Stickings Within Stickings
By Paul Wertico
Feeling "centered" while drumming is a vital part of performing. The more centered you are, the better able you are to
control time, feel, independence, and all the nuances that go into a successful performance. Obviously, the more
endurance and control over your technique you have, the easier it is to achieve that centered feeling. There's no
denying that having good chops helps, and there are countless ways to achieve better chops. However, the following
concept seems to give me something extra.
"Stickings Within Stickings" is a warm-up calisthetic concept I came up with that has given me some immediate
benefits. The basic idea is to play different stickings (single and double strokes, paradiddles, etc.), but play them as
accents within unison strokes. For instance, example 1 below would be a simple series of single strokes (RLRL) except
for the fact that the RLRL strokes are now accents within a unison sticking (both hands playing at the same time). The
idea here is to make sure your hands are hitting exactly together (no flamming), even though one hand is accenting at
the same time the other is ghosting. When done properly, this type of exercise not only gives your chops a great
workout, but establishing a "center" in your playing.
At first you should start out slowly, playing only unaccented unison strokes and then adding an accent every eight
notes, as in example 2a; then accent every four notes as in example 2b; then every two notes as in example 2c. Then
go back and play example 1.
Example 3 is doubles (RRLL) applied the "stickings within stickings" way.
Example 4 is a RRRL sticking.
Next, try playing a paradiddle (RLRR LRLL), as in example 5.
You can apply any number of stickings to this concept. By using a book such as George Lawrence Stone's classic "Stick
Control" as a sticking combination resource, you should be able to really challenge your chops and give yourself much
more facility when playing. The key is to relax and make sure that each hand is doing what it's supposed to be doing.
Start by playing each exercise slowly. Make sure the accented notes are loud and the ghost notes are soft. Try to play
cleanly and pricisely, and listen to the sound you're producing.
After you've played in unison, go back to just playing some regular singles, doubles, paradiddles, etc. See if you feel
more centered, and if your execution is more powerful and open-sounding.
One of the more practical applications of this type of practice is within grooves such as a two-handed shuffle as in
example 6.
Another way to apply this technique is to play different counter-rhythms, such as the ones found in exercises 7 and 8.
To take this approach as little further, try playing the accented strokes as dead strokes (pressing the sticks into the
head). This gives you a different type of control and a different character of sound. Next, break up these exercises
around the drumset by putting each hand on a different drum or cymbal. And why not try these types of exercises
while cross-sticking around the drumset?
Eventually, you should get to the point where you can spontaneously create these types of patterns and add them to
your playing vocabulary. Be creative and have fun!
Creative Fours
By Paul Wertico
The concept of trading fours is a time-honored tradition in jazz. Through the years, though, I've encountered a number
of students who have experienced a creative roadblock when attempting them. This occurs mostly to those drummers
who are inexperienced in playing jazz. Since a lot of them have played rock and pop most of their lives, the idea of
trading fours seems a bit foreign. Also, because of playing rock and pop, some of them have become used to playing
fills and phrases that begin and/or end on the "1", so the idea of "breaking up the time" can be somewhat challenging.
As a result, when these drummers trade fours, they often string together a bunch of familar licks or patterns in a very
"unjazz-like" way. However, after first learning some of the more traditional and musical approaches to exchanging
fours - such as playing things that open up a musical dialogue with whomever they're exchanging fours, or playing
something that relates to the melody - their playing begins to "open up". But there are even more adventurous
approaches that can really extend a drummer's ability to play creative fours.
When you listen to some jazz drumming masters, such as Roy Haynes, you might notice how their fours seem to break
up time in very interesting - and sometimes almost baffling - ways. To the novice jazz listener, it almost seems that
these drummers are playing in a random or free-form manner. However, when you analyze these "out" sounding fours,
it becomes clear that the masters know exactly what they're doing. They just break up the time in very creative and
sometimes asymmetrical ways. It's with this in mind that I have compiled a few techniques in order to look at fours in
a different light.
