Stanton Moore Academy Lesson 11A Worksheet 4/14/17 The RLRR-LRRL Sticking In this lesson we're going to cover what I consider to be one of the most usable elements in drumset playing. It is a very simple sticking but it flows easily and is adaptable to so many situations. It is basically a paradiddle followed by inverted doubles that start off the left. It's number 33 in George Lawrence Stone's "Stick Control". Joe Porcaro (Jeff's dad) calls it the "Rock and Roll Paradiddle" I've recently heard it called the "Paradiddle-middle-diddle". The great drummers who have used it include Idris Muhammad, Steve Gadd, Ian Paice, Mel Lewis, David Garibaldi, Mike Clark, Loyd Knibb, Stewart Copeland, Neil Peart, just to name a few. Let's take a look at the basic idea. If you play it just as written on paper, there's not a lot of music happening here.
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ 4 ã 4 R L R R L R R L R L R R L R R L R L R R L R R L R L R R L R R L R Let's now look at it from a different perspective. It may sound like I'm getting off track but bear with me. One of my favorite drummers is Idris Muhammad. Idris grew up in New Orleans and spent a lot of time following the brass bands and Mardi Gras Indians around. He started to take some of the rhythms from the MG Indians and try to apply them to the drums. The rhythm below is a very prevalent rhythmic pattern in New Orleans. It has it's roots in Africa, but developed as it traveled through Haiti and Cuba via the horrible practices of the slave trade. It was named the Cinquillo in Cuba, but when it landed in New Orleans it was picked up by the MG Indians and became a part of the rhythmic fabric of New Orleans. This rhythm is played on the tambourines of the MG Indian tribes.
x x x x x> x x x x x> x x x x x> x x x x x> x ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ 4ã
Some Indians tap the rhythm with their fingertips while others play it in more of the Gospel Church tradition. We cover this in more depth in Academy Lesson 11. Here is how the tambourine would be played with more of a Gospel approach. Be sure to check out that lesson for more about tambourine playing and this rhythm specifically.
flip flip flip flip ^ ^ ^ ^ >x x x> x> x x> x> x >x x x> x> x x> x> x >x x x> x> x x> x> x >x x x> x> x x> x> x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x 7ã down down up up down down down up up down down down up up down down down up up down
©StantonMooreDrumAcademy.com 2 Academy Lesson 11A Worksheet
Idris would take that rhythm and play it on the hi-hat. Here is the tambourine rhythm played on hi-hat.
x x x x x> x x x x x> x x x x x> x x x x x> ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ 10ã
Idris would play the tambourine rhythm in the right hand and then fill in the spaces with the left hand. Notice that this now creates the same sticking that we started out talking about, RLRR-LRRL, number 33 in "Stick Control".
x œ x x œ x x œ x œ x x œ x x œ x œ x x œ x x œ x œ x x œ x x œ
12ã R L R R L R R L R L R R L R R L R L R R L R R L R L R R L R R L
Now we can start to add in the bass drum and some occasional buzzes, accents and backbeats with the left hand. We can start with the Tresillo on the bass drum. This is the mambo bass drum pattern or the 3 side of the clave. > x œ x x œ x x œ x œ x x œ x x œ x œ x x œ x x œ x œ x x œ x x œ œ œ œ z œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ z œ 14ã R L R R L R R L R L R R L R R L R L R R L R R L R L R R L R R L > > x œ x x œ x x œ x œ x x œ x x œ x œ x x œ x œx x œ x x œ x œx œ œ œ œ œ z œ œ œ œz œ œ œz 16ã R L R R L R R L R L R R L R R L R L R R L R B R L R R L R B
Idris started to incorporate these ideas into some of his drumset grooves. The first time I have found Idris playing ideas based off of this sticking is on Rueben Wilson"s Hot Rod recorded in 1968. In 1969 Idris recorded a version of James Brown's "Ain't it Funky Now". Idris laid down a classic track where he used this idea on beats 3 & 4 of his groove. Here is basically what Idris was playing on that track.
