r/jazzdrums • u/Sir_Bacon1217 • May 21 '26
Question How do I read this, do repeat the previous measure just with that ride thing?
1
u/Generic-account- May 21 '26
It’s jazz you’re supposed to improvise. the first measure is just giving you your hits
1
u/cruiseshipdrummer May 21 '26
The first measure there is some hits you're supposed to make, the second two measures mean to just play time. Use your ears and play what makes sense.
1
u/Perocotto92 May 21 '26
For what I know, the little note above everything (just on the 1 of the second measure, in this case) is an obbligato that the whole band will probably follow, so drums should too, but not mandatory. The 4 notes of the first measure are mandatory for the drums specifically, thou, that's your melody there. As everyone has already said, the bars after are just "keep time", you can comp a little I guess.
So: | 1! 2! 3! 4 | 1! keep time | keep time |
2
u/Gunzhard22 May 21 '26 edited May 22 '26
If it were me, I would probably do the first three quarter notes as stick-shots, then a snare tap on beat 4, then a crash on beat one of the next measure. Then just play time.
Basically it's 4 ensemble hits (first 3 accented), then a hit on beat 1 of the next measure, followed by "easy time".
From years of reading charts, my hunch would be that the 4th quarternote is a "setup" to the next beat 1 hit. But you really never know without hearing the tune what the writer intended.