Pat Petrillo breaks down some important Roots Grooves that every drummer drummer know. EARL PALMER GROOVE: The great Earl Palmer is one of my favorite drummers. He influenced an entire generation of drummers from Ringo all the way up to today. Earl’s most important grooves are the ones that he did with great artists like Fats Domino on “I’m Walkin;” or Little Richard on “Slippin’ and Slidin.” This is one of my favorite Earl Palmer grooves. Earl grew up playing second-line march music which is more of a two-beat feel. If you use this as your foundation, you will create the feeling of a slightly swung second-line march. That will help you hear where Earl is coming from. This whole beat is on the snare. I’m not sure what sticking he used. He’s playing most of the swing notes with his right hand and the backbeats on 2 and 4 […]

February 2023 Issue