First Beats
Two grooves cover an enormous amount of music. Build both one limb at a time, and do not add the next limb until the one you have is even.
Build it one limb at a time
Kick and snare first. This is the skeleton — the kick on 1 and 3, the snare on 2 and 4. Say “kick, snare, kick, snare” as you play.
Now the right hand joins on the hi-hat, once per beat. Notice the hat lands with the kick on 1 and 3 and with the snare on 2 and 4 — nothing new to place, just two limbs agreeing.
Then double the hat to every eighth. This is the basic rock beat, and it is the first groove worth calling a groove.
Four on the floor
Move the kick to every beat and the same bar turns from rock into something you can dance to. Only one limb changed.
Slower than that. Set the tempo to 60 and get it perfectly
even before touching 70. Speed is a by-product of evenness, and practising
an uneven groove faster just makes it uneven faster.
Before you go on
- The basic rock beat for one minute at 70 BPM without a stumble
- Four on the floor for one minute at 70 BPM
- Switch between the two without stopping
- Turn on the pattern click and stay with it