Groove Skeleton Overlays

Groove Skeleton Overlays

One of the main premises of my book Melodic Stick Control was to simplify the task of learning to embellish melodies, specifically by limiting  sticking choices (of which there are numerable) and organizing them into 6 sticking concepts.  At some point (possibly inspired by Gary Chester’s dubbing the bass drum voice the “Melody” in is book The New Breed) I experimented with treating the bass drum AND the snare parts of the grooves I have learned as embellish-able melodies, and tried overlaying various sticking concepts from Melodic Stick Control over said groove parts (skeleteton).  What I discovered was that not only was this a fun challenge, but it also blurs the line between soloing and grooving…in a good way!  Practicing this way can add more groove to your solos, while at the same time give you more tools for embellishing your favorite grooves.

The free Groove Overlay exercises at DrumFillosophy.com only utilize the Alternating Singles sticking concept for now, but I recommend applying the other 5 sticking concepts from Melodic Stick Control eventually to expand your Groove Overlay vocabulary (yes, a shameless plea to buy my book HERE!).

Some final quick practicing tips:

1. All non accents on the snare should be played very low/ghosted.
2. 2nd line of all sticking notations is for the repeat in order to continue the alternation of singles (also to promote ambidexterity!).
3. I highly recommend playing along with the recordings that each Groove Skeleton Overlay is associated with (however, the metronome is a good option when any given overlay is too difficult at the songs tempo or 8th/16th note interpretation).
4. All 8th note triplet overlays will result in a swing 8th note interpretation (for all &’s), and all 16th note triplets (sextuplets) will result in a swing 16th note interpretation (for all e’s & a’s).
5. All crashes played with the left hand should be played on a cymbal positioned on the left.  Right handed crashes can be played on cymbals positioned on the right or left.
6. “Blur the lines” between grooving and soloing – for a final challenge, alternate between the original groove and various overlays.