Linear Groove #1986458845784 - Dave Major

Hi guys, welcome back into the Drum Central YouTube channel. Time for another lick of the week and today we're going to be breaking down a linear groove that I've started messing around with in my practice. So linear, just as you don't know, means that no two limbs line up at once so it's kind of like a semi-linear thing this. But I've been trying to experiment around with using my left foot and more kind of syncopated bass drums in my practice so this is what I've come up with. Grab the pdf that's in the description below and this will all become clear. So the lick itself is based around 16th notes, so that means we're going to divide the main pulse into four notes and count them. One e and a, two e and a, three e and a, four e and a. So the way these licks or these grooves that don't have a set right hand pattern or ghost notes or anything like that, the best way to learn them in my experience is to do them chunk by chunk. So we'll do the first four notes then we'll do the second four notes etc etc. So the first four notes are a really classic linear fusion-y phrase which is to go right, left, left, kick. Now I'm playing that right on the hi-hat on the one so I'm going to place a kick drum at the same time. So that sounds like this. That's going to lead us into beat number two which is going to be a backbeat on the two with it on the snare drum, right hand on the hi-hat, ghosted snare drum on the and and then a hi-hat again. So two e and a, put it together, this is what we get. Beat number three we're going to start it with a double on the left so it's going to be three e, ghosted of course, then a bass drum and then we're going to play the a of three on the hi-hat and I sometimes play a bass drum at the same time. You can choose not to, it's up to you. So beat three sounds like this on its own. Put it together we get this and we're going to wrap it all up with a backbeat on four again then we're going to have, that's the snare drum with the left hand then e and with our right hand and then a ghosted a and on the and of what is four we're going to do a little hi-hat lift again should you wish. So it's going to be four e and a, that's our groove. So the whole thing with the metronome, nice and slow at 60, sounds like this. And now slightly faster at 90 beats a minute and now let's go full pelt at 120 beats a minute. Now before I leave you there are a couple of points where you could substitute a bass drum for a left foot in particular that first bass drum on the a of one. So instead of having this you could have that which sounds in the whole context like this. Just a lighter texture should you want. You can start using that with the right cymbal and stuff like that. Again with all of these licks, expand upon them try them in different orchestrations, reorder them, make them your own. I hope you guys dug this lesson. If you did please hit subscribe and get us to 20,000 followers and I'll see you next week.