Basic funk ideas: four iterations - 01

A companion to our Basic funk with mixed stickings page from the other day. Here we take that same set of patterns, run them through some standard funk/fusion orchestrations, and learn to transition smoothly between them. I think you'll see the logic of each orchestration as you work through them— it's easier to get it that way than by me long-windedly explaining what's going on.

You can see that underneath all of the other stuff, the cymbal part in column A is just 8th notes; feel free to substitute any other standard ride rhythm you want. With column B you can accent the 2, or accent the cymbal notes and play the snare drum notes as filler. Column C is an inversion of the other rhythms;

Here's how I work on this page. I play through each line:
- Each measure 8 times.
- Each measure 4 times, 2 times, and 1 time in the following combinations: AB, AC, AD, BC, BD, CD. For example, the AB combination would be played:

||: A 4x | B 4x :||
||: A 2x | B 2x :||
||: A 1x | B 1x :||

You could also try something like:

||: A 2x | B 1x | C 1x :|| 

or 

||: A 2x | C 1x | D 1x :||

The patterns should flow easily into each other, except there are a few places where you have to do three BD notes in a row, or you have to play a double stop on the SD/FT on the 'a' of 2, followed by a cymbal or hihat on the downbeat. At faster tempos you have the option of smoothing those transitions by omitting the circled note— or anything else that's slowing you up.

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Basic funk with mixed stickings

Bad title, because I prefer to think of these as based on a cymbal rhythm, not a sticking, but whatever. Next title will be so apt it will blow the doors off this place. These are some very standard Mike Clark-like funk patterns (looking for a link— did I not post my transcription of Butterfly?), written for maximum playability. Column A has a simple bass drum pattern, column B has the bass drum on all cymbal notes, column C has a different, perhaps hipper bass drum pattern.

Play each pattern individually, then combine patterns to make four beat phrases. To make a long-but-reasonable-length practice session out of it, restrict yourself to playing combinations within each column. You can leave out the bass drum on 1 off the second measure of your combined phrases for something a little more syncopated— do not value super-hip, super-syncopated stuff over a strong quarter note pulse, however.

With the left hand part you have the option of exaggerating the dynamics, David Garibaldi-style, with super tiny ghost notes and a strong rim shot on the 2. Me, I've been evening out the volume of the accented/un-accented notes to emphasize the interlocking rhythms of the different parts— especially at slow-to-medium tempos.

When playing the right hand on the ride cymbal, it's not a bad idea to go ahead and do our standard left hand moves to the tom toms.

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