Jazz comping speed - wrist/finger

T

Takla

Junior Member
I recently start practicing the comping exercise of "The art of bop drumming" by John Riley. But I found when I try to speed up the tempo, my left hand cant follow up the speed.

I know that using finger stroke would be an better option in playing fast tempo than wrist stroke, but i wanna try to build up my solid wrist stroke first.

I just wonder when will you turn your wrist stroke into finger stroke in doing some stuff like this :
cE70RSR
http://imgur.com/cE70RSR, at 150bpm? 160 or 180 or even higher?

Also, I got the same problem on my bass drum comping too, any suggestions or tips on both of them. I play all heel down now, would heel-toe or other techniques also be fine on Jazz drumming?

Thanks!!

P.S.: I'm a traditional grip player
 
Honestly, go back to basics: look at your hands, get a teacher to help, play relaxed, etc. Try not to think of phrasing when comping as individual notes; phrase notes together in gestures where one note has emphasis.

As for your feet: stay relaxed and keep practicing. There are no short cuts.
 
The LH doubles don't need to be loud. Maybe get on a practice pad or snare drum and work on anything with a lot of left hand doubles, playing in the p-mp range-- with stick heights around 1-3". Developing a good low-volume shuffle will help-- try this page. Playing matched, I don't use much finger at all with my LH- you can do these with just a normal trad grip rotation stroke-- plus a little rebound, and maybe some finger, at the faster speeds.

With the bass drum, it will help to practice letting the beater rebound-- since the rebound is kind of weak, and dependent on the pedal, you have to practice picking up your toe fast after each note. If you practice everything with a full rebound for awhile, the doubles should start happening. You don't need any other special techniques.

The technique will come as you continue working on it, but also don't overestimate the importance of the doubles. You can do most of what you need to do in jazz just with single notes, on the snare and bass- be learning how to make music with them while you're getting this technical thing sorted out.
 
toddbishop said:
The LH doubles don't need to be loud. Maybe get on a practice pad or snare drum and work on anything with a lot of left hand doubles, playing in the p-mp range-- with stick heights around 1-3". Developing a good low-volume shuffle will help-- try this page. Playing matched, I don't use much finger at all with my LH- you can do these with just a normal trad grip rotation stroke-- plus a little rebound, and maybe some finger, at the faster speeds.

With the bass drum, it will help to practice letting the beater rebound-- since the rebound is kind of weak, and dependent on the pedal, you have to practice picking up your toe fast after each note. If you practice everything with a full rebound for awhile, the doubles should start happening. You don't need any other special techniques.

The technique will come as you continue working on it, but also don't overestimate the importance of the doubles. You can do most of what you need to do in jazz just with single notes, on the snare and bass- be learning how to make music with them while you're getting this technical thing sorted out.
Click to expand...

Total agreement with Todd.

I've worked out of the Riley book and I love it. It's a great resource.

One thing I think you should focus on is staying relaxed while practicing and while performing! When attempting to play a lot of notes it's easy for the action to lock up, which directly comes between what you're thinking and what you're making happen. Starting with maybe a bar or a line at a time in the book and spacing each repetition out with playing time could give you time to really work in keeping your left hand relaxed.

Good luck!
 
Check out page 9 or the Riley book and just work through those for awhile at a nice slow tempo. Take your time and gradually speed up. I don't know you, but I feel like maybe you're just trying to move through it too fast. Those same page 9 exercises work well with the bass drum too.

Regarding at what tempo you should switch from wrist to finger stroke; that is like a singer's falsetto. There's a break point that is different for everyone, but I wouldn't be overly concerned with trying to find it or change it. If you start at a slow tempo and very gradually pick up the pace, those sorts of things just find a way to work themselves out. I've never really spent time thinking about when I'm going to change from wrist stroke to finger stroke. If, as Todd pointed out, you concern yourself with making music a lot of these things will work themselves out naturally.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top