Subdivision Workout - Snare Drum
This is a great workout to get your hands moving and mind thinking. Start with your right hand and alternate hands throughout entire exercise. Your bass drum is the "connective tissue" (as Tommy Igoe would say) of this exercise. It moves along at quarter notes regardless of what your hands are doing on top. Be sure to play this example with a metronome (set to quarter notes for your bass drum) to make sure that you aren't speeding up or slowing down as your hands playing the various rhythms. Once you are comfortable at the above speed, be sure to try different tempos. How fast can you go while maintaining accuracy and comfort? After you are comfortable with right hand lead, try switching and starting the exercise with your left hand.
At any given point as you are playing various grooves and fills you should be able to think and count in these various subdivisions. This allows you to play faster or slower fills while maintaining the tempo of the song.
Be sure to count the snare drum part aloud in the above example:
Quarter Notes: 1, 2, 3, 4
Eighth Notes: 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + (one, and, two...)
Eighth Triplets: Trip-a-let,Trip-a-let, Trip-a-let, Trip-a-let
Sixteenth notes: 1 e + a, 2 e + a, 3 e + a, 4 e + a (one, e, and, uh, two...)
Sixteenth Triplets: Trip-a-let Trip-a-let, Trip-a-let Trip-a-let, Trip-a-let Trip-a-let, Trip-a-let Trip-a-let
At any given point as you are playing various grooves and fills you should be able to think and count in these various subdivisions. This allows you to play faster or slower fills while maintaining the tempo of the song.
Be sure to count the snare drum part aloud in the above example:
Quarter Notes: 1, 2, 3, 4
Eighth Notes: 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + (one, and, two...)
Eighth Triplets: Trip-a-let,Trip-a-let, Trip-a-let, Trip-a-let
Sixteenth notes: 1 e + a, 2 e + a, 3 e + a, 4 e + a (one, e, and, uh, two...)
Sixteenth Triplets: Trip-a-let Trip-a-let, Trip-a-let Trip-a-let, Trip-a-let Trip-a-let, Trip-a-let Trip-a-let