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Video Lesson! Basics – Advanced Disco with Rich Redmond

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

Basics

Advanced Disco

Beyond Four on the Floor

Disco, a style of music popularized in the 1970s, launched dance crazes, drove up record sales, and sometimes caused a lot of frustration among the era’s working drummers. (Some players found the repetitive rhythm to be mind numbing.) Much of today’s music also heavily relies on repetition. Pop, dance, R&B, and even country music make use of strong four-on-the-floor pulses. In this lesson we’ll explore ways to spice up the basic disco feel.

The following hi-hat ostinatos tip a hat to the traditional open/closed disco pattern—we’ll accent or open the hi-hat on the “&” of each beat while closing it on the quarter-note pulse. This gives each groove a strong upbeat pulse or lope.

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

 
July Gear of the Year Issue of Modern Drummer


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