Let’s get groovy!

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This week we’re adding a simple 16th note triplet flourish to a very common groove. The two 16th note triplets are played as ghost notes between beat 1 and the “&” of 1 and add a bit more texture to the groove.

Get The Groove

Let’s start by looking at the basic groove we’ll be adding the 16th note triplets too.

Hopefully you can play this basic groove already. If not, start practicing!

We’re going to add two 16th note triplet ghost notes into this groove between beat 1 and the “&” of 1. It’ll be played as a soft double stroke with the left hand.

You may want to practice the timing and the volume of the ghost notes before trying the full groove. Try this exercise first:

Try to make each group of 4 notes smooth and even & keep the volume of the ghost notes down.

Now lets put the ghost notes into the groove.

Practice the groove slowly at first. Try to make a big difference between the ghosted snare drum notes and the non-ghosted notes.

Take It Further

Sixteenth note triplet ghost notes can be added to any groove to give the groove a little something extra. Here is the same basic groove with 16th note triplets added in a couple of different places to give you some idea what you can do with them.

The first variation puts the ghost notes between beat 3 and the “&” of 3. This placement requires good stick control as you have the loud snare drum on the “ah” of 2 right before the ghost notes. For an addition variation, try ghosting the snare drum on the “ah” of 2 also.

The second variation adds a little flourish at the end of the bar. Try playing these two ghost notes on the hi-hat instead of the snare for a different effect.

The final variation puts all three variations together to create a busy groove.

I hope you’ve enjoyed groove of the week #83. If you’re in Singapore and you’d like a free trial drum lesson, send us a message via the contact us page.