Video Lesson: World Groove Independence Mash-Up with Mike Johnston

This excerpt is taken from the complete article that appears in the January 2016 issue, which is available here.

Rock ‘N’ Jazz Clinic

World Groove Independence Mash-Up

Improving Facility With Afro-Cuban Inspiration

When I began writing my latest book, Groove Freedom, the goal was to gain flexibility both within my students’ grooves and my own. As I practiced the book’s systems, I realized they helped with independence as well as with groove. This allowed me to approach future systems differently. I started mixing things together that were previously off limits.

This lesson is an example of that approach. When I started working on world grooves in my teens, I learned quite a few traditional hand patterns and foot ostinatos from Cuba, Africa, Brazil, and the Caribbean. Until recently, it never occurred to me to treat them as drumset rhythms without a cultural association. Once I made that leap, I started to mix and match to improve my independence on the kit.

Check out a video demo below.

Michael Johnston

For the complete lesson with transcriptions, check out the January 2016 issue, which is available here.