> > > x œx x x œ x x œ x x œ x œ x œx œ x x œ x x œ œ> œ. œ œ œ œ œ œ œ z 18ã . R L R R L R R L R L R R L R Academy Lesson 11A Worksheet 3
x x x> x x x x > x x x x x> x x x x > x x œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
20ã R L R R L R R L R L R R L R R L x x x> x x x x > x x x x x> x x x x > x x œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
22ã R L R R L R R L R L R R L R R L > > > > x x œx x x œ x x œ x x œ x œ x œx œ x x œ x x œ x x œ œ œ z œ œ œ œ œ œ œ 24ã R L R R L R R L R L R R L R R L R
> > > > x œx x œ x x œ x x œ x œ x œx œ x x œ x x œ x x œ. œ . œ œ œ œ œ œ 27ã . R L R R L R R L R L R R L R R I love tracking ideas and seeing how they might've been used in other ways by other people. I was learning some Steve Gadd transcriptions one day on a rainy day off in Germany. I decided to stay in the hotel room and shed. When I first started trying to digest this next idea, I was looking on Drummerworld.com and once I watched the clip in slow motion and looked at the notation, I realized that what Gadd was doing was the same sticking that Idris Muhammad was using! Gadd was just playing it in 32nd notes. It's still number 33 in "Stick Control". It's often very helpful to make "realizations" about things you are learning. If you realize how something might be related to something you already know, it can help you learn that idea that much faster. Once I realized I had encountered this sticking before, it made it that much easier for me to digest. I just needed to get it up to speed a little bit. Also note that it helps to play these 32nd notes as finessed as you can. Don't muscle them out, but try to play them relatively soft. Here is some thing in the style of Steve Gadd. You can hear him use this idea on Tom Scott's "Dirty Old Man.
x x> x x x x > x xo x x x x x x > x x x x > x x œ. œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
29ã . R L R R L R R R L R R L R R L R L R R L R R L x x x x x x > x x x x > x x x x x x x x > x x x x > x x œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
31ã R L R R L R R L R L R R L R R L R L R R L R R L R L R R L R R L 4 Academy Lesson 11A Worksheet x xx xx > xx xx x xx xx > xx xx x xx xx > xx xx x xx xx > xx xx x œœ œ œœœ œ œœœ œ œœœ œ œ œœœ œœ œœœœ œœ œœœœ œœ œœœœ œœ œ œ
33ã R L R R L R R L R L R R L R R L R L R R L R R L R L R R L R R L R L R R L R R L R L R R L R R L R L R R L R R L R L R R L R R L R
When Idris Muhammad passed away, I called Modern Drummer and offered to write the in memoriam piece for him. I emailed and got quotes back immediately from David Garibaldi, Mike Clark, Bill Stewart and Steve Smith. I called Steve Gadd knowing that he was coming to New Orleans to play with James Taylor soon. I already had my tickets. Steve called me back and said he would love to talk to me about Idris. We met up for coffee at his hotel in down town NOLA. I proceded to tell him my theory that Idris was the first guy I could find playing that sticking and is it possible that Steve picked it up from Idris and turned it into 32nd notes. Steve told me that he actually go that specific idea from Rick Marotta's playing on Jerry LaCroix's "Mean Ole World". Gadd and Marotta are friends and Steve was in the studio when Marotta laid the tune down. So I emailed Rick and asked where he got the idea... He said, I don't know, you'd have to ask Gadd! Funny story, but wherever they got it from, it's the same sticking. It's fast in the front and slow in the back. It's like a drumming mullet!
x x x x x x x x x > x x x x x x x x x x x > x x œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ . 36ã R L R R L R R L R L R R L R R L R L R R L R R L R L R R L R R L
x x x x x x > x x x x > x x x x x x x x > x x x x > x x œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
38ã R L R R L R R L R L R R L R R L R L R R L R R L R L R R L R R L x x x x x x >x x x x >x x x x x x x > x x x x x x x x x > x x x x œ œ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œœ œ œœœ œ œœœ œ œœœ œ œ œ
40ã R L R R L R R L R L R R L R R L R L R R L R R L R L R R L R R L R L R R L R R L R L R R L R R L R
I hope you enjoy learning about the background and versatility of this simple idea. We'll cover more ways it has been used and we'll explore more ways you can use it in your own playing in Academy Lesson 11B. Happy Shedding, stay funky and have fun! SM