Cut time funk method: two-measure grooves

I've been working quite a bit with this cut time funk method from last year— part of what I've been doing instead of writing more blog posts. I'm not just writing junk to burn up bandwidth, man! Previously we had been applying a variety of two-handed hihat parts (which we get from the book Syncopation) over some one-measure funk grooves in 2/2. Now we're going to start using some four beat long patterns:

Get the pdf, we'll talk about what to do with this after the break.


Well, see the previous posts for instructions on what to do with these— the basic, intermediate and advanced methods. As a warm up for doing all that stuff, play all the grooves with the following snare and hihat parts:

Alternating 8th notes, catching the snare drum on the 3 with the right hand:

Quarter notes, right hand only, playing the snare drum with the right:

All left hands, on the &s only. We'll move the written snare hit on 3 to the closest available &:

We'll default to the & of 2, but you could also put it on the & of 3. I usually try to avoid doing a unison between the bass drum and the snare drum, but do whatever sounds good to you.

A complete beat would look like this, then— beat number 2:

Again, put the snare hit wherever it sounds good to you. These are just suggestions. On beat 6 I like this:

You should then be ready to start using hand parts from Syncopation, as I outlined in the earlier posts— mixed rhythm, both hands on the hihat, with natural sticking. We use Lessons 4 and 12, Syncopation Sets 1 and 2, and Exercises 1-8 in the new edition. Or pages 10-11 and 29-44. It's a lot of stuff to work through; find a way of progressing with it that works for you. Personally, in one day I can work on all the exercises from pp. 33-44 with one or two of the grooves. That might take half an hour. Another way would be to do all the grooves with, say, three or four of the patterns from the book. It's quite a bit more fun to do this with a playalong loop.