Hi everyone. Welcome to lesson 6 - Single stroke rolls. In this blog/video lesson I try and give you a quick look at how versatile the single stroke roll can be. In the first part of this video, I show how to take a basic single stroke groove and apply it in many different ways around the kit utilising all of the cymbals and toms. The sticking stays the same (R L R L R L R L) but used on different parts of the kit, the grooves sound very different! I have recorded examples of grooves using 16th note single strokes and triplets. After the groove demonstrations I have a quick look at fills. Experiment with your own but don't forget to count.. If you're playing a groove using 16th notes, your fill should also contain a maximum of 16 notes also. The final section looks at accents and how you can alter the position of your accented notes to create 'normal time', half time and double time feels. I hope you all enjoy looking at single stroke rolls. Next lesson, I will be taking a look at flam rudiments.   See you all soon   Graeme   https://youtu.be/sMc3FV1s2tA

Hi everyone. Welcome to lesson 5. This lesson will take a look at double strokes, the basic technique and a few combinations for you to try around the kit and incorporate the cymbals. I begin this lesson by showing a double stroke roll using controlled strokes. I then demonstrate the same roll again but this time, I use rebound technique. When you start getting the hang of rebound strokes (hold the sticks correctly please!), you can start exploring some of the different combinations. There are many different combinations but I have selected only 3 for this short video lesson. In this lesson, you will learn about 5 Stroke rolls, 6 stroke rolls and 9 stroke rolls. I've tried to come up with a way of using each different combo utilising the cymbals. The 5 strokes finish with a crash, the 6 strokes are used as a groove between the ride and hats and the 9 stroke is played as a groove on the hats. https://youtu.be/zR8oua4P7vw BTW.. if you have a keen eye, you may notice that my cymbal set up has changed. I'm now using a full set of 'Radiant' cymbals. My set up for this video includes a set of 14" hi-hats,  a 16" crash (left),  an 18" crash (right) and a 20" ride. Hope you enjoy video 5. Next lesson, I will be taking a look at a single stroke rolls and how to create some interesting grooves and fills.   See you on the next one!   Graeme

In this instance in the release of Tigran Hamasyan’s CD «   The call within » the piece «  Levitation 21 » caught my attention and gave me the idea to write a new lesson with would be an initiation to accompany with septuplets.  In this song, in this particular piece and as per usual Arthur Hnatek plays in an extraordinary way he is so at ease with this style of music. Generally when you’re playing in 7/8, you would count in following groups of notes: 2+2+3 or 2+3+2 or 3+2+2. As for the septuplets, since you play these faster, you would then have to count differently, in two unequal parts with will create a sway to it will be easy to adapt.Therefore you would count it more this way, at least that’s my suggestion: 4+3 or 3+4.  What changes here is the group of 3 notes, it can be: 2+1 or 1+2. The group of 4 will always be played: 2+2 but think of it as group of 4.  This lesson is divided into two parts. First one is easy because the exercises are played in a simple way, the second one is less so because we add gosh notes. Each part has four rhythmic examples by their application in a four bar phrase with music. https://youtu.be/wnEdt9ozpfk

In this instance in the release of Tigran Hamasyan’s CD «   The call within » the piece «  Levitation 21 » caught my attention and gave me the idea to write a new lesson with would be an initiation to accompany with septuplets.  In this song, in this particular piece and as per usual Arthur Hnatek plays in an extraordinary way he is so at ease with this style of music. Generally when you’re playing in 7/8, you would count in following groups of notes: 2+2+3 or 2+3+2 or 3+2+2. As for the septuplets, since you play these faster, you would then have to count differently, in two unequal parts with will create a sway to it will be easy to adapt.Therefore you would count it more this way, at least that’s my suggestion: 4+3 or 3+4.  What changes here is the group of 3 notes, it can be: 2+1 or 1+2. The group of 4 will always be played: 2+2 but think of it as group of 4.  This lesson is divided into two parts. First one is easy because the exercises are played in a simple way, the second one is less so because we add gosh notes. Each part has four rhythmic examples by their application in a four bar phrase with music. https://youtu.be/2Ra_QtD0OCg