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Advanced Blues: Syncopated and Polyrhythmic Feels

This document provides advanced polyrhythmic and syncopated drumming techniques for playing the blues. It begins with the basic blues drumming pattern and then introduces more complex ideas like adding 16th note triplets to the ride cymbal or hi-hat patterns. It also explores polyrhythms where the feet group the 8th note triplet pulse in twos. Examples are provided of incorporating these techniques over blues and jazz progressions. Videos on the author's website further demonstrate applying these concepts.

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Yoon Ji-hoon
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471 views2 pages

Advanced Blues: Syncopated and Polyrhythmic Feels

This document provides advanced polyrhythmic and syncopated drumming techniques for playing the blues. It begins with the basic blues drumming pattern and then introduces more complex ideas like adding 16th note triplets to the ride cymbal or hi-hat patterns. It also explores polyrhythms where the feet group the 8th note triplet pulse in twos. Examples are provided of incorporating these techniques over blues and jazz progressions. Videos on the author's website further demonstrate applying these concepts.

Uploaded by

Yoon Ji-hoon
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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IN THE POCKET

Advanced Blues
Syncopated and Polyrhythmic Feels
by Jim Payne

MUSIC KEY
E verybody loves the blues. That’s actually
how I started as a drummer: I had my
sticks and practice pad, and I played along
to the blues. (The side of the pad was used
as the cymbal, and the center was the snare.)
I worked this way for several years, and soon I was experi- Of course, you don’t have to play the 16ths every time.
menting with more advanced ideas for playing the blues. In
this article we’ll go through a few of those concepts, namely
syncopation and polyrhythms.
First let’s touch on the basics of blues drumming. Count
using an 8th-note-triplet subdivision (“1-trip-let, 2-trip-let,
3-trip-let, 4-trip-let”). One basic blues beat involves the right
hand on the closed hi-hat and the left hand on 2 and 4 on the The same right-hand pattern can be played on the ride
snare, with the bass drum playing a variety of patterns. cymbal. Normally we would play 2 and 4 with the hi-hat
foot, but instead let’s add a polyrhythm underneath. It’s
best to start with a simple 8th-note-triplet pattern with the
right hand until you get this concept. Then add the 16th-
note triplets.
You could count the triplet pulse of the hi-hat foot pattern
as “1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2.” This pattern really helps spice up a groove
and add some excitement. Just be careful to use it only when
it’s appropriate, like when a song is building to a climax.

Now let’s add some ghost notes. Play a double stroke with
the left hand on the second note of the triplet.

Dragging or buzzing the left hand into beats 1 and 3 scoots


the rhythm along.
( )( )

In Example 4, notice how the bass drum creates a


polyrhythm that establishes a new pulse but then lands right
back on beat 1. The basic triplet pulse is grouped in twos to Now let’s have both feet play this polyrhythm. The right-
create this effect. Instead of counting “3-trip-let, 4-trip-let” on hand pattern is basic 8th-note triplets. The left hand plays
the last two beats of the measure, you could count the same backbeats on the snare. The feet are grouping the 8th-note-
pulse as “1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2,” and then you’re back to 1. (More on triplet pulse in twos. This sets up the polyrhythm.
this later.)

Once you have that down, add some ghost notes with the
Now let’s alter the right-hand pattern by adding some left hand. Just be sure to keep the backbeats solid—that’s
16ths. Play two notes for one count of the triplet. In this case, what everybody keys into.
play two 16th notes on the second part of the triplet.

78 MODERN DRUMMER • September 2011


So far we’ve been dealing with one-measure phrases This last groove has the regular jazz ride pattern on
using triplet subdivisions. Now let’s apply the rhythms from top and some tricky left-hand/right-foot independence
the previous examples to a three-over-four feel, by turning underneath. The result is a denser-sounding polyrhythmic
the triplet subdivisions into quarter notes. In Example 11, blues groove.
the backbeat now falls on beat 4 in the first measure and on
beat 2 in the third measure. The groove sounds similar to
what’s in Example 8, but the framework is different. This
polyrhythmic approach is one way to add some sophisti-
cated jazzy concepts to the blues.

At moderndrummer.com and in the Modern Drummer


Digital Edition, you’ll find videos of me playing all of the
examples in this article, plus two additional clips where I
play various rhythms like these over a twelve-bar blues
Example 12 applies the same concept over a backward form, so you can get an idea of how to apply these concepts
jazz ride pattern. in a real-world situation. There are a lot of ways to play the
blues. Go ahead and invent some more!

Jim Payne has played with Maceo Parker and the J.B.
Horns and has produced records for Medeski Martin &
Wood. He teaches in New York City and online, and his
book/DVD Advanced Funk Drumming is available
through Modern Drummer Publications. For more info,
Here’s a variation using the standard jazz ride in the right check out funkydrummer.com.
hand with a different bass drum pattern.

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