Jazz Drumming in 3/4 - Volume 1

Jazz Drumming in 3/4 is a book that will help you unlock your creative jazz drumming in 3/4.

3/4 is the most common standard time signature after 4/4. It is part of the common vocabulary of jazz drumming and jazz music. On most professional jazz drumming gigs at least one tune a set tends to be in 3/4. And of course, there are the famous jazz standards and originals in 3/4 such as "All Blues", "Someday My Prince Will Come", and Chick Corea's "Windows" that you should be familiar with.

But, 3/4 can also feel a lot more restricted than playing jazz drums in 4/4. Many people don't know what or how to play in 3/4 and surprisingly 3/4 jazz drumming is not covered in any real depth in popular jazz drumming books.

When playing 3/4 do you?

• Find yourself anchored too much on the first beat of the bar.
• Find it difficult to be creative with your comping.
• Struggle with phrases that cross the bar line.
• Find the coordination and independence aspects of playing in 3/4 a challenge.

These are all common issues that Jazz Drumming in 3/4 will help you work on.

But there are other reasons to work on 3/4.

Working on 3/4 is an important and great way to improve your overall jazz drumming vocabulary.

The greater independence and rhythmic competence you gain from working in 3/4 will also transfer to your 4/4 playing and beyond.

In frustration at the lack of material dealing with jazz drumming in 3/4 despite how common it is to play in 3/4, I started to put together some exercises for myself to work on to gain more independence and creativity.

I also wanted to play more phrases that cross the bar line.

This quickly escalated and developed into a book of exercises to solve exactly these two problems.

The book is short - under 30 pages - but provides the aspiring jazz drummer with tonnes of great ideas and exercises to work on and develop your playing in 3/4.

Including:

• Basic placements for snare drum and bass drum figures.
• Combining snare drum and bass drum figures into phrases.
• Two beat phrases that cross the bar line.
• Adding space to your phrases.
• Four beat phrases.
• And more.