Soul with a Capital "S" - part 1
In this article written in 1997 for Batteur Magazine, and adapted for this blog, I used a Tower of Power song as a pretext to present a popular and interesting groove pattern.
Soul with a Capital "S" - Part 1
Example 1
This pattern can be heard in the studio version of Soul with a Capital "S", a song by Tower of Power, and it can also be heard in many other songs.
NB: This lesson applies to the original studio version of the song played by Russ McKinnon. In the more recent live versions, David Garibaldi who took over his seat, has slightly changed the pattern.
Example 2
Here's a variation of the same pattern:
Example 3
Another variation of the same pattern
Example 4
This is to show the analogy with a 3-2 son-clave pattern
Example 5
This is to show the analogy with a traditional Bossa-Nova pattern.
16-bar Groove Exercise
This is a 16-bar groove workout to help integrate the pattern seen in Example 3. Each measure is played twice.
Musical examples are granted for your personal use only.
© 1997 Alain Rieder - all rights reserved
NB - The previous exercise isn't part of my Time Manipulation Drum Book
Tower of Power - T.O.P.
Drummer: Russ McKinnon
Track 01: Soul With A Capital "S"
Here are two short excerpts from the song:
Time Manipulation Drum Book
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Modern Drummer Magazine (USA), 2019