LOVE TO LEARN DRUMS
SSENTIAL
E SC
DI CO
GROOVES
Emma Taylor
BEFORE YOU BEGIN
PLAYING BORING DISCO IS EASY
For drummers, disco is one of those genres of music that can seem
very simplistic, and for many of us, a ‘four-to-the-floor’ is one of the
first grooves we learn. This makes it very easy to skip over this style
even though, under the hood, it can be incredibly challenging and
well worth spending some time on.
I, for one, am quite passionate about disco, if you couldn’t already
tell, because when I play gigs, I get to see first-hand how powerful
an effect a good disco groove can have on a room full of people.
And if that isn’t enough to sell you on this, then the technical
challenges of the grooves contained in this book will have a very
positive effect on your overall playing, particularly your hi-hat.
A WORD OF WARNING
As much as I’m blabbing on about the technical benefits and how
complex disco playing can be, it’s CRUCIAL to remember that if the
core simple grooves don’t sound or feel good, then there's no point
trying to cover that up with cool technical stuff.
There’s a reason why a plain old ‘four-to-the-floor’ is so effective, so
try to be tasteful when applying these grooves. Remember to
always ask, “What does the song really need?”
Groove and feel are KING. You want to be listening, not thinking.
So if you need to keep things simple to achieve that, then that’s
what you need to do.
ENJOY!
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Contents
(Click on page title to jump straight to page)
BASIC GROOVES
ACCENTED GROOVES
HI-HAT PATTERNS
OPEN HI-HAT GROOVES
SINGLE HANDED HI-HAT GROOVES
ADDING GHOSTNOTES
ADDITIONAL GROOVES
UTILITIES DRUMKIT NOTE VALUES
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Basic Grooves
IMPORTANT
These may be ‘basic’ grooves but they are the foundation of everything else in
this book so it is key that you really spend the time required to get them
sounding clean and in time.
Focus on making sure all limbs are totally locked together (no flaming).
Play along with famous Disco songs and really focus on making the grooves
sound and ‘feel’ good.
Using a metronome, aim to play these at 120 Bpm to 140 Bpm comfortably
1.
2.
3.
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Accented Grooves
Tip
Shoulder
IMPORTANT
Play all accent hi-hats on the edge on the
cymbal using the shoulder of the stick.
Play all normal hi-hats on top of the cymbal
with the tip of the stick
1.
2.
3.
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Hi-hat Patterns
1.
2.
3.
4.
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Open Hi-hat Grooves
IMPORTANT
The hi-hat foot will close with the bass drum so with most of
these grooves both feet will be playing on the downbeat ( 1 2 3 4)
HOWEVER with Groove 3 try to close the left foot just before the
‘a’ of 3 so you can have a clean open hi-hat on just the ‘+’
1.
2.
3.
4.
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FAST-TRACK
FAST-TRACK
YOUR DRUMMING
YOUR DRUMMING
IN 28
IN 28 DAYS
DAYS
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Single Handed Grooves
IMPORTANT
To achieve the desired speed and consistancy with these
patterns I suggest playing the accents on the hi-hat as you
would on the accents page but play the unaccented 16th notes
with a rebound/doubles technique.
e.g. In the first groove the hi-hats on the ‘+’ and ‘a’ of beat 4 will
be played on top of the cymbal like you would a double.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
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Adding Ghostnotes
IMPORTANT
Keep your stick nice and close to the snare to achieve subtle
ghostnotes. It’s the dynamic contrast between the accent on
the backbeat and the ghostnotes that makes these grooves
sound great.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
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Additional Grooves
IMPORTANT
On many Disco records beats 2 and 4 are also overdubbed with
a floor tom or have sections that involve just having a kick on 2
and 4 so It’s a good Idea to familiarise yourself with these
patterns
The last 2 groove demonstrate how you may begin to ‘drop’
certain Hi-hats for the sake of efficiency.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
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Utilities
WHAT ARE UTILITIES?
Welcome to the utilities section of the book! Here you can find
content and materials that supports the book directly/
indirectly. We have added this section in our books to keep the
front end of the book clutter-free!
Each page is printable (as is the rest of the book!) and teachers
yes, we are more than happy for you to print off these utility
pages and hand them to your students in lessons. As we are
trying to keep the cost of education as low as possible we
would however appreciate if this was not the case with the rest
of the book.
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Drum Kit
DIAGRAM OF DRUM KIT
1. Bass/Kick
8.
5. 4.
Crash
Hi Tom Mid Tom
6.
Ride
7.
Hi-Hat 3.
Snare 2.
Low Tom
9.
Pedal
Hi-Hat
DRUM KEY
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
Kick Low Tom Snare Mid Tom Hi Tom Ride Hi-Hat Crash Pedal
Hi-Hat
TAKE NOTE
As drums are such a new instrument, just over 100 years old,
drum notation hasn't become standardised. This means not every
drum book will write the drum voices in the same place on the
stave. For example some drum books will write Tom 2 where Tom
1 is written in this book. This means every time you use a new
drum book, be sure to check the Drum Key/Drum Legend to
ensure you are playing the correct notes.
Note values
NOTE VALUES REST VALUES
Whole Note (Semibreve) = 4 Beats Whole Note (Semibreve) Rest = 4 Beats
Half Note (Minim) = 2 Beats Half Note (Minim) Rest = 2 Beats
1/4 Note (Crotchet) = 1 Beat 1/4 Note (Crotchet) Rest = 1 Beat
8th Note (Quaver) = 1/2 Beat 8th Note (Quaver) Rest = 1/2 Beat
(8th Notes can be written as any one of these)
16th Note (Semiquaver) = 1/4 Beat 16th Note (Semiquaver) Rest = 1/4 Beat
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END OF BOOK
