Islands

Lessons from the isle of rhythm.




These files were acquired from a video production titled DRUMSET ARTISTS OF CUBA.
- by Chuck Silverman


Four great drummers from Cuba are:
the great Jose Luis Quintana (Changuito),
Raul Pineda (with Sintesis),
Jose Sanchez (with Rojitas y su grupo),
and Jimmy Branly (with NG la Banda)
They are truly awe-inspiring not so much for their technique, which is magnificent, but for their feel.

Legend........................

I offer to you three ideas. The first is from Raul Pineda. Raul is a very fluid, commanding presence behind the drum set. One of his specialties is Afro-Cuban folkloric drumming and his applications of these roots rhythms to the drum set.
Example number one is an application of the Abakua rhythm. Raul played this with left foot playing cowbell. The right hand is playing bell or cymbal and the medium tom. Left hand plays the second note of each triplet, alternatingly playing cross-stick and high tom.
1.................
.....end page one.....



You might also want to STUDY DRUMS AND PERCUSSION IN CUBA (INFO)
ISLANDS.....page two.....

The next two examples are from Jose Sanchez, a great timbalero who has, within the last year, added drum set to his percussion repertoire. "Feel" is what Jose's playing is all about. Both examples feature rhumba clave played by the left hand, with two backbeat variations, one in half time (example # 2), the other in a 4/4 feel (example # 3). (Jose plays eighth notes with the left foot on hi-hat throughout).

2.................

3.................


All three of these grooves require patience and a very good sense of independence. Work on them slowly. You may want to divide the exercises into their most basic parts, for instance learning one or two limbs at once before adding anything else. This is the way I have learned these grooves. I am now having fun developing my own ideas with these as the roots.center


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