I’m stoked to be playing with HUTCH + REHAN again. This time in the Inna Riddim room at the next Afterlife in Sydney. Our first show back since working with Mr.Bill. Five days out from the gig, I took five questions from our label mates at Inna Riddim. …. Q: You guys aren’t DJs, you … More Q&A with Inna Riddim
Mr. Bill’s Australian Winter 2017 tour, accompanied by Ryanosaurus and Bill’s side job, Electrocado, had us all take on Coffs Harbour, Airlie Beach, Melbourne, Perth and Canberra. Mr. Bill’s complete live set from our final show of the run, Psyland Festival, is up for download exclusively from Clyp. Features a shit load of remixes, VIP … More Mr. Bill Live Set – Audio & Transcription
These exercises use an AABA form in a 4 bar phrase, shifting gears from the 16th note funk beat to quarter note triplets, quintuplets and eighth note triplets. Check out drummers such as Nate Smith and Jojo Mayer using this to great effect. [16th Note beat modulated across 8th note triplets – video demo] : … More Stretching Beats – Funk Modulation // Quintuplet Beats & Exercises
Nate Smith is the funkiest mofo going. Here’s a quick transcription of the first released track from his album, “Kinfolk : Postcards From Everywhere”. Every second bar has an extra quaver to the count, making the rhythm 4/4, 9/8 repeated throughout the song. This can also be felt as 17/8 time, with the back beat … More Nate Smith – “Skip Step”
An incredible tour with Mr. Bill through the USA and Canada has all wrapped up. 24000kms (15000 miles) on the road with an awesome crew taking on 30 shows from California to British Columbia, New York to Florida, Louisiana to Colorado all book ended in surreal fashion by time spent with Patrick Leonard in the … More Mr. Bill USA/Canada Tour – DRUM CHART
These Jungle grooves take any three semi quavers of the beat and loops the pattern repeatedly, stretching across the barline before opening up to restart on the “1” of the 4/4 time. I’d play these all the time, as fills or turnarounds, or to sit on for several bars as if a loop marker has … More D’n’B Beat Repeat / Hemiola – Playing 3 Beat Loops
DnB groove exercises played also in reverse with 16th note roll and sticking variations. Downloadable PDF ; REWIND! DNB _Part II
Two bar drum and bass grooves time shifted across quintuplet subdivisions. Use a metronome! Downloadable PDF’s ; DNB Groove Modulation pt II
The following groove exercises take 8th note drum and bass patterns and modulates the groove over quarter note triplets. Keep the metronome at 172bpm. You’ll feel the groove switch to a triplet feel, while the dance floor feels as if the tempo moves from 172bpm to 129bpm before the groove reverts back to the start … More DNB Groove Modulation Part I + Polyrhythm Exercise
The Following 4/4 triplet based groove exercises and 6/8 double bass exercises are valuable in developing precision, control and musicality in heavier double bass drumming situations. Downloadable PDF’s ; Triplet Metal Grooves – One Bar Exercises 6:8 Double Bass Drumming Exercises-5 4/4 Triplet Based Grooves, including halftime feels, quarter note, eighth note and sixteenth note triples … More Triplet Based Metal Grooves, Double Bass and Blast Beats
I recently played a few shows as Mr. Bill’s drummer on his Australian “Corrective Scene Surgery” tour, complete with giant inflatabill and visual show. I transcribed all the fundamental grooves for each track to make up a simplified chart to cover his 1.5 hour DJ set and assist in committing some often heavily syncopated patterns to memory. Here’s … More Mr. Bill – “URL”
This pattern was scribbled down in my practice notebook as one of my very first drum lessons. I still run through it on a practice pad back stage before a show as part of a stretch and warmup routine. Accent the first stroke of the bar, descending through 8 strokes down to 1. Make sure … More Warm Ups – Single & Double Stroke Descending Rhythm
Love this Guiliana track. The intro features a 24 bar heavily syncopated passage that the drums and bass play in unison. I included it here as an additional clearer pdf. This, plus the accents on beat 3 then 1 of the first two bars of the head are two important points of playing the song. Practice it with … More Mark Guiliana – “One Month”
Here’s a transcription of Max Roach’s opening solo track from his 1965 Drums Unlimited album. I only got onto this album earlier this year when trawling through jazz records in Tokyo. Improvised in 3/4 over a basic foot ostinato, there are no repeats. Max plays a repeated motif but it also varies. The one bar … More Max Roach – “The Drum Also Waltzes”
I was put onto Nitin Sawhney’s music when Kobra Kai was starting out, when we were still mixing some eastern sounds with different UK style dance beats. These grooves were scribbled out amongst my notes from this period, They’re some cool examples of garage / 2 step style UK grooves backing up some awesome songwriting … More Nitin Sawheny – Remix Grooves
Roni Size’s In the Mode LP (2000) was the first drum and bass album I got into. I wrote out these grooves when Rehan first introduced me to the album, to get my head around everything going on with the grooves. Kobra Kai were lucky enough to support Roni Size and Dynamite MC at Home … More D’n’B Drum Grooves – Icicle / Roni Size / Shapeshifter / NOISIA
Double Bass monster is Raymond Herrera. I transcribed this for an assignment at music school in 2002 after I had been doing loads of double bass drumming with Empress in Thorns. Currently getting my feet back up to speed to play this again. Downloadable PDF ; Fear Factory – “No One”
“Technique has nothing to do with music. Technique is a tool, like a hammer… Having technique means I can concentrate on what to play and not how to play it. Technique becomes a safety net” – Thomas Lang Downloadable PDF’s ; Warm Ups – Triplet Independence -1 Warm Ups – Triplet Independence -2
These are simply 16th note permutations I wrote out with a straight up drum n bass pattern a loong time ago. Good hand and coordination builders. Getting some of these at 172bpm dnb tempo is another story though. I don’t think I ever did. In the second section, use one hand to play 8th notes … More High Hat Permutations – DNB Exercises
I got listening to hip hop when I joined Debasa around 2002. Prompting me to research and listen to a lot of music that I wasn’t previously very familiar with. It was a lesson in stripping things right down, keeping it super simple, but right in the pocket. Like our bassist used to say – … More 6 Famous Drum Breaks
The Roots were one of the first bands to draw me into hip hop. Still one of my all time favourite acts. Here’s a selection of grooves taken from the “Things Fall Apart” album. The track “Without a Doubt” is sampled from a Schoolly D track, which was also sourced from Wild Magnolias (Zigaboo Modeliste) … More THE ROOTS – Hip Hop Grooves
These are Jungle grooves repeated in the consecutive bar/s as a mirrored image – played in reverse. They’re a good variation on any looped beat you’ve been sitting on and a good exercise in shifting the backbeat off the ‘2’ and ‘4’ and moving the accents around the bar like a cut up sample. Note: … More REWIND! DNB Groove Exercises Part I
