The Other Simple Phrase - Stickings

This is the companion or opposite phrase, to the simple phrase that I posted in January - Idea #21.

In this case, we are going from the up beat to a down beat, which again provides tension and release. It is another very common and powerful rhythmic figure in jazz and jazz drumming.

The thing to remember with these exercises is that you must always start from the up beat. This means that in Exercises 3, 4, 3A, 4A, you don't play the down beat until you repeat the figure, and that the figure carries over the bar line.

Pay special attention to Figs. 5 and 5A where this figure is placed into a three/four bar. There are a lot of ideas that can be developed from this alone.

You must try to sing the accents as you play them; imagine it is a big band playing the figure!

Focus on the musical phrase and not the sticking. (Play the 8th notes straight and swung.)

Once comfortable you can start to experiment with placing the accents on different sounds - toms, cymbals etc.

Both this phrase and Idea #21 have very deep musical applications. Make sure you know them well.

The full set of exercises are in the PDF, including the phrase played as triplets.

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.