Cross Rhythms Using Stick Control

Ex. 7 Or you can play the beginning of the 3/8 portion

Ex. 8 Or repeat the end of the 3/8 portion. In this case, we’ll do the RRL sixteenth-note triplet two more times

Ex. 9 Or any other 3/8 idea of your choice, like a paradiddle-diddle or one of its inversions

Ex. 10 Or any simple one-beat fill

Ex. 11 Now let’s put this into a musical context by making a two-measure phrase. The first measure will be an improvised funk groove, and the second will be the exercise

Ex. 12 You can also try three measures groove/one measure exercise, or two measures groove/two measures exercise.

With a little reinterpretation, you can put this into an up-tempo (around quarter-note 240 bpm and above) jazz setting. First, you need to mentally convert the 3/8 exercises into 3/4 sixteenth-notes will become eighth-notes, and sixteenth-note triplets will become eighth-note triplets, and so on

Ex. 13 Then, plug it into the 3+3+2 phrase, as follows. Here we are playing alternating eighth-notes on the “2” portion. You can play the hi-hat on 2 and 4 as written, or just eliminate it during the meter-within-meter part. Note that at this tempo the eighth-notes will be roughly even, without the common triplet inflection. Playing the bass drum selectively is recommended here, especially at brighter tempos

Ex. 14 It is, of course, permissible to do this at slower tempos while swinging the eighth-notes! As a musical matter, be careful about accenting too strongly on beat 1 as you loop back around; you may want to experiment with crashing on/emphasizing the & of 4 of the last measure instead.