The Bass Drum is super-important in R&B and Funk. All drummers who study this style want to develop a so-called “good foot.” We need to spend some time developing strength and independent coordination with the bass drum in order to master this style.

1 - Three Ways to Play the Bass Drum

For more information on Bass Drum technique go here:

2 - Song Examples

3 - Bass Drum Studies

Play-Along Video Exercises

I made the following bass drum video exercises so that we could practice together. It’s a fairly long exercise played slowly so it will develop accuracy and endurance.

Funk Drumming, Jim Payne, p. 39-41. Quarter note = 68 bpm.

The important thing here is to do these exercises slow enough so that you can execute them easily and turn them into sub-conscious “muscle memory” examples. In other words, combinations that you know so well you don’t have to think about them. Words like “the” and “and” that you speak and write with no conscious thought.

The exercises are constructed in two-bar phrases. I think it’s always a good idea to think in two-bar phrases as it can make the grooves more interesting.

In these exercises there is always a HH opening on the “and of 3” to give you a pause to let the leg muscles relax.

First play each line separately, then follow the video and play each line 4 x’s as you go down the pages. Play the exercises along with me here:

4 - Video Groove Examples

Watch and play along to the videos 3.01 - 3.09 in Advanced Funk Drumming, p.13 & 14. Check the transcriptions as well.

These videos show examples of beats with 16th note BD patterns that you can make up using the coordination you have learned from the exercises in Funk Drumming, p. 39-41.

The patterns are usually two-bar phrases which I then looped so that you’d have at least a minute to practice along with them.

5 - Counting Measures or Bars, Song Form

Groove 7 Slow, Tommy Igoe, Groove Essentials 1.0.

Download this mp3 track and check out the chart on p. 32.

NOTE: When you have purchased Tommy Igoe’s, Groove Essentials 1.0, you may want to go ahead and download all the mp3s at once because we’re going to use several of them.

Count out loud while the track is playing. Just count, don’t play.

The first count of each measure should be said louder than the other counts. That’s why those numbers are in bold.

Clap your hands at the beginning of each section.

Yes, I’m serious about this. Do it for real. It’s important. You’ll thank me later.

If you’re unfamiliar with this kind of counting go here for a more examples and a detailed discussion:

How long is the bridge to “Groove Me”? That funky part where the rhythm changes.

What is the form of “I Feel Good”?

How is the song constructed? In other words, how many different sections are there (A,B,C,etc.) and how many bars are in each section?

1. Funk Drumming, p. 40 & 41. NOTE: some printings of this book shifted the pages by one page, i.e. p. 39 could be p. 40. Just make sure you use Exercises 1-10 in Section 4.

Play each line 4 times and go down the page. Go directly from one line to the next. Don’t forget the HH openings on the “and of 3.”

68 bpm. Use a metronome.

2. Groove 7 Slow, Igoe, Groove Essentials 1.0, p. 32.

Important: Count out loud through the first 8 bars, DON’T PLAY!

Start playing the second time through the first 8 bars.

ALSO: DON’T USE THE BEATS IN THE BOOK!
Use the following beat to play with the chart for Groove 7 Slow. This beat, #8 in the lesson Files, has the type of Bass Drum figures we’ve been studying in this lesson: