Lesson #6

A hectic fortnight meant that I hardly got on the kit at all between the last lesson and this, so the first step was to review all the new stuff from last time. I was quite pleased that it hadn't completely gone from my mind, but it certainly wasn't ingrained at all.

The rest of the lesson was spent working on further exercises that revolved around triplets either as part of a groove or fill, and usually mixed up with 'straight' rhythms in some way. We covered a couple of neat things that meant you really HAD to have the next pattern in your head (ie they didn't incrementally evolve in a sensible order - the timing felt as though it jumped about a bit) so there was no hiding. Oh, and then the metronome came out again to remind me just how hard this really is.

Again I felt challenged and left with lots to work on.

There was one very positive thing though - my teacher pointed out that throughout the lesson my grip had, for the first time, remained spot on. Those hours on the practice pad finally paying off - progress at last :-)