Triplets Around the Kit
I started working a little bit with the Mark Guliana book, and one of the first things I'm working on is triplets between all the different drum combinations. I've been putting my Spotify on shuffle and playing triplets with whatever groove the song has, focusing on relaxing and exercising the specific path my sticks make between each two surfaces. I tend to want to start with the left hand leading, since the non-dominant hand usually wants a little more attention. I'm going back and forth between triplet eights and triplet sixteenths to solidify the timing and taking the time to slow it down to a metronome. I'm also experimenting with some foot patterns underneath the triplets.
For me, the idea is to develop smooth and fast triplets within a groove so that they can be played effortlessly wherever the tempo is. Right now I'm kind of trying to "raise the ceiling" on how fast I can play triplets smoothly around the kit. This same exercise will be repeated with other note values and combinations, but I thought triplets were a perfect place to start.
Mark Guliana is an incredible jazz drummer, most recently well known for his work on David Bowie's last album Blackstar. Check out a preview of the book below, see how you utilize the concepts he's talking about!
