Jungle/Drum 'N' Bass

[Matt_bing_drummer]

Hello all

Been looking around the net lately for some good on-line tutorials/tips/lessons on the wonders of drum n bass for the drum kit.

I know there are a lot of youtube clips of peeps doing this ala Jojo/rabb/benny but they are mainly solo vids or demonstrations and i wanna learn god damn it :0)

any suggestions?

any help would be muchos muchos appriciated as id love to get into it.

I listen to quite a lot of drum n bass but its hard work working out the rythmns by ear. ok so im lazy and want an easy head start. haha

cheers

[hungrypo]

Hey...i played in a jungle/dnb band for a year or so. we never got off the ground, but it was at a time when i was very interested in the music. there is a book: Jungle/Drum n' Bass for the Acoustic Drum Set, by Johnny Rabb which will give you great exercisies to practice. my suggestions for getting the "feel" of the music is to try to play your bass drum in half time in relation to your hands. so if you're keeping 8th notes at 160bpm, try to think of them as 16th's at 80bpm and orchestrate your bass drum around that feel. it may not make sense what i'm trying to say, but i'd be happy to expand further if you like....

[da cheese walks]

I know there are a lot of youtube clips of peeps doing this ala Jojo/rabb/benny but they are mainly solo vids or demonstrations and i wanna learn god damn it :0)

YEah theres a lot of videos on Youtube....quite a lot of them pure crap!Ive seen about 10 videos of guys doing exactly the same beat,,,over and over again for like 3 minutes...then looking dead chuffed with themselves....

JoJo can pull it off....i havent actually heard Rabb or Benny(?),but i presume they can too....?

Ive been tryin g abit myself,since im basically obsessed with JoJo Mayer since i saw the movie about P-Beatz and all that....Good stuff...im not too good at it...so i kind of just incorporate it into a normal drum solo now and again....!

[Kenneth Nishimoto]

Personally, I think the best way to learn jungle/drum n bass is to listen to it straight from the source. I.e. Actually trying to emulate dnb than trying to emulate drummers who play dnb.

My personal favorite is dogs on acid= Free jungle website:

http://www.dogsonacid.com/audio/

Also, here's a neat thing on the orgins of jungle, definitely helpful:

http://nkhstudio.com/pages/popup_amen.html

The truth is, tho, most drummers completely lost out on the DnB train, and many agree it's a dying genre. For more modern listnin try searching for "Dubstep"

[h3r3tic]

Yep, Johnny's exercises are great! ;)
I've downloaded them from the web and I do find them very cool.
He even explain's how you can make your snare drum to emulate a cumputer sample snare drum by putting a shirt on top of it :P

He's got a wild imagination ;)
Long live Johnny!

[Matt_bing_drummer]

i havent actually heard Rabb or Benny(?),but i presume they can too....?

Benny Greb, look him up on youtube.com, he's freaking awsome.

Thanks for the replies. gonna look in to getting the Johnny Rabb book. :0)

[PBW]

Here's Johnny Rabb laying down some a nice jungle groove...

But check out the mirror behind him --- he appears to be playing with a splash cymbal sat on his snare head (at 01:20 he starts moving it around to create different sounds)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9y8gmgG4W3M

[gusty]

Benny Greb, look him up on youtube.com, he's freaking awsome.

Thanks for the replies. gonna look in to getting the Johnny Rabb book. :0)

...and on his DW page...i was just checking it out a few days ago...good stuff

[abe]

Here's Johnny Rabb laying down some a nice jungle groove...

But check out the mirror behind him --- he appears to be playing with a splash cymbal sat on his snare head (at 01:20 he starts moving it around to create different sounds)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9y8gmgG4W3M

I think it's his Generation X Rabb Drumbal made by Meinl. It's very similar to splash only there is special knob for better handling :)

[eightill]

I've never seen Johny Rabb play until now... wow.

You should REALLY check out the following as well:

KJ Sawka (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b98BJ36K1wo)
Jason Bowld from Pitchshifter (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33UQqmwZl88)
Monkey Drummer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YB08leFMRnM)

[da cheese walks]

drumming monkey is some pretty scary stuff....

wow man all of those guys are really damn good!!

but still.....*sigh*....I really dont feel that theyre up there with JoJo....it may just be since JoJo was the first one i saw,an ive got a minor obsession with the man....seeing as he started a movement....a real movement,man!haha!

Like Johnny Rabb...think the guys up there too!but hes no JoJo...hahaha....

ah i gotta expand the mind...

[sovereign76]

@ Matt_bing_drummer,

first you say you listen to a lot of jungle / drum&bass music, but can't feel(my word) / hear the rhythms. well then its going to be hard to play this stuff accurately on a drumset considering this is dance music first and foremost. so to paraphrase jojo from some of the clinic footage out there (he mentions dancing too) the rabb book will only slightly help you because you can't approach playing your drumset as a statistical toy if you want to play music. now for helping you with playing the groove of older jungle / d&b styles think of an old boogaloo groove that has been sped up and chopped up.


sooo, first the amen break(in sylables) , you know,
boom boom chack a da da da boom chack, (first bar, repeat)

sped up then(sing this fast in the jungle rhythm you hear, go on try, haha)
boom boom chack boom chack (repeat),

and chopped - boom chack boom chack boom (repeat)

here is rabb working this groove:
http://www.pacificdrums.com/learn/lessons.htm#

click on his link from that page

i hope this helps you

edit:
johnny rabb's website has some magazine articles to check out if you haven't already and

here is the first bar of the amen break (it is actually a four bar break):

[oikroitnik]

thanks for notating the amen break there.
for my own ease i am also adding 1e+a2e+a etc over the top of it as I am still a newbie.
Am I right in thinking that the HH strokes are in half time/8th count?
and that the first 16 beat is that snare at 2 a.cheers KH..

[aggo]

Interesting Wikipedia entry for the "amen break": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amen_break

[Polishdrummer23]

What kind of gear do you all use to emulate DnB music? I know there's the Jojo signature line out there, but as far as other cymbals you find fit the bill or drum tuning, could you help me out? Thanks

[Raymond Bloom]

What kind of gear do you all use to emulate DnB music? I know there's the Jojo signature line out there, but as far as other cymbals you find fit the bill or drum tuning, could you help me out? Thanks
Check out my drum-set (link in the signature)

As for cymbals, basically any jazz series or something what you'd use for funk will work just fine, I'm very picky about ride cymbals, I use Jojo Mayer's Fierce ride, which is my favorite all-around ride cymbal, too. My second choice probably would be Zildjian K Custom Special Dry ride or something similar

specs:
Cymbals (from left to right)
Meinl Classics 12'' china
Sabian Signature Jojo Mayer Fierce crash 18''
Meinl Johnny Rabb X-Generation Safari hi-hats 12''
Meinl Classics splash 10''
Zildjian A Custom Fast crash 14''
Sabian Prototype Fierce hi-hats 13''
Sabian AAX Chinese 18''

snare drums
Pearl Masters Custom Limited Edition Exotic 13''x4''
Black Panther Premium Maple 24k Gold 14''x5,5''
Sonor Jungle 10''x2''