Virgil Donati - Clinic Brazil

Layering Grooves In Zones By dividing parts between the left and right zones, you can create some amazing, pulsating rhythmic shapes. In this example, the ultimate aim is to combine groups of fives and sevens, while keeping control of the 1/4 note pulse. This is the challenge. Feeling the pulse is what will anchor it and make it groove, so don’t forget to count. Of course you can create groupings of your own, including threes and fours, fours and fives etc. Examples 1 & 2 should be mastered feeling the 4/4 pulse before you try to combine them.

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Track 13 / 100 bpm Track 14 / 160 bpm

Groups Of Five

Track 15 / 120 bpm Track 16 / 180 bpm

Groups Of Seven

DRUMscene Issue 62

Layering Grooves In Zones - 2 SEVEN - FIVE (Triplets) Now I combine the seven and five groupings. In the first four measures I play the sevens in the right zone, and the fives in the left zone. From measure 5 to 8, I reverse the parts, and play fives in the right zone, and sevens in the left zone. Notice that when I make the transition, the right hand moves to the x-hat (on my right), and the left hand moves from the piccolo to the main snare.

Track 12

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Layering Grooves In Zones - 3 SEVEN - FIVE (Sixteenths) Here is the same combination of seven and five phrased as sixteenth notes instead of triplets. Changing your thought process from triplets to sixteenths will inevitably mean you will have to re-learn the feel, even though the patterns remain the same. For this variation, I have written it without reversing the parts after four measures, instead just playing it through to the end of measure 7, which is where the seven grouping completes the cycle.

Track 11

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4 - 5 - 6 - 7 Groove In the course of developing my skills in executing polyrhythms, I am discovering applications that can groove in fascinating, unconventional ways. I would like to share one of my favourite ideas, combining 4, 5, 6 and 7 beats and making it groove. It goes without saying that this requires a good understanding of polyrhythms. Firstly I have isolated its individual parts for clarity, and then combined them in two variations (Ex. 5 & 6) I like to apply this using various sound sources. As written, I’m using the feet on the main hi-hats, and cable hats, the right hand on an x-hat, and left hand on snare. For a big powerful sound, the second option is to substitute the bass-drums for the hi-hats, the right floor-tom in place of the x-hat, and the left hand on the left floor tom.

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EXTRACTS FROM VIRGIL DONATI’S DOUBLE BASS DRUM FREEDOM

CHAPTER 4 - Creative Single Stroke Development

article

Learning to play syncopated rhythms with the feet is a challenging and pivotal skill to develop. The fact that you can’t rely on a constant stream of notes as an anchor introduces a significant independence factor. However, once we develop this important skill, it can open the doors to creative expression with the double bass drums.

3 Stroke Singles

5 Stroke Singles

5 Stroke Singles in 4/4

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CHAPTER 8 - Developing Paradiddles With The Feet The Paradiddle will further enhance your proficiency on the pedals, but apart from the technical benefits, unless you are playing two bass drums with a contrast in pitch, it will not be of any obvious advantage to play paradiddles with the feet. The approach I have taken to render it an effective pattern, is to insert a beat in between the double of each paradiddle. I believe this idea generates exciting rhythms, which can be combined in many ways. The basic paradiddle forms should be practised at first, before inserting the extra beat.

Single Paradiddle

article Single Paradiddle with Insert

Double Paradiddle

Double Paradiddle with Insert

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