, is used in a unique way. In the example below you will notice that the left hand plays the harmony. The methods from his three books and dvd have remained stalwarts of my practice regime ever since. Join us each week as we present a new concept of how to apply this important book to the drum set.

In this lesson well explore some exercises to develop our weak hand. Comping is a term coined by jazz musicians, which means accompaniment. This free drum lesson is filled with great exercises for developing your weaker hand. Repeat ad infinitumor, until you no longer have to think about it. Strengethen your left hand in this video using 3 exercises.

In this exercise we will play the rootless voicings same as above in our left hand. We need to practice exercises to allow the left hand go gain freedom to work. Apr 06, 2016 in this article were going to take a look at three piano comping practice tips. The hand with a mind of its own, the hand that lags behind the right, and the hand that does not seem that smart. I have developed a guide for organ and other keyboards in a small group setting in which i present ideas on left hand bass, comping, grooves and soloing. I am very interested, as it seems to sort this all out manually would take much time and inkpaper, and find. This book is often considered the most important source for developing independence, as it provides page after page of unique rhythms that can be applied to any limb on the drum set, and performed either swung or straight. Lefthand writing exercises are designed to help improve your penmanship as well as the speed with which you write. The ride cymbal exercises and insight are fantastic. In an effort to to fix this problem i started focusing on left hand heavy exercises and was overcritical of what my left hand was doing. If the player is righthanded and normally plays the ride cymbal with his or her right hand, the left hand should play the 2 written exercises on the snare using the left hand. I was wondering if you knew of any book that had a good wealth of the variations regarding this technique. Would you recommend i apply johns comping exercises to these tempos to get used to playing at these speeds, or set it at, say, 270, and work up. By going through it youll learn how to incorporate your hands and feet into simple exercises that work on 4way independence.

With that in mind, jared falk created this free drum lesson to take your independence a little further. Here is a new video i made on warmups and rudiments focusing on the left hand to build it up to the right. With your arms relaxed by your sides, raise your left hand from the elbow until your forearm is parallel to the ground. One of the most important tools for your piano playing bag of tricks is a good supply of left hand accompaniment patterns. The next pattern is the left hand snare drum patterninner triplet pattern isolated. Keep the left hand pattern soft and make sure it swings. Some drills could be play chords with the left hand and patterns with the right, hands separate first then hands together. Control divide the rhythms between your left hand on the snare drum. Jazz pianists favor this approach because it allows the right hand more freedom when improvising lines. To do that youll need some comping vocabulary, and a good place to start is with your left hand on the snare. In this lesson you will learn how to play the written rhythms from page 38 in ted reeds syncopation book with your left hand on the snare drum.

I particularly recommend practicing the exercises with the hands reversed, playing the right hand in the left hand, and the left hand in the right hand. It is a coordination exercise anyone, drummers and nondrummers alike, could execute easily. Jun 04, 2015 here is a lesson and some exercises for the left hand position and development on the classical guitar. However, a certain level of hand independence needs to be developed for you to become a complete drumset player. In both of those books, riley has pages and pages of comping exercises that are great to get comfortable with and, when used properly, enable you to comp comfortably in any situation. Jones also used the hihat for more of a melodic role as opposed to only keeping time.

The right hand can play the to allow the left hand. Snare drum independence refers to the ability to play snare drum rhythms that are separate from the patterns performed by the rest of your limbs. Go through the list, and mix and match each left hand exercise with each right hand exercise. Jun 26, 2014 now that its more familiar to me, i am getting so much more value from repracticing all the exercises this second time. The method of writing above and below one line for the snare drum is now widely used. You can also longshort the line by playing everything that is a quarter note or longer on bass drum and 8th notes on the snare. Simple drum exercises to strengthen your left hand youtube. One of the most important tools for your piano playing bag of tricks is a good supply of lefthand accompaniment patterns. Left hand bass, comping, grooves and soloing the organ forum. As well as john rileys fantastic bop drumming books, im studying his master. Beginner left hand exercises for classical guitar this is. Use these 100 left hand patterns in this book to arrange the 100 songs from the fun fake book or use the left hand. If your weak hand is your left hand, feel free to swap the drum rudiments around play all the r with your left hand instead. Open up your syncopation book and play the line in your left hand as it would be with the metronome not double time.

