Playing in Between the Cracks

One of the things that makes the playing of early rock and jazz masters (and that of nearly all New Orleans drummers) so funky, catchy, and infectious is their ability to play “in between the cracks”: not quite straight yet not quite swung. In this pack, R&B/funk/New Orleans great Stanton Moore, a true master of this type of grooving, teaches you how to approach this concept and incorporate it into your playing.

Stanton has two classic resources available for those who want to pursue more concepts like this: his DVD, Groove Alchemy, which contains hundreds of demonstrated examples as well as funky performances from his band, and his book/CD package (also called Groove Alchemy), which is an encyclopedia of funk grooves, and a definitive historical work covering the drumming of Zigaboo Modeliste, the drummers of James Brown, New Orleans concepts, shuffles, and much more. Check them out at www.hudsonmusic.com.

Also look for more packs from Stanton here in Drum Guru.

Here are the lessons that appear in this pack:

1. Straight-to-Swung Example
2. Ratcliffe Beat Played a Straight to Swung
3. What Not To Do (no notation)
4. Right Hand Morphing Example
5. “Use Me”