Here’s groove of the week #67:

This week we’re augmenting a 16th note bass drum groove with ghost notes, the bell of the ride cymbal and an open hi-hat… too much? Let’s find out!

Get The Groove

Let’s check out the basic 16th note bass drum groove we’ll be building on:

Hopefully, you can already play this groove, if not, go slowly at first and count out loud; note that we’re playing on the ride cymbal already, and not the hi-hat.

Our first addition to this groove will be the bell of the ride cymbal. We’ll play the downbeats (1,2,3,4) on the bell of the ride cymbal and the upbeats ( the “&”s) on the body of the ride cymbal. Try to get a consistent motion here. If you’re not used to doing this, you may want to practice just the ride cymbal on it’s own at first & then maybe try it with some simpler beats. You want to get it on autopilot.

Our next step is to add in the ghost notes. Here’s what that will look like:

The secret of drumming, as always, is: Go slow & count. If you’re having trouble with this groove, slow it down and count it out.

The final piece of the puzzle is the open hi-hat on the “&” of 2. Yes! You can add open hi-hats to grooves even when you’re playing the ride cymbal. I use my left hand to play the open hi-hat on the “&” of 2 & I close the hi-hat on beat 3 with my left foot. Here’s the full groove:

Check out groove of the week #59 for another groove where the left hand plays the hi-hat while the right is otherwise occupied.

Take It Further

Let’s explore the idea of using the left hand to add open hi-hats to groove further. Here’s some grooves to start with.

For the first variation we’re adding open hi-hats on the “&” of 3 and the “&” of 4 while playing a simple 8th note rock beat. The hi-hat is closed with the left foot on beat 4 and beat 1.

The second variation sees us adding open hi-hats on the “&” of 1 and the “&” of 3. The hi-hat closes on beats 2 & 4 with the snare drum.

Try adding the bell of the ride cymbal on the downbeats to both of these grooves too.

The final groove has us playing the open hi-hat on all the off-beats. The right hand has moved from the ride cymbal to the floor tom to provide a low end groove & the bass drum has got a little syncopated. Good luck!

I hope you’ve enjoyed groove of the week #67. If you’re in Singapore and you’d like a free trial drum lesson send us a message on the contact us page.