Shuffle/swing

This is the third in a series of three quick lessons which will focus on three areas of drumkit playing:

1)Paradiddle beats
2)Compound time - 6/8
3)Swing/shuffle notation

In this third quick lesson, I am going to demonstrate two examples of playing something with a shuffle or swing feel to it - where the normal 'straight-eight' subdivision of two notes is replaced by three notes, or a triplet. In these examples, the first and third notes of a triplet are played in place of the typical 'half' notes played in a subdivision of 2, creating the swing.

1) This first example is a basic swing or shuffle beat:







and here is a video demonstration:




2) Here is a slightly more difficult example:








and here is a video demonstration:




These are only ideas, aimed at developing some sort of approach to the concept. Hopefully, you will be able to use these examples to sharpen your own skills and create your own ideas.

Compound time - 6/8

This is the second in a series of three quick lessons which will focus on three areas of drumkit playing:

1)Paradiddle beats
2)Compound time - 6/8
3)Swing/shuffle notation

In this quick lesson, I am going to give two examples of beats on 6/8, which is a form of compound time. The phrase compound time describes a time signature where the upper number of the two numbers which represent the time signature is a subdivision of 3, instead of 2, which is known as common time.


1) The first exercise is a simple example of a 6/8 beat:






Below is a video demonstration:






2) Here is a slightly more difficult example:







along with a video demonstration:




These are only ideas, aimed at developing some sort of approach to the concept. Hopefully, you will be able to use these examples to sharpen your own skills and create your own ideas.

Paradiddle beats

This is the first in a series of three quick lessons which will focus on three areas of drumkit playing:

1)Paradiddle beats
2)Compound time - 6/8
3)Swing/shuffle notation

Here, I am going to give two examples of paradiddles between the hands on the hi-hats and snare, with the addition of the bass drum to turn these patterns into full beats.

1) The first exercise is a relatively easy example, written here:






and here is a video demonstration:






2) This is another example of a paradiddle beat, however this one is a little more difficult. Here it is, written:






And here is a video demonstration:






These are only ideas, aimed at developing some sort of approach to the concept. Hopefully, you will be able to use these examples to sharpen your own skills and create your own ideas.