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Lesson #1 - Playing in Seven
By Paul Wandtke

Hey sick drummers around the world, it’s Paul Wandtke again letting you know that it’s time to learn some odd meter double bass grooves! How many of you have experienced listening to some crazy metal drumming groove knowing that it’s in some odd meter, but you just couldn’t figure out what the heck was going on? Instead of figuring it out, you just played and played along to the track for countless hours until you kind of got it right. Well, it’s time to gear up. Let’s focus on the basics of odd meter grooves. Doing so will make those times of figuring out those very complex grooves much faster and easier than it ever was before.

In the last lesson we focused on “Reading Basics ” and it’s important to continue doing so because my lesson series will always contain written materials on the very concepts that I’m discussing. Remember the concept of reading isn’t just about staring at a piece of paper with ink on the page. It’s a concept that helps create an awareness of the rhythms that you are performing. So from here on out always ask yourself questions like:

• What rhythm am I playing?
• What rhythms are being performed on this track?
• What rhythmic feel is this groove, fill, or lick?

There are many ways of interpreting seven and we’ll examine three basic concepts.

• Time signatures in 7
• Counting in 7
• Groupings in 7
  

In this lesson we will break down the concept of time signatures in seven. The next issue of Sick Drummer will contain my lesson series Playing in Seven “Expanded” where we’ll cover counting and grouping in 7.

Lesson Resources

Click & Download these files for your reference!

1. Part One PDF

2. Part Two PDF

* Additionally, these lessons are available in an Interactive Browser-Based format! You will need to download a plugin called "Scorch ", but it will allow you to see the notes in action and adjust the tempo during playback... Enjoy!

Interactive Part One

Interactive Part Two

Coming Next:

More Sick Odd Meter Double Bass Grooves - Playing in 7 "Expanded”

Video Lesson Series:

The video examples below relate directly to the PDF files available for download above. Please be sure to download them and watch each video in relation to the examples in the file. All examples in the PDF files are clearly marked, so you should have no problem...

Part 1 - Exercise 1,2 & 3:

Part 2 - Exercise 1:

Part 2 - Exercise 2:

Part 2 - Exercise 3:

Part 2 - Exercise 4:

Part 2 - Exercise 5: