April 2006, 1st Issue

Dear Subscriber,

Welcome to the 1st April Big Drum for 2006.

Playing Funk Beats with a Cow Bell!

Today I'm going to show you one of my favorite beats, just a standard funk pattern in a shuffle feel, with a cowbell pattern played over the top. I'll break down each part for you and at the end there are some Ezybeats. Here's the pattern written out..

So! Let's first look at the snare / bass drum part. First I'll explain it in straight 16ths, and then show you how to turn the straight feel into a shuffle feel. Here's the pattern..

Next we look at the cowbell pattern. It's a fairly standard pattern but sounds oh so good when played with a shuffle feel over a beat!

Here's the pattern to use..

And finally you can play a variation on the cowbell pattern by adding a double on the last note.

Once you have both patterns down a good idea is to play the first, then the 2nd as a repetitive 2 bar phrase, like this..

EZYBEATS.

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