Hi everyone,
Here are your assignments for this week:
Will
Recommended minutes to practice: 20-30 minutes per day
What to practice: Practice the jazz ride pattern with each of the 15 exercises on the pages provided here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/17pjkCZ1jfMdjwRqFBMaPIG_hKMb3gQGz?usp=share_link
How to practice it most effectively: First, focus on nailing down the ride cymbal pattern with the hi-hat foot. The accents on the ride cymbal should line up with the hi-hat closing on 2 and 4. Once this feels comfortable, then go through each of the 15 exercises playing quarter notes on the bass drum and different rhythms on the snare drum. Start with the exercises that have only one snare note, then the ones that have two, then the ones that have three.
Elliot
Recommended minutes to practice: 15-20 minutes per day
What to practice: Practice beats #13-18 from the new page as well as the new fills from “Watermelon Man” by Herbie Hancock: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/10YGpSqgr9Z2SExyhXz7k1evG3C0t2VEc?usp=share_link
How to practice it most effectively: Focus on beats #16-18 this week and try to get them to the point where they feel comfortable to play. You don’t need to try to play them fast, but rather aim for accuracy and consistency. Counting in your head is important so that you know when you’re playing them correctly. The same thing applies to the new fills from Watermelon Man. Don’t worry about speed yet, but just focus on nailing down the rhythm and coordination of each fill.
Jared
Recommended minutes to practice: 15-20 minutes per day
What to practice: Practice up to measure 55 of “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen.
How to practice it most effectively: Focus on the new section of the song that we worked on in your lesson, measures 46 to 55. Read the music carefully as you practice to make sure that you’re not leaving out any notes or adding in any extras. You should be able to hear from listening to the song how the drum beat lines up with everything else. Practice the song first on your own, and then practice while playing along with the song.
Noah
Recommended minutes to practice: 15-20 minutes per day
What to practice: Practice everything up to the guitar solo section of Good Times Bad Times.
How to practice it most effectively: Focus this week on keeping a steady pulse throughout the whole song. Practicing with a metronome, like we did in you lesson, will really help with that. Set the metronome at 186 beats per minute (bpm) and use that as your eighth note pulse (1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & etc.). Then, once you feel confident playing it with the metronome, practice playing with the song. The speed of the song should be roughly the same as the metronome at 186 bpm.
Koel
Recommended minutes to practice: 15-20 minutes per day
What to practice: Practice the jazz ride and hi-hat pattern together with each of the two bass drum patterns (A and B).
How to practice it most effectively: Start by practicing the ride cymbal pattern together with the hi-hat on 2 and 4. Remember that the rhythm on the ride cymbal needs to “swing.” This mean that you should be able to feel a pulse of triplets throughout the rhythm: “1 & a 2 & a 3 & a 4 & a” etc. Try this at a variety of different speeds. Once it feels comfortable, then try it together with bass drum patterns A and B. In pattern A, the bass drum alternates with the hi-hat. In pattern B, the bass drum plays on every beat.
Caroline
Recommended minutes to practice: 15-20 minutes per day
What to practice: Practice beats #1-8 from the new page provided here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1I8SUrntdFyWbpB7_WkqKxtpyrvv4afrc?usp=share_link
How to practice it most effectively: Practice each of these beats in two ways: first with your right hand playing all the hi-hat notes and your left hand playing the snare notes. Second, with your right and left hands alternating on the hi-hat and your right hand moving down to play the snare notes. The first way will feel more natural, but it will limit how fast you can play the beats because your right hand is playing all the 16th notes. The second way will take longer to get used to, but it will allow you to play the beats faster because two hands can play faster than one!