If you imagine four bars of 4/4 as being comprised of sixteen beats, with some creative thinking you can break up
these sixteen beats into various blocks or counter-time signatures. Take a look at example 1A. Here, instead of four
bars of 4/4 time, we have two bars of 3/4 and two bars of 5/4. The result is still sixteen beats, but subdivided in a
mixed-meter type of way. This changes the flow of the time and also allows you to know where you are without
guessing.
Examples 2, 3, and 4 are more ways to "break up" the time using mixed meters.
When practicing these techniques, play four bars of straight 4/4 time, then play an example, then play four bars of
straight 4/4 time again, and so on. Start out simply, playing just bass drum, hi-hat, and ride cymbal. Make sure you
count the meter changes and subdivide accurately. Use a metronome. Eventually, you'll get used to hearing and
feeling the meter changes. Try to make everything sound natural, not stiff or contrived. This technique is also more
effective when the time signature changes are clear to the listener. Later, as you get comfortable, you can get more
and more adventurous by adding various drums and different rhythms, as well as accents and dynamics, within the
time signature changes.
I would also suggest that you practice giving a clear and solid downbeat on the "1" of the first 4/4 bar after your
exercise. This will help later when you try playing these kinds of fours with a band. By giving a clear and solid
downbeat on the "1" after your four, you will help solidify the band's re-entry. (These types of fours are supposed to
inspire your bandmates, not trip them up or completely lose them!)
As a variation to this approach, I also recommend that you try to play these exercises not as mixed meter groupings,
but as odd phrases over straight 4/4. Feel and hear 4/4 time and play the odd groupings as superimpositions over four
bars of four. See example 1B. It's identical to example 1A, except that here you think of four bars of 4/4 time grouped
in three's and five's. This will strengthen your ability to play odd phrases in 4/4 time.
Now, let's look at breaking up those sixteen beats in the four bars of 4/4 using 8th-note subdivisions. (This results in a
total of thirty-two sub-beats.)
Look at examples 5, 6, and 7. Here we add some 3/8 and 5/8 bars to the rhythmic equation. In doing this, we can
displace the 3/4 and 5/4 bars by an 8th note. This makes a normal rhythmic figure seem displaced, as in example 5.
The effect can really make things sound "backed-up". Again, when you try out all these examples, be sure to count,
subdivide accurately, and use a metronome.
Next let's look at this technique utilized in a polyrhythmic way that also implies mixed meters. Look at examples 8 and
9. In these examples, a similar approach is used, but in a "six over four" manner. Here, the total number of "polybeats" (made up of quarter note triplets) in four 4/4 bars is twenty four. You can group the quarter-note triplets any
way you want to, as long as they they total twenty-four.
You can expand this approach ad infinitum, applying this concept to trading 8ths and 16ths, playing fours in various
time signatures, using five quarter notes over four, and so on. These techniques should help not only expand your
concept of fours, but of time in general. It should also help you to know where you are in the flow of time during those
times when you decide to "go for it". However, when you try these techniques out, make sure to use musical
discretion. Always be sure that the other musicians you're playing with are capable of following what you're doing and
that the fours you play fit the type of music you're playing. (I don't think that playing these type of fours while doing a
traditional Dixieland gig would fit all that well!)
Also, there's nothing worse than when a drummer throws off the entire band, or when everyone on the dance floor
stops and looks up at the bandstand in bewilderment and disgust. Remember, even if what you play is in time, if the
end result is a train wreck, then there'll no doubt be some bad feelings. And you certainly don't want to jeopardize the
music (and maybe even your gig) in the pursuit of some hip-sounding four that everyone else needs a pocket
calculator to figure out.
However, if your fellow bandmates are talented and open to new ideas, then this type of approach might not only open
up your playing, but maybe their playing (and composing) as well. Have fun, and don't hurt yourself!
