Chords for Drumset Lessons with Jay Fenichel: "Cissy Strut" by The Meters

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_ [Eb] _ _ [Gm] _ _ [G] Hi [N] everybody, I'm Jay Fenichel.
Welcome to another drum lesson.
Today we're going to break down the groove to Sissy Strut by The Funky Meters.
This groove was originally played by Zigaboo Modalist,
one of the greatest funk drummers out there.
_ Fantastic groove, very innovative because it's very broken and rhythmically interesting.
Usually funk tends to be a little more simple, a little more straightforward.
This groove has a little bit of a syncopation in there that creates
kind of this really nice contrast between the time and the actual rhythm that you're playing.
Now the thing that you have to understand about this groove is the pocket.
We got to really keep the groove nice and relaxed and nice and behind the beat.
It's not an aggressive groove so you really want to kind of lay back
and feel the time in a very smooth way.
The groove's also got a little bit of a swing to it so you got to make sure
that you get a little bit of that bounce in the rhythm.
Why don't we go ahead and just jump right into it
and start with breaking the groove down at a slower tempo.
Now the normal tempo of the groove is around 88 on the metronome.
I don't think they used a metronome when they recorded it
but we're going to say it's around 88 for the full tempo version of this.
We're going to break it down to 60 and play it nice and slow.
Let's give that a shot. _
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_ _ Now analyzing this groove let's go ahead and break it down piece by piece.
First thing we're going to do is just take a look at what the hi-hat is doing by itself.
If you notice I'm breaking down this hi-hat part with two hands.
I wasn't really sure which way to play it with one hand or two hands.
I had to go back and actually watch a video of Zigaboo executing it
and I noticed he does it with two hands so that's the way we're going to learn it here. _ _ _ _ _
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_ _ _ _ _ Next what I want to do is add the backbeat on the snare drum
against this syncopated hi-hat pattern. _ _ _ _ _ _
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_ _ _ _ Next let's take a look at what the bass drum is doing by itself. _ _ _ _ _
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_ _ _ _ _ Next thing we're going to go ahead and layer the bass drum on top of the hi-hat
and this is where it gets a little tricky because there's definitely a
big syncopation issue between these two parts so we got to resolve that back and forth. _ _ _
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_ _ _ _ _ _ For the final step we're going to add the hi-hat snare drum and bass drum part all together. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
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_ _ _ Up to tempo it's going to sound like this.
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_ _ _ [N] Now once you have the coordination and the technique down it's really just a matter of
practicing it making it feel good and really finding that pocket like I said in the beginning.
Very important that the groove is nice and relaxed and nice and solid.
You maintain that bounce you keep it consistent because in the funk world
it's not just playing the rhythms right it's really executing it the right way and getting
that groove.
If you don't maintain that groove or you don't build up that
looping feeling then it really kind of just loses everything.
It just sounds like you're playing a bunch of rhythms it doesn't have that
really really deep pocket and that's what you're searching for.
That's what separates a funk drummer from say a rock drummer.
Not that one is worse or better than the other but rock drummers tend to not have that groove.
They don't have that thing that makes you dance.
I'd have to say the key factor for getting this style down and really understanding it and kind
of getting it into your bones is listening.
You know check these drummers out.
Check out
artists like James Brown, artists like The Meters, artists like Tower of Power.
Listen to what they're doing.
Go on YouTube.
Watch videos of these guys.
That's what's going to teach you how to find this feeling.
Nothing else is really going to prepare you for playing this style aside from borrowing
from what the masters have already done.
So that's going to wrap up this lesson.
We'll see you guys on the next one and remember if you want any help with your technique in terms
of like understanding how the coordination works or how to get your hands together any of that
kind of stuff visit us over at thedrummersalmanac.com.
Also don't forget to subscribe here on YouTube,
follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook.
We'll see you guys for the next one.
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