DEBRIS.COMgood for a laugh, or possibly an aneurysm

This is a substantial groove, a meat sandwich sort of groove. It began as a bass-drum workout — playing 4 distinct strokes on the kick is a challenge with one foot — and evolved into a snare-dynamics workout — check the accents in the snare pattern.

Although it started as an exercise, it ended up as music. The samples below use a standard quarter-note pulse on the ride, but this pattern sounds phenomenal with an ostinato such as 1 +a or, even cooler, 1e a for an upbeat push.

And if this doesn’t sound challenging, try playing it at about 120 bpm.

Note the linearity (not sure that’s a word) of the snare and kick pattern in the second measure; the last two beats comprise a paradiddle across the two drums.

      1e+a2e+a3e+a4e+a1e+a2e+a3e+a4e+a
RC    o   o   o   o   o   o   o   o   
SD     Ooo    Ooo o  o oo o oO O oO oo
KD    o  oooo    o oo o  o o  o oo o

Patronize these links, man:

• Virtual Drummer loop
• MIDI
• MP3