8/9/2019 Comping Patterns Jazz Drumming

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Jazz drummers often play f igures on the snare drum, ba ss

drum, an d hi-hat tha t h elp accompan y a soloist . In his book

H ow to Comp—A Stud y in J azz Accompani ment  (Advance

Music), Ha l Crook gives an excellent definit ion of comping an d

its role within an ensemble:

The word “comp” is derived from the word accompany (or accom-

paniment). I t wa s popularized years a go by jazz musicians w ho ex-

pressed the uniqueness of their new musical idiom even through

the language they used.

To comp  mean s to improvise a ba ckground for a solo using

melody, ha rmony a nd/or rhyt hm. C omping is a kind of second-ary soloing tha t supports , complements a nd intera cts with a

prima ry solo. The goal in comping is to be as musically a ccura te

an d creative a s th e soloist . The emphas is, however, is on team-

work—on enha ncing the mus ical efforts of th e soloist in a ll pos-

s ible ways a nd areas .

The soloist functions much like the capta in of a t eam. H e

calls and leads the plays but depends on help from the accom-

panying players t o execute them. So a relat ionship of mutua l

dependency exists t hat requires th e aw areness, acceptance, and

allegia nce of everyone involved.

In order to become a good a ccompanist , one must develop a

wide va riety of comping methods. Too often, dru mset pla yers

ta ke a one-dimensional a pproach to comping and t end to play

only the f igures tha t t hey have pra ct iced from a n instruct ionalbook. In doing so, they are not getting the most from their prac-

tice experience or the book being studied. This approach often

leads to mechan ical playing a nd a much longer learn ing curve

for the material being studied.

By using the following comping practice ideas as a launching

point, one can a chieve a m ore well-rounded approa ch to

comping and master a wider variety of techniques. In conjunc-

tion with the ideas presented below, one should always let the

music d ic tate w hat is being played, and use drumset methods

as a resource in addition to the crucial element of listening to

the music.

COMPING EXERCISES

All of the ideas shown below will use the same rhythmic

phrase :

Comping Exercises and BeyondBY MICHAEL GOULD

 

Ride

Sm. Tom

Snare

Floor Tom

Bass Drum

Hi-Hat

 

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Many drummers comp primarily with the sna re drum. Be-

sides writ ing out your own comping ideas, you can use material

from sna re drum method books. To achieve a sense of the pulse,

soft ly play qua r ter notes on the bass drum with hi-hat on beat s

two and four. (The example has been written in triplets to

clar i fy w here the f igure l ies within the sta ndard jazz r ide pat -

tern.)

Now play t he phrase on bass drum, incorporat ing the sna re

drum a nd hi-hat on beat s tw o and four.

When playing the figure on hi-hat , better articulation can be

achieved by lift ing the heel off the hi-hat pedal and using more

leg weight. U se the ball of the foot instead of the toes, and don’tlift your foot entirely off the pedal. The bass d rum sh ould play

qua rter n otes to help keep the pulse.

ORCHESTRATING THE PHRASE

Alternat ing between snare drum an d bass drum in a l inearfashion creates more melodic interest . Play the hi-hat on beats

two a nd four, or on al l four qua r ter notes.

This example combines snare drum, bass drum, and hi-hat

for thr ee-voiced linear playing . This is typical of the comping

style of such drummers a s Tony Williams a nd J ack DeJ ohnette.

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8/9/2019 Comping Patterns Jazz Drumming

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(John Riley ha s wr itten t wo excellent books on this st yle: The 

Ar t of Bop Drum ming  a n d Beyond Bop Drum min g .)

 TRIPLETSAccenting the comping figure within straight triplets helps

esta blish t he t riplet feel. This t ype of exercise can help develop

a sense of inner pulse, an d it a lso provides soloing ideas a nd de-

velops ha nd t echnique. To help establish a strong s ense of

pulse, play qua r ter notes on the bass drum w ith hi-hat on beat s

tw o and four.

Try th e sam e exercise with t he accented notes played on the

sma ll tom. This is a n excellent w ay to begin to play melodica lly

around the drumset .

The next example orchestrates the same figure using the

sma ll tom, floor tom, and sn ar e drum, wh ich helps develops

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musicality in solos. An excellent wa y to pra ctice these orches-

tra ted t r iplets would be to sta r t with two bars of t ime with the

figure on the snare drum, bass drum, or hi-hat , followed by the

following two-bar phrase.

Another approach is to play t he f igure with the r ight h and on

the cymbal while doubling i t with the bass drum. Fil l in the

spaces between those notes w ith t r iplets on t he sna re drum.

QUESTION-AND-ANSWERThe q uestion-a nd-a nsw er a pproach helps develop one’s ow n

style, crit ical listening, a nd compositiona l ability. The first tw o

bar s of this exercise conta in th e original phra se. The following

tw o bars a re created by th e performer. This can be a chieved by

ta king fragments of the or iginal phra se , using diminut ion or

augmenta t ion, retrograde of the or ig inal cell , or wha tever the

performer feels ca n be the most suita ble “answ er” to the first

tw o-bar “question.” Another excellent exercise is to convert t heoriginal phra se to text and come up with a text-based an swer .

This can t hen be converted into a rh yth mical a nsw er. (P eter

Ers kine offers an example of this approa ch in his book The 

Dr um Perspect ive .)

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8/9/2019 Comping Patterns Jazz Drumming

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I hope tha t t hese exercises will encoura ge everyone to go be-

yond the texts and into more creative performance and practice.

Good luck.

Michael Gould is a n Assistant P rofessor of Music at the U niver-

sity of Michiga n. H e completed his D octor of Musical Arts de-

gree in Percussion Performance at the University of Kentucky,

and received a Master of Music degree from the University of

Nevada-Las Vegas and a Bachelor of Music degree from the

Un iversity of I l linois at Urba na-Champaign. G ould has toured

na tiona lly as percussionist/drumset specia list with t he Dalla s

Bra ss and has recorded on the Seabreeze label with jazz a r t is t

Miles Osland. H e has also performed w ith t he Lexington P hil-

har monic, Br ass B an d of Ba t t le Creek, Top Brass, S axon’s Civil

War B an d, Nevada Symphony Orchestra , a nd the La s Vegas

Percussion Qua rtet .   PN

  4

Question

 

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Answer

 

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