I have been getting into an older Counting Crows CD lately named August and everything after. One of the songs that I really like is called Anna Begins. I got into the lyrics but also thought that the drum pattern sounded really cool. I sat down to learn the pattern and, as it turns out, it is based on the old classic rock beat with the backbeat on 2 and 4 and the bass on 1 and 3:

   The only difference is that the backbeat on 2 is shifted back by one 16th to the ‘a’ of 1 as such;

     This changes everything and sounded very cool and is just another reminder of how very simple changes can make the entire beat sound so much different. It also turned out that this is a common pattern used in many rock songs and just becomes another tool in the toolbox.

     Ok, its official. I suck with my left hand. Actually I suck with my whole left side. Although I think I am better with my left foot than my left hand. Again, while working out of Tommy Igoe’s ‘Groove Essentials’ I made it to the rock section that includes 16th note ostinato with both hands. I can keep up fine on the slow (90 bpm) but the fast (155 bpm) is kicking my ass. Bottom line is that my left hand cannot keep up and is weak.
     My solution is simply to switch my 8th note ostinato from my right hand to my left on all rock grooves and start from scratch. If I do this by the time I get back to the 16th note ostinato section of the book, I may be ok. This sounds fantastic in theory, but in reality it will be like taking a step backwards. I found a pretty good article about ambiguousness online.
    This is where I got the idea. Check it out. How many of you right handed folks are playing your ostinato with your left? According to this article, it opens the entire drum set to you because you are no longer cross handed. It makes total since to me. I just hope I can actually do it. I will let you know.

     I got to talking with some friends of mine at work. One of the guys was saying that in rock music the only really great bands, the ones that have had the biggest impact on rock music, were the British bands. I wanted to argue against his point but could not come up with an argument that had much ground. Not that what he was saying was completely true, I just couldn’t argue with him at the time.
     Since then I have started to look more closely at some of the British rock bands that are out today and found that most of them are Punk bands. The very first Punk band that I started listening to was the Arctic Monkeys. I picked up their CD ‘Favourite Worst Nightmare’ and I have got to say that I love this CD.
The drummer, Matt Helders, sure knows how to play a set of high hats. His chops were clean and at times, lightning quick. Most of the music is bass/drum driven and both the drummer and the bass player, Andy Nicholson, complement each other very well. My favorite song on the CD is ‘Old Yellow Bricks’ (which I would definatly add to my song list if I were in a band) followed by a close second to ‘The Bad Thing’
     I got this CD a couple of days ago and have played it at least 20 times. I am not even that into punk rock.

     Also I posted a new poll today asking how many of you actually record yourself. By this I mean either practicing or at a gig. My instructor has asked me every time I come in for the last month if I started to record myself yet. Next time I go in, I want to finally say that I have. I just wondered how many of you do too.