Ultimate Drummers Playlist II
by Dave Agee
A “fresh four” have been added to the playlist! Check ’em out!
I’ll be assembling weekly Spotify playlists for the drummers (and friends of drummers!) who are looking for some material-specific direction in their practice. Feel free to use these tracks to supplement your own practice goals – here are things to look for in each track…
1. Care of Cell 44 – The Zombies
Swingin’ and shufflin’ bass drum patterns. The pairing of the steady hi-hat on quarter notes and fairly active bass drum playing lots of upbeat 16ths makes this tune worthy of the shed.
2. Bell Bottom Blues – Derek and the Dominoes
This one came up in a class over the last couple weeks – a unicorn of snare drum patterns lives in the verses. Snare on 1 and 3, you might ask?! How can this be?! Well, it exists. In addition to altering your drumming reality, there are some wonderful 16th note fill ideas throughout and a killer pre-chorus floor tom vibe worth checking out.
3. Golden Age – TV on the Radio
Linear groove alert. 16th-y… and demands the drummer to get comfortable with getting the L hand to the snare drum on the “a of 3” in the pattern. Sure, try to transcribe and play the verse groove back, note for note… but allow yourself to just listen to the chorus, glean some ideas (w/ toms and a steadier stream of 16ths), and play the style using the vocab that you feel like you have a handle on.
4. Can’t Run But – Paul Simon
(***I’m thinking in “fast 4”) Oooooh man. Not a typical drumset part, but here’s my list. #1 – play the soupy 8th notes (shaker sounds) and really try to get inside that swinging feel. #2 – that marimba/mbira background texture that shows up in the beginning… play a similar repeating pattern like that around the kit, while grooving with the rest of the tune. #3 – play kick on beat 3 only, and then layer options #1 and #2 on top of it!
We’ll chat more about these tunes and break them down during the Drum Q+A hang Wednesday! See you then.