In this piano lesson, i am going to show you a left hand pattern that will improve your playing and dexterity. If you normally lead with your left hand, practice these examples with a reversed sticking. In the video, i go through some phrases on the snare drum that i think will help develop some basic independence and also makes for some more authentic sounding jazz grooves. This is a full daily workout of 15 different exercises inspired by the great french teacher thomas patris. In the shed ep15 jazz drumming intro to comping youtube. Dec 31, 20 now that its more familiar to me, i am getting so much more value from repracticing all the exercises this second time. You can see that video linked below, but in this blog post, i want to talk about the specifics of practicing coordination from drum books with written out comping exercises. It is a coordination exercise anyone, drummers and non drummers alike, could execute easily.

For beginners, i recommend playing the exercises on the left, which focus on just two voices on the drum set snare drum and hihat. Now play the two bar snare comping phrases underneath. How to practice jazz comping coordination learn jazz drums. In the following example, the four limbs are notated with the right hand above the top line and the. All of the patterns are based around the basic jazz pattern, but include unique snare drum patterns designed to challenge your limbindependence. Again, practice using the metronome on all 4 beats and and on beats 2 and 4. Apr 11, 2012 strengethen your left hand in this video using 3 exercises.

That last word, mastered, is important because, as with all exercises, care should be taken that exercises are not rushed through but instead, practiced carefully with a relaxed feeling. Uptempo jazz studies dancing on the ride and comping. The 100 left hand patterns introduced in this book can help piano students, piano teachers, and music professionals take their piano playing to the next level by learning how to play the same song 100 different ways. Snare drum comping the snare drum comping exercises in this lesson are designed to improve your left hand control within jazz drumming. The great thing about practicing foundational patterns on the practice pad is that they translate very well to drum set playing, whether thats within drum beats or creative fills around the kit. One of the first things a jazz pianist should learn to do is navigate left hand voicings. Not only are these exercises isolating the left hand, they include accents and ghost notes, plus the accents are rim shots so you can work on your backbeat sound and consistency. This sheet of 9 independence exercises, called essential jazz independence part one, gets right to the heart of the matter by focusing on learning to play triplet figures with ones left hand vs the triplet jazz ride cymbal pattern that is played with the right hand of course, reverse the hands if. Go back to the start of the comping exercises and again play the line with your bass drum. As youre playing the piano, does it feel like your left hand just cant keep up with the right. Jazz, blues, and boogiewoogie left hand patterns, 3. Developing the weaker hand modern drummer magazine. It seems as if my left wants to go back to a german grip.

Jazz drummers workshop jazz comping with quarternote triplets. Learning to voice chords is very important for pianists looking to sound like an authentic jazz musician. In this weeks video lesson, i discuss ways that you can take a simple drum method book like louie bellsons modern reading text in 44. Aug 29, 2018 all of these exercises are designed for the snare drum, but it doesnt have to be that way. This exercise is very specific, addressing just the left hand, and is based upon one of piano literatures most famous left hand exercises, chopins revolutionary etude. Any tips for comping, getting in the groove and soloing for those of playing with bass players. Jan 06, 2017 this is an introduction to left hand or right hand for you lefties comping while youre swingin. Before using this guide, pleas e r ef er to my not es a t ti mtopham. It can include hand technique, rudiments, stick control by george stone, syncopation by ted reed, fills, snare drum solos, jazz solo phrases, solo exercises from the art of bop drumming, alan dawsons triplet roll exercises and rudimental ritual. The left hand path a collection of rudimental snare drum. Left hand workout play better drums w louie palmer. As boring as these exercises may seem, my high school band teacher gave a sheet similar to this one over a decade ago and it really helped strengthen my left hand specifically the first two exercises. Also have to shout out my buddy quincy, fellow needle houseband drummer think he was at least a few spots ahead of me on the call list. Of course, soloing is a big part of the equation, but good voicings help define the sound of jazz.

