
ZZ Top drives the rock shuffle to the top of the charts with La Grange. In this lesson, we'll look at the rock shuffle, groove timing and some triplet fills used in La Grange by ZZ Top.
This is the groove I used in a 30 second drum solo for DrumOffTV, and as promised this is a break down of that beat. It is simple as a 16th note pattern but gets a little more tricky when you add the 32nd note doubles.
My last drum lesson focused on ways to expand and experiment with your own drum fills. To demonstrate the fills, I grooved some beats and then played the fill. I had a big response from people enjoying the lesson but also interested in the grooves I played. This Monday's lesson, I'm giving the notation for those grooves and an explanation.
A great technique to groove up a groove is to play sixteenth notes on the snare drum instead of the traditional eighth notes on the hi hat. While this technique won't fit every situation, it really is a cool way to change the feel of the groove.
The five-stroke roll is more than a snare drum rudiment for playing marches. Use it to funk up an already funky groove in a quite slick and surprisingly simple way.