16ths With One Hand – Adding Ghost Notes And Working With Faster Tempos

Let’s add ghost notes to the 16th note hi-hat pattern. We’ll also crank up the tempo to deal with some of the super-funky tunes below.

1 - Song Examples

A. “Funky Drummer” – James Brown, Clyde Stubblefield, drums

Ok, here we go, one of the most sampled drum beats on the planet. Drums by Clyde Stubblefield who never received any of the royalties for his classic performance on this tune!

16ths with the RH on the HH with some ghost notes in between and 16th note HH openings. Don’t worry there are slower versions below.

Here’s the transcription. Clyde uses several variations in the tune.

The recording:

B. “Palm Grease” – from Herbie Hancock’s Thrust CD, Mike Clark, drums

L-R: Herbie Hancock; percussionist Bill Summers; standing, bassist Paul Jackson; sitting, drummer Mike Clark; far right, reed player Bennie Maupin.

This is a very important recording which really expanded the possibilities in Funk.
Drummer Mike Clark plays more simply and in the pocket, as he does on this track, but he can also keep the pocket and improvise around the bass line, as he does on Actual Proof, another tune on this CD which we’ll get to later.

Palm Grease:
Straight 16ths in the first bar but a change up in the second bar with an interesting HH opening. No ghost notes in this one but the tempo is up there.

2 - Exercises

To practice the “Funky Drummer” groove I made up two slower versions to play along with. See if you can add the tricky HH openings that Clyde uses.

65% speed:

75% speed:

3 - Play-Along Video Workout Exercises

A. Funk Drumming p. 78-80.

Now we’ll add ghost notes underneath the 16th note HH pattern. Keep playing those 8th note accents within the 16th note pattern.

I know the practice video play-along tempo is slow but… that’s the best way to really get these patterns down pat, believe me! Once you really have them in your muscles, speed will not be a problem.

Play along to the video exercises: Funk Drumming, 16ths on the HH, p. 78-80.

B. Funk Drumming p. 81-83.

Play along to the video exercises: Funk Drumming, 16ths on the HH, p. 81-83.

Workbook

1. Play the “Funky Drummer” groove. 80 BPM.
30 seconds, max.

2. Play to Igoe, Groove Essentials 1.0,
Groove 16 Slow, p. 54.

I wrote two beats for this groove, one with straight 16ths with the RH all the way, and another showing how I would play it, leaving out the RH on the “a of 3” and “4”. That feels more natural to me. Choose whichever beat you want. And feel free to change it up on the Bridge.

IMPORTANT NOTE ON THE CHART: when you go back to the top for the 3rd time, add 4 bars. You’ll hear congas only, then the band comes in. This was left out of the chart, but, as always, go with the music.