If youre like most drummers, you have one hand that doesnt always like to cooperate. More a book that helps you pick up comping chords, keyboard harmony, and rudimentary improv. A great lesson for beginner and intermediate jazz students. Just keep chugging along and you will see improvements. Right hand above the line, left hand below, as in the swiss style. The left hand patterns taught in this book have been divided up into four different groups. You can increase the complexity from those examples as well of course but that book and its triplet examples work. Start with the kick drum following your right hand on the hihat. In the first part of the piano exercise, the right hand is loud while the left hand is quiet. Fill in the spaces between those notes with triplets on.

This helped my open up my comping for faster tempos. The snare drum comping exercises in this lesson are designed to improve your left hand independence within jazz drumming. At first i worried that i would not know how much to practice each exercise in jeb pattons comping book before moving on to the next exercise. I think one major problem a lot of people have is that they work a lot of snare left hand stuff and forget the bass drum and hats. I am trying to fix this with the result of the circular movement in my left hand. This nifty left hand exercise stretches the left hand fingers as you creep down the fingerboard from the twelfth fret to the first. Starting beginner percussion texas bandmasters association. Good drummerscompers would never play all of their ideas right away. The stretch gets further apart as you descend downwards and contrary to many things on the guitar, the slower you play it, the more difficult it is. The first is just playing linear patterns between the hands and the feet like both hands, both feet, right and left foot, left hand and left foot, etc. Then spend some time playing tunes and starting to do some basic improvising. The snare drum comping exercises in this lesson are designed to improve your left hand control within jazz drumming. Laying a solid foundation is key to taking your drumming to the next level.

Learn important fundamentals in solos without a huge time commitment. You work the bass drum and snare, then you work the snare and hi hat and then all three together in various patterns, but rarely do you take complicated snare left hand ideas and apply them while going through such a systematic way of working every single note in the triplet with your left hand. My favorite drum books overall are both by john riley. After youve mastered the 8th note comping phrases, start working through the triplet phrases below. Ive been practicing and teaching it steadily for the past 15 years and truly believe this is the best series of hand exercises that exist. Now that its more familiar to me, i am getting so much more value from repracticing all the exercises this second time. All of the patterns have the underlying structure of the basic jazz pattern. The last set of exercises are to be played against a shuffle time. My goal here to clarify a basic jazz pattern on the drums and then the steps to take to begin freeing up the left hand and bass drum to be able to comp or improvise patterns that compliment the music youre playing to. Another approach is to play the figure with the right hand on the cymbal while doubling it with the bass drum. This will also give you a mental workout ive also listed some handy no pun intended exercise tools that could help you improve your arm and finger strength as a.

If students learn good jazz voicings for the left hand and for both hands, then a good jazz sound will follow. Jan 02, 2010 usually though, they are worked on separately. The best left hand stretch classical guitar corner. Left hand writing exercises are designed to help improve your penmanship as well as the speed with which you write. Piano comping practice tips cocktail piano lessons.

Developing your jazz drum comping learn jazz standards. Explore challenging exercises designed to increase your skill quickly. This is an introduction to left hand or right hand for you lefties comping while youre swingin. Use snare drum comping to improve your jazz drumming. The purpose of this exercise is to give the left hand a workout and place it in a dominant rhythmic position in the music left hand lead.

Snare drum comping the snare drum comping exercises in this lesson are designed to improve your lefthand control within jazz drumming. On the other hand, if you sing a rock beat youre probably singing the. Jun 10, 2017 the comping exercises exploring three limb coordination interaction between the snare, bass and hihat are challenging and musical. I only included 100 left hand patterns, but there are so many more. Mar, 2011 this sheet of 9 independence exercises, called essential jazz independence part one, gets right to the heart of the matter by focusing on learning to play triplet figures with ones left hand vs the triplet jazz ride cymbal pattern that is played with the right hand of course, reverse the hands if you are a lefty. It is a condensation of american rudiments, and french technique as taught by the great dante agostini.

