The Other Simple Phrase - Phrases and Unisons

Following on from the last post, this is the page of phrases and unisons working from the upbeat to the downbeat.

Remember to start from the up beat and play the downbeat on the repeat for variations in Exercises 3A, 3B and 4A, 4B.

Work slowly, sing the phrases and listen to where it resolves, especially over the bar line.

The first set of exercises just focus on placing the figure in the cymbal, then you can add the snare drum in unison, followed by the bass drum (See the PDF for the full exercises).

Again, be careful with the 2 over 3 polyrhythm (Figure 5 in the pdf). It is a powerful musical figure.

These patterns have a lot of musical applications when played both swung and straight.

Once comfortable you can start to experiment with placing the snare part on different sounds around the kit.

You'll find the full set of exercises in the PDF.

This was originally posted on "Jazz Drumming Blog" and in the "Ideas for Jazz Drumming" e-book (no longer available). This post has been revised from the original.