Peter Erskine's Sweep Strokes

By Peter Erskine
Originally Published In DRUM! Magazine's February 2006 Issue

Brushes are essential in jazz, but they work beautifully in any number of styles or settings. Whether you’re self-taught or steeped in a brush-playing tradition, you might want to free yourself from habit and open up the world of legato and textural rhythms by literally exploring new directions: straight sweeps. Follow the arrow diagrams carefully. Play each series of strokes with and without an accent (or starting “point”). These sweeps should cross from one side of the drum to the other.

Peter Erskine has played with Weather Report, Steps Ahead, and the Stan Kenton Orchestra, and holds an honorary doctor of music degree from Berklee College Of Music. http://petererskine.com