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Blues

Contents of this lesson:

What will you do when your whole band sings out of tune?
Maybe you will feel a little bit sad and it's time for THE BLUES.
The Triplets we did last time are very much related to that! But today it's called "blues" drumming.

There's a difference again in counting the patterns, if you've got a 4-quarter-beat in mind.
The pattern is a 6/8 note pattern, i.e. 6 notes that fall in the space of 8, like you've done with the 3 notes in the space of 4 (3/4).
You play on the first count the BD and on number 4 the SD, and the basic Blues pattern looks like this looks like this.


    1) 
                    1....2....3....4....5....6.....
                      _________      _________
                     /    3    \    /    3    \   
                     ___________    ___________
                     |    |    |    |    |    |
                     |    |    |    |    |    |
           HH       X    X    X    X    X    X
                |--------------------------------|
                |                                |
           SD   |:-----------------0------------:|
                |                 |              |
                |-----------------|--------------|
           BD       0
                   |
                   |

Of course you vary this one by adding bassdrums on counts 6 and 2 (of the next beat).
It gives you almost the same feeling like playing the patterns "+ 3" and "3 +"
Note: if you combine the patterns of "2)" you'll play a 12/8 pattern!

 
     2)
              _________      _________         _________      _________
             /    3    \    /    3    \       /    3    \    /    3    \
             ___________    ___________       ___________    ___________
             |    |    |    |    |    |       |    |    |    |    |    |
             |    |    |    |    |    |       |    |    |    |    |    |
   HH       X    X    X    X    X    X       X    X    X    X    X    X
        |-------------------------------| |-------------------------------|  
        |                               | |                               |
   SD   |:-----------------0-----------:| |:----------------0------------:|
        |                 |             | |                |              |
        |-----------------|-------------| |----------------|--------------|
   BD       0             |           0      0    0       
           |              |          |      |    |
           |              ____________      ___________
                                       
                           \____3___/       \____3____/

For those of you who think this is only old blues stuff, listen to Metallica's Nothing else matters, if you want to hear the basic pattern combined with the 6/1 pattern!

And now ... some other variations, (that you probably would have found yourself, too) you might like.


      3) A bassdrum on every first count:
  
               ___      ___      ___      ___  
              / 3 \    / 3 \    / 3 \    / 3 \
             _______  _______  _______  _______
             |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  
     HH     X  X  X  X  X  X  X  X  X  X  X  X
          |-------------------------------------|
          |                                     |
     SD   |:---------0-----------------0-------:|
          |         |                 |         |
          |---------|-----------------|---------|
     BD     0        0        0        0
           |        |        |        |
           |        |        |        |


    4) variating with the bassdrum: watch this symbol ("*") for it means 
       a "REST"!!

               ___      ___      ___      ___
              / 3 \    / 3 \    / 3 \    / 3 \
             _______  _______  _______  _______
             |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
   HH       X  X  X  X  X  X  X  X  X  X  X  X
          |-------------------------------------|
          |                                     |
   SD     |:---------0-----------------0-------:|
          |         |                 |         |
          |---------|-----------------|---------|
   BD       0     0           0  0      
           |     |           |  |  *  
           -------           -------
            \ 3 /             \ 3 /
             ---               ---


     5) the same!
               ___      ___      ___      ___
              / 3 \    / 3 \    / 3 \    / 3 \
             _______  _______  _______  _______    
             |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
   HH       X  X  X  X  X  X  X  X  X  X  X  X
          |-------------------------------------|
          |                                     |
   SD     |:---------0-----------------0-------:|
          |         |                 |         |
          |---------|-----------------|---------|
   BD       0       |      0  0       |   0     
           |        |     |  |        |  |   *
           |        -------  |        --------

       6) also fun with more snares!
               ___      ___      ___      ___
              / 3 \    / 3 \    / 3 \    / 3 \
             _______  _______  _______  _______
             |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
    HH      X  X  X  X  X  X  X  X  X  X  X  X
          |-------------------------------------|
          |                                     |
    SD    |:---------0--------------0--0-------:|
          |         |              |  |         |
          |---------|--------------|--|---------|
            0     0 |      0  0    |  |      0
           |     |  |     |  |     |  |     |
           -------  -------  -------  -------

You will of course combine the patterns and alternate them with the triplets you learned in the previous lesson, won't you?

Well that's it for this time.... See you at lesson number 7!

Here's to previous lessons:

Have fun with Blues!

Any questions or remarks? Then write to [harald_o@dds.nl]