Exercises

Many drummers today use repetitive patterns in their playing of which they solo against. These repetitive patterns are called ostinatos. Simply put, an ostinato is a repetitive musical phrase...

Knowing how to develop ostinatos will give you independence, "The ability to play more than one rhythm at a time".

The following exercises are the "keys" to independence, as demonstrated in my video "INDEPENDENCE". If you cannot read music I suggest that you get together with a good music teacher and learn the basics of reading and writing music as reading music is not always necessary but it is always a helpful skill.

How we use these exercises is quite simple.

For any 16th note based rhythm that you want to solo over, you simply learn to play each exercise with the limb or limbs that you are not using. For example, a samba where the feet play a repetitive pattern. So you would then practice these exercises with your right and left hands separately until you can at least play the first fourteen exercises comfortably. Once you can do this, you will have a lot more freedom to play over the pattern that you will have been working on.

Exactly the same approach applies with the 8th note triplet permutations; an example to use would be to play a shuffle on your floor tom while playing 1/4 notes on your bass drum and hi-hat foot. You would then practice playing the triplet exercises with your free hand.

As far as the odd time exercises are concerned; for example, 16th Note Permutation exercises 15 to 20; and 8th Note Triplet Permutation exercises 12 – 15. Any good drum teacher can explain these to you, if such a teacher is not available to you, just contact me and I will do my best to explain them to you.

Please understand that independence is not difficult, it's just time consuming. If you do rush your practice routine, it will be difficult, so take your time and always your enjoy practice as drumming is meant to be fun.

The following 16th note based ostinatos will give your feet a strong foundation for playing Latin based grooves, which obviously can be applied to many musical situations. The aim is to be able to play all of the 16th note permutations against each ostinatos. Start with the first one and slowly work your way down the page.

Be patient and don't try to take "short cuts'. In time they will all be easy.

The following 8th note triplet based ostinatos are to be approached in exactly the same way as the 16th note based ostinatos. Just as with the 16th note based ostinatos the aim is to be able to play all of the 8th note triplet permutations against each ostinato. Enjoy!

Note: To learn these excercises effectively, use with Audio Samples

Please make a selection from the list below:
	16th Note Permutations
	16th Note Permutations Audio Samples
	8th Note Triplet Based Permutations
	8th Note Triplet Based Permutations Audio Samples

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