Book Recommendation #5

Louis Bellson making a second appearance, with his ‘Odd Time Reading Text’
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I’ve found this book really helpful recently, as playing in odd time signatures is not something I do as much of anymore. During lockdown, I’ve been asked to record and start work on a couple of originals projects that require some odd time playing, and this book has been great for helping me get back into it.
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The book is very similar to the 4/4 book, in that you can practice it how you like and be as creative as you want. I would say my odd time reading is significantly slower than my 4/4 reading, which makes sense as I do it so much less! So I’ll just take my time and loop sections a lot more when reading these rhythms, and try to quickly visualise where the bar is split and where the clave would be put. I’ll then start taking some of the phrases onto the kit and start trying them as solo ideas, in the hope that they ‘stick’ in my head a bit more.
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I find after 30 mins of working through some of these patterns I feel a lot more comfortable playing in time signatures like 5 and 7, and would recommend anyone (not just drummers) checking this book out and having it on their shelf!