This is one of the most common and important lessons for beginners and intermediate players. Start with the 54 swing pattern at the top of the page. Exercises arent always the most fun pieces to play, but they serve a purpose to help improve your piano playing technique. Playing uptempo however, especially with an erratic ride pattern, the comping feel disappears and i cant place the left hand a kick drum strokes where i want them. Next, simply raise your right hand to the drum, matching the fulcrum point of the right hand to the fulcrum point of the left hand and making sure the stick angles are the same. Generally for righthanded players, the left hand takes care of diddles, drags, and buzzes when playing grooves. Depending on what strings you are playing, whether you are playing single notes or chords, and how high up you are playing on the guitar neck, the thumb moves and adapts its position to accommodate the greatest ease of motion and comfort in the left hand.

They are also designed for individuals who are looking to develop their other hand in order to become ambidextrous. John xepoleas has written two drum books, style studies for the creative. The thumb position is also flexible it never stays in one position for long. My left hand development has slowed to a crawl ever since i started playing with a rock band, im trying to figure out these days if i should keep working on it, or concentrate on the stuff that im actively trying to learn for upcoming work. These piano comping practice tips are meant to give you specific exercises to practices that will improve your harmonic understanding and help you learn the chords to a bunch of jazz tunes. To illustrate that, check out this comping example from resolution, which appears on coltranes legendary album a love supreme. Cheat sheet for iivi lefthand piano voicings learn. In exercise 6, the left hand starts on the snare and then moves clockwise to the rack. The elvin jones and tony williams drum solo transcriptions alone are worth the price of admission. I have to treat these comping exercises more like i treat rudiment work. If youd like to work on your weaker foot as well, we encourage to take the exercises from the free drum lesson developing the left foot and incorporate them into your practice sessions. Exercises from books and on paper are good, too, but if you ask me, dont forget to bring it all to reality and actually compliment some music rather than just fake compliment actions based on notation.

I had this bad habit when my left hand was more in a german grip while my right was in a french grip. But instead of playing c scale with both hands and calling it a day, were going to go a step further. However, once students become comfortable with the various exercises, it is a good idea to do a left hand lead to help the students become more comfortable with the left hand and not completely dependent on the right hand. Stylegroove usesf e e l main patte rn s imp le v ariat io n s single notes, blocked chords the simples t lh pat ter n is just sing le not es. How to improve left hand discipline when drumming right. Left hand voicings are the first thing i usually touch on when my students are tackling a new tune. These free jazz drum lessons will teach you jazz beats, fills, brush patterns. In this lesson well liven up our jazz comping with offbeat quarternote triplets. His books art of bop and beyond bop drumming remain two of the greatest, most thorough jazz drum method books to this day. Lesson one deals with the applying the rhythms in the left hand to a jazz ride feet pattern.

This sheet of 9 independence exercises, called essential jazz independence part one, gets right to the heart of the matter by focusing on learning to play triplet figures with ones left hand vs the triplet jazz ride cymbal pattern that is played with the right hand of course, reverse the hands if you are a lefty. I like to help students by giving them left hand voicings to use while they are soloing. The drum machine will teach you a lot about comping in style, too. After youve completed all 8 exercises, move the comping phrases to the kick, then afterwards the left foot hihat. How do we, as drummers, practicing comping technique. The examples here will help you to start the process on the snare. Dec 08, 2018 my teacher gave me some comp exercises where you keep a swing beat and read music to see when to hit the snare, the bass drum is empty and he told me to place the kick on 1, then 2, 3 and finally 4 not 4 on the floor. Technical exercises for improving keyboard technique. Rudimental symposium scottish pipe band rudiments modern. We need to practice exercises to allow the left hand go gain freedom to work independently of the right hand. Played hand to hand, the exercise is known as the fives and is the basis of a simple strathspey beating. One of the most important finger movements is the thumb moving under the 3d and the 4th fingers, encountered in scales, arpeggios, blues runs, etc. The left and right hand exercises are actually the same, but just transposed for bass and treble. This article talks about creative ways of strengthening your weak hand on the drums.