Beat 342 of my DrumBeatProject

Beat 342 of my DrumBeatProject 7.15.26. This one features a pitched melody (wooden tone drum) against a complementary rhythmic melody (bass drum). This idea has been floating around since April when I was given the tone drum (aka tongue drum or slit drum). I wrote the beat back then and it grew into a longer piece still in progress. I finally got around to trying it out backstage at Wilco’s Wheeling, WV show, and ended up changing it slightly for a better feel - that's the main beat here and the first four clips in the video above. I'm also including the original (April) sibling beat from backstage at Wilco’s Virginia Beach show, which just has a different left foot or hi-hat part, that's the fifth clip here - notations for both beats are below thanks to Clark Hubbard! The first clip is a view from above. You can hear the slit drum better in the second, side view clip. The third is what it sounds like if you play the ride instead of the tone drum so you can really get a sense of the bass drum rhythmic melody (and it's the best way to try it at home). The fourth clip shows that bass drum part nicely. And the fifth clip is the original beat with the hi-hat part moved from the upbeats back to the downbeats. The left hand (or snare drum) voicing can use brushes, brooms or cross-stick, w/snares on or off. Lots of sound possibilities and personal interpretation with this beat.

Here is a video of me practicing the trickiest part - syncing up the syncopated bass drum part with the snare drum “+ - a’s”. I simplified the beat by moving the rhythm of the tone drum part to the hi-hat so I could better concentrate on the right foot and left hand. The snare drum part is played as cross-sticks to better hear that as well.

And here is similar one but with the right hand part now using a brush to strike the snare drum.

This is just a good alternate take - done Substack friendly (horizontally).

And now an alternate video of the sibling beat - the original beat from April. This one is pretty much the same other than the hi-hat part is on downbeats instead of upbeats like in the previous videos. This is the way I originally wrote it (its got a nice balance compositionally between the hi-hat and snare drums parts), but when I actually tried to play - not only was this more difficult - but it was less satisfying, less groovy and didn’t feel as good. That’s why I slid the hi-hat part over an 8th note to the upbeats and that’s when it clicked and became more grooving.

For those who venture behind the paywall - here I am practicing the beat in the Wilco practice room backstage, and if you listen carefully, you’ll hear my band mate Pat Sansone vocalizes along in the background…

AND there is a rather lengthy (and personal) essay on Rush: Neil Peart’s influence, my Tama Superstar kit, meeting them etc.