The One Drop in Reggae

[five eight]

Outside of knowing that the reggae downbeat is on three I don't know much about it. Would someone explain the one drop? Is there a tune on Bob Marley & the Wailers Live that employs the one drop?

Also how does reggae differ from ska? From dub? Does calypso figure into any of this?

[Burzmali]

Cool subject, I know a bit about it since I used to play in a reggae/ska band...

Ska also differs from reggae in the the way you play the hihat. Most ska drummers play the hihat on the 1, the & of 1, and the & of two (repeating this pattern for beats three and four)like so: HHPH HHPH (P stands for pause) while closing the hihat on 2 and opening it again on the & of two,
like this:
OOCO OOCO (O equals open, C equals... well you get the idea, no use being redundant)

This is just the basic pattern, most drummers improvise on this, a really common lick to play over the ska beat is this:

16th notes (H equals hihat):

HPHH PHHP HPHH PHHP

Then the snare plays side stick on 2 and 4, the bass drum usually also plays on 2 and 4, but is usually somewhat improvised and/or follows the bass line...

Some great drummers to hear playing in this style are Lloyd Knibb of The Skatalites and more recently, Allen Teboul of The Slackers

A related style is the burru, where you play usually play the bass drum on 2 and the & of two (repeating this for beat four) like this:

PPBB PPBB

the snare kind of improvises over this in a ska type fashion... it's also common to splash the hihat on two and four.... some songs go back and forth between the two, so knowing the burru can come in handy...

If you need some more listening examples or info please let me know...

Good luck,

[five eight]

Way cool, burz. Those patterns fly in the face of all the muscle memory I've developed in drumming, i.e. playing the bass on two and four and those offbeat rests on the hi-hat. Guess that's why 'dem riddems' always sound loose and fresh.

I haven't had a chance to sit down with any recordings yet (has there ever been a record released that you DON'T have, Randy [img]wink.gif[/img] ) so I'm still unsure about the one drop; assuming it's all 4/4, is the snare on three, or two and four? Is one going to be a rest for the snare and bass? [img]confused.gif[/img]

I ain't ashamed to ask. [img]redface.gif[/img]

[Randy walker]

LOL............Hmm, well I do have a many cd that's for sure and the wife hates it! I hired a guy to build custom cd cabinets along my studio walls, top to ceiling.

As to the 1, depends on the tune, sometimes it's played on 3 and others depending on how you count it are on 2 and 4.
The kic can be played on all 4 or just the drop, but if you do that the groove soley depends on the hihat and the accents to make it flow especially if the tune is really fast. ANOTHER example would be Omar on David Bowies Tonight cd, the tune is Don't Look Down, great 1 drop on this tune, kic played on the 3 with the cross stic. Here is a snipped from amazon to listen to
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/clipserve/B00001OH80001002/0/102-9863742-0100966"]http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/clipserve/B00001OH80001002/0/102-9863742-0100966[/ame]

<font color="#a62a2a"><font size="1">[ November 03, 2003 09:33 AM: Message edited by: Randy Walker ]</font></font>

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ November 03, 2003 09:52 AM: Message edited by: Randy Walker ]</font>

[Randy walker]

I love reggae and started to write a book and never finished it.
Another kewl example is Tommy Aldridge on the Pat Travers cd Crash and Burn.Title track, Tommy plays the 1 drop on the snare instead of cross stic. 1 of the few Travers cds available on cd at the moment.
audio example here
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/clipserve/B000001FB4001001/0/102-9863742-0100966"]http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/clipserve/B000001FB4001001/0/102-9863742-0100966[/ame]

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ November 03, 2003 09:56 AM: Message edited by: Randy Walker ]</font>

[five eight]

Is that the Travers record with Boom Boom Out Go The Lights? That's the only one I have (somewhere.) I'll buy the first copy of your reggae drumming book so you can inform any prospective publisher there are ALKREADY people asking for it, no, no, clamoring for it. Better action verb! [img]biggrin.gif[/img]

I'm gonna sit down with No Woman No Cry after work tonight. It's either that or practice my Phil Rudd licks. [img]rolleyes.gif[/img] Just kidding, Mr. Rudd, I think you and Tony Thompson play behind the beat better than anyone except Bonzo.

[Randy walker]

Crash and Burn came out after boom Boom.
FTR, I think Phil is WAY better than Tony. I think Tony rushes at times and plays way too many fills. There was an interview with Robert Palmer about Tony and his drumming a few years back talking about this very thing.

[five eight]

I agree Phil is better. But the first Power Station record got Thompson the gig with Zep (for five minutes.). I also dug his white Yamahas with the black heads and those cymbals mounted at Stewart Copeland height.

[Randy walker]

I really dug the Power Station disc when it came out and when Palmer died I went to listen to it again and Palmer's Riptide disc and could not get into it.

[five eight]

Yeah, lots of effects (backwards echo and gates?) but I still groove along with that Sister Sledge album. Back then Thompson was the MASTER of the short fill, often just one note. That moves me more than an eight bar Peart roll and almost as much as an eight bar Bozzio roll (back when Terry played with a band) although I have more fun playing like Bozzio than, say, Davey Tough. [img]graemlins/party.gif[/img]