Learning From Recordings
An essential element in learning any style of music is listening to the original players who created it. Most Hip-Hop beats are heavily based on earlier Funk and R&B drum parts (often sampled from the original vinyl records). By listening to the original drummers who created these parts, you will pick up the feel and attitude of the music as well as just the notes.
Here are some classic eighth note beats. Learn each one and then try playing it along with a metronome, drum machine or one of your favorite recordings.
Listen to Josef Blocker play this beat on We Almost Lost Detroit by Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson (on the 1977 album Bridges) subsequently used on Mos Def & Talib Kweli’s Brown Skin Lady (1998), Common’s The People (2007, produced by Kanye West) and John Robinson’s - Intro (Outside Perspective) (2008, produced by MF Doom).
Listen to Loran’s Dance by Grover Washington, Jr. (on his 1979 album Reed Seed) to hear Millard Vinson play this beat. That track was later sampled by A Tribe Called Quest on their track Push It Along (with extra drums layered to great effect), which was then sampled by St. Germain on the track Forget It.
An example of this can be found in Rick James’ Superfreak (1981), recycled by MC Hammer in U Can’t Touch This amongst others.
Know Your Cymbals…
Zildjian Zil-Bel
The Zil-Bel is a small dome shaped cymbal that comes in two sizes and is used as an accent or special effect cymbal. It is a high pitched, bright sounding cymbal made using Zildjian’s three hundred and eighty year old alloy formula. Additionally, it can mounted upside down for even more tonal possibilities.
