The Jazz Ride Cymbal
Just like the ambusher defines how a horn player sounds, the ride cymbal, or more specifically how you play the basic jazz pattern, defines the sound of a jazz drummer.
What is the jazz ride cymbal pattern?
Now, if you were to play this back from your computer the rhythm would sound nothing like the jazz ride cymbal pattern. In jazz, the rhythm above sounds the same if it’s expressed with triplets:
To further understand the ride cymbal pattern, say the phrase “chang-a-lang”. Although this is a simple trick, it carries a heavy punch in terms of training your ear to understand the exact syncopation behind a great jazz ride pattern.
Drummers such as Elvin Jones, Art Blakey, Philly-Joe Jones, Tony Williams, Billiy Higgins, and Roy Haynes all are playing around the same ride pattern, but they all sound different. The ride cymbal is a voice for the jazz drummer.
To develop a strong jazz ride pattern, play the exercise below:
The purpose of this exercise is to line up the ride cymbal with the triplets played with the snare hand. After you play this for a few moments, you should see a dramatic improvement in you ride cymbal pattern.
Once you feel comfortable playing this, try adding the bass drum underneath:
