Funk studies

Thunderstix

Senior Member
I want to learn some funk and heard that Rick Latham is the man. Unless someone convinces me to buy Garibaldi's books, I'm gonna get one of the three pictured below.

What is the difference between these three covers? Does the black cover come with books or only dvd's?

Do you think that Garibaldi's books are better? Are they nothing more than Tower of Power playalongs?

Finally, what's the proficiency level of all these works and their ease of use?
 

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Rick is on DW now you know ;-)

Having the first two of Rick instructional book, I say definitely prefer the original "Advanced Funk Studies".

The first book pictured is the 25th anniversary reedition of the original "Advanced Funk Studies" with DVD & extras.


http://www.ricklatham.com/afs.htm
 
Rick is on DW now you know ;-)

Having the first two of Rick instructional book, I say definitely prefer the original "Advanced Funk Studies".

The first book pictured is the 25th anniversary reedition of the original "Advanced Funk Studies" with DVD & extras.


http://www.ricklatham.com/afs.htm

Oh thanks.

So the black is a book after all? The cover says "DVD".

Does it leave out some of the material found in the originals?
 
Definitely recommend Future Sounds. That's what I'm working on, and it helps develop the most important kind of coordination, dynamic coordination, and that is the most important thing when playing funk. It's not only funk grooves/patterns, but a system.
 
Check out The Funky Beat - Garibaldi talks about the sound level concept, and gives a cool overview of some good ghost note/linear exercises and some great transcriptions of his famous grooves. It starts very simple, then gradually gets more complex (he even starts to get into some Chaffee over the bar/odd time stuff towards the end).

After that book, Future Sounds could be cool - that's an amazing book, but more fusion oriented than straight up funk.

Another book that's nice is Mike Clark's Funk Drumming...
 
Thunderstix: The difference between the yellow and blue covers are huge: they're completely different books! As others have mentioned, the black cover is a special edition DVD of the yellow one, Advanced Funk Studies. I would suggest you get Advanced Funk Studies (I've never picked up the 25th Anniversary edition, so I can't tell you which edition is better, DVD or boiok; I can tell you that you probably can't go wrong with either one), as well as one of Garibaldi's books. But if you're going to pick just one, I'd definitely go with Latham's Advance Funk Studies.

Both definitely require a bit of experience with reading, as well as some independence; if you've been playing for a few years, you should be able to get into them. As for "ease of use," I'm not exactly sure what you mean... if you can read it, you can use it!
 
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I own all of Rick's material shown. The item on the far left is an instructional DVD that puts together both VHS home videos he did back in the early 90's regarding his two books Advanced Funk Studies and Contempary Drumset Techniques. It is not a book.
 
Ricks books have TONS of grooves..I really got alot of use from the patterns, they opened me up to new thoughts

I also got Pat Petrillo's Hands, grooves, & Fills" and although they seemed "easier" when I got it, when I tried to play them, the phrasing was so hip, I really couldn't get it, especially with the Play Along tracks..This is another product I would also highly recommend to you
 
As much as I like watching videos, you still need the books to study, right?

You will need the books. There is no PDF on the DVD. Rick just came out with a new DVD but I am on the broke right now so it will be next month till I pick it up.

Chaffee's books are great along with Garibaldi's. I recently picked up Jim Payne's Advanced Funk Drumming. Another good one.
 
OK, I'll get the yellow book, and perhaps the blue as well.

The blue includes contemporary rudiments, 16th notehand patterns, 16th note patterns, with bass drum, triplet hand patterns, triplet hand and bass drum, tom toms, drum set interpretation hi hat foot substitution, shuffle, hip hop, ghosting shuffles, contemporary patterns and fills ...

Sounds a bit basic, or am I wrong?
 
I'd seriously recommend Future Sounds or Linear Time Playing. 'Cos they are more of a system, rather than just a collection of patterns.
 
If you can get your hands on them, look for some old funk books by Chet Doboe, such as The Funk Drumming Workbook. His books are out of print, but you might be able to find them online.
 
I don't know if I would start with the Latham books- they kind of dump you in the middle of linear, 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover-land, you know? You'd be missing the core of the style. Roy Burns & Joey Farris' Studio Funk Drumming is a very practical, meat-and-potatoes type of book, and a better introduction. A Funky Primer by Charles Dowd might also be a good place to start, though he doesn't give you much help with interpretation. I haven't seen the Doboe book in years, but as I recall it's a good mix of practical and advanced stuff.
 
Because everyone is calling Garibaldi, I took a look at his books. Future sounds looks promising, as does The code of funk.

Does Timbafunk explain the technique behind latin drumming like FS does for funk or is it more a play-along? What about Tiempo?

Can someone provide a list of all Garibaldi publications please? I'm getting lost. And perhaps the order in which I should check them out. Thanks.
 
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Ok, I just had a lesson with David and he said that most guys go through Future Sounds before Funky Beat. I thought Funky Beat first because he has straight up grooves that you can learn, but to really get it happening, Future Sounds is an excellent foundation.
 
Ok, I just had a lesson with David and he said that most guys go through Future Sounds before Funky Beat. I thought Funky Beat first because he has straight up grooves that you can learn, but to really get it happening, Future Sounds is an excellent foundation.

OK I'll get that.

But I'd also like to learn some latin drumming. Will Timbafunk or Tiempo cover latin techniques or mostly play-alongs?
 
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