Country/Western & Bluegrass Genre Drum Lessons
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Country/Western & Bluegrass Drum Lessons:
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Video: Watch this guy play drums in a Country band. Notice how high the hands are, the up-down motion of the RH, the 2-Feel BD with some + echo embellishment
Video – The Dead South’s In Hell I’ll Be In Good Company, 2-Beat Southern Bluegrass – follow the bass and finger clicking:
1 2 3 4 up-down swing motion for hard 2 & 4
______2 4 SD : add your own embellishment for buildups and transitions or to support other’s phrasing
1 3 BD 2-Feel: add your own embellishment for buildups and transitions or to support other’s phrasing
Video – Soggy Bottom Boys’ I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow from Brother, Where Art Thou? movie – Play a 2-beat:
1 2 3 4 up-down swing motion for hard 2 & 4
______2 (+) (+*) 4 (+) SD: add the + ghost-notes for train-beat feel, add (+*) to end a phrase or buildup
1 3 BD 2-Feel
Listen to Mike Burris play at 1:18 and 2:15 and 2:51 in our version of this song incorporate into another Folk Classic – Here I am playing it as a train beat on the snare and adding lots of rolls and accents to give it a Second-Line New Orleans feel.
Video – Alan Jackson’s Chattahoochee:
1 2 3 4 up-down swing motion for hard 2 & 4
______2 (+) 4 (+) SD: add the + ghost-notes for train-beat feel, to end a phrase or buildup
1 3 BD 2-Feel
Video – Johnny Cash’s Understand Your Man:
1 2 3 4 up-down swing motion for hard 2 & 4
______2 (a) 4 (a) SD Rim-Click: add the Swung “a” ghost-notes to create a 1 2 a3 4 a Swing beat
1 3 BD 2-Feel
Video – Hermes House Band’s version of John Denvers’ Country Roads: It’s Half-Time 2-beat with a heavy-Bass House-Beat Feel
(1) 2 (3) 4 up-down swing motion for very light (or nothing at all) on 1 & 3 but hard 2 & 4
_____ 3 SD: Half-time Feel
1 3 BD 2-Feel
Or you could think of it as this like a House-Beat or Disco-Rock:
_ + + + + up-down swing motion for very light (or nothing at all) on #’s but hard on +’s
____________2 4 SD BackBeats
1 3 BD
Video – Kenny Chesney – Pirate Flag has a Slower Half-Time Feel with a 2-Bar Phrase:
1 2 3 4 up-down swing motion for open Hi-Hat (or Tambourine) on 2 & 4
____________ 3 SD Half-Time BackBeat
1 2 (a) BD
1 3 HH foot-chokes to open on 2 & 4
But you can also think of this as:
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + up-down swing motion for open Hi-Hat (or Tambourine) on 2 & 4
____________ 2 4 SD BackBeats
1 + 3 + (a) BD
1 2 3 4 HH foot-chokes to open on the +’s
Video – Dierks Bentley’s What Was I Thinkin’ – Fast 2-Beat 2-bar phrases: start at 0.45sec
1 2 3 4 up-down swing motion for hard 2 & 4
______2 4 (+) SD : add (+) in 2nd bar or for buildups or transitions
1 3 (+) BD 2-Feel: add (+) in 2nd bar or for buildups or transitions
Train Beats:
Video – Learn how to play a full Train-Beat on the Snare – start at 2:00 min.
Video – Johnny Cash’s Walk the Line: Play 2-beat Galloping train on Snare with small sticks or brushes
1 2 + 3 4 +
R R L R R L Keep the RH 1 & 3 soft and 2 & 4 louder using an up-down swing, LH plays ghost taps
1 3 BD 2-Feel
Video – Johnny Cash’s Boy Named Sue: Play 2-Beat Galloping train on Snare as a 2-bar phrase
1 2 + 3 4 + | 1 2 + 3 4 + | 2nd bar can be played in 4th bar instead or to transition
R R L R R L R R L R R L | Keep the RH 1 & 3 soft and 2 & 4 louder using an up-down swing, LH taps_______________________________________
1 3 1 3 4 BD 2-Feel with 1/4 Pickup to end the phrase
Video – Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire: Play 2-beat Galloping train on Snare with small sticks or brushes
1 2 + 3 4 + | 1 2 + 3 + 4 + | 2nd bar can be played in 4th bar instead or to transition
R R L R R L R R L R L R L | Keep the RH 1 & 3 soft and 2 & 4 louder using an up-down swing,
_________________________________________LH plays ghost taps unless adding accents in transitions for syncopation
1 3 1 3 BD 2-Feel
More to come!
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