How to use the Chaffee Patterns Series

Jonathan Curtis

Silver Member
Hi folks,

following the discussion from this thread, I've gone out on a limb and bought all 4 of Gary Chaffee's Patterns books. I've heard nothing but good things, and had them recommended time and again.

I have had chance to flick through them previously, and they look rather intimidating; not so much because of the difficulty, but the application. Those that have read a few of my posts may know that I have quite strong technical ability, but sometimes struggle with applying it, and I have a feeling that if I'm not careful with these books, I'll miss their point. So, my question is, how would you recommend I tackle these four books? Gary's website states they can be used in any order and combination, so what has worked best for you?

I have decided to dedicate substantial time to these books as I feel it is the kick my playing needs, so I'm looking to those with more experience for advice on this.

Thanks.
 
I haven't done a lot with those in a long time- except book 2, which I've been using at the pad occasionally. I was never able to use his mathematical thing (see the applied stickings in book 2 and the linear patterns in book 3) real fully in my actual playing. As you can see there's some pretty extreme stuff going on rhythmically in the first two books, and some very broken down one and two beat patterns in book 3. I've never owned book 4. I would just try to get acquainted with them pretty much at face value- playing through books 1-2 on the snare drum, and book 3 on the drums. That will take you a long time by itself. Hopefully as you do them some more practical/creative strategies will occur to you. There's so much hard stuff in there- a lot of it kind of marginal to your everyday playing needs- that I think the only way you can screw it up is to let them monopolize your practice time.
 
Hi folks,

following the discussion from this thread, I've gone out on a limb and bought all 4 of Gary Chaffee's Patterns books. I've heard nothing but good things, and had them recommended time and again.

I have had chance to flick through them previously, and they look rather intimidating; not so much because of the difficulty, but the application. Those that have read a few of my posts may know that I have quite strong technical ability, but sometimes struggle with applying it, and I have a feeling that if I'm not careful with these books, I'll miss their point. So, my question is, how would you recommend I tackle these four books? Gary's website states they can be used in any order and combination, so what has worked best for you?

I have decided to dedicate substantial time to these books as I feel it is the kick my playing needs, so I'm looking to those with more experience for advice on this.

Thanks.

Glad you finally took the plunge! Can you go through them with a teacher? The average dude in a music store might not cut it -- you might have to seek out someone who not only has extensive training, but values the Chaffee material personally. I'm doing this with a student now, and he's digging it thoroughly! :)

Some of the content will be easy for you, because you've already encountered it, or it just clicks. Go through the easiest parts first. When you get stuck, you'll know it, so just pencil in a question mark, and move on. Do this for all 4 books. I suggest working from all of them at once, until you can't go any further.

About Time Functioning Patterns: in the Fat-Back exercises, some of the right hand ostinatos are not very practical, or are too difficult. Remember, these were written in the 70s, and there has been a lot of drumming tradition since then. So start with simple 8ths on the ride, and play through all the exercises, to get used to the reading, and give yourself a chance to play through it without stopping. Use the content to improvise, but ease into it by jumping between two exercises that are not in order. Then, practice the whole thing again, with the ostinatos you feel are most useful.

Hope this helps!
 
There many ways to work those books. I have devised a way for me to work on them all at the same time which works because I have a lot of time on my hands. I have the drive and want to catch up on things as I am an experienced, but pretty new on the drums.

The books are just just a part of what I do.

I've sort of divided my practice into different defined sections that make sense to me at this point.

Everything in each section is based on application. That is. Building a vocabulary that I can use, so I take things really slow. Getting through everything wil take a long time.

When I work on e.g. linear stuff I just pick a pattern and work on it in all sorts of ways and then combine it with other patterns I've worken on before and just play around with it for about an hour, learning it in context at a tempo I can control and find comfortable.

I have no goal to get through the books as such as they are concept books with endless applications. I work on something until I feel comfortable and can use it as a natural part of my vocabulary, then I move on or expand it.

There is no rush.
 
hi everyone :)

I'v just started to work on Chaffee's book "RHYTHM AND METER PATTERNS"

A quick question here, and i'd have to say that might be asking alot of them here in the coming weeks.

The question is, on PAGE 16, exercise 7, where I am supposed to play 1 &; 1 E &

Now do i keep my metronome at 16th notes and then play it or should I keep my metronome at the 8th notes? (i personally think i SHOULD be able to use both, but 16th was much easier when i tried)

SECONDLY, while keeping my metronome at 16th (4 subdivisions), the 8th note triplet counting would be something like this (correct me if i'm wrong please):

Hit 1 (1): alongwith 1st note of 16th
Hit 2 (e): in between e and & of the 16th notes
Hit 3 (a): alongwith 'a' of the 16th notes

P.S: Main problem is with hits 2 and 3, i'm not sure if thats right or not !!! thanks in advance :)
 
hi everyone :)

I'v just started to work on Chaffee's book "RHYTHM AND METER PATTERNS"

A quick question here, and i'd have to say that might be asking alot of them here in the coming weeks.

The question is, on PAGE 16, exercise 7, where I am supposed to play 1 &; 1 E &

Now do i keep my metronome at 16th notes and then play it or should I keep my metronome at the 8th notes? (i personally think i SHOULD be able to use both, but 16th was much easier when i tried)

SECONDLY, while keeping my metronome at 16th (4 subdivisions), the 8th note triplet counting would be something like this (correct me if i'm wrong please):

Hit 1 (1): alongwith 1st note of 16th
Hit 2 (e): in between e and & of the 16th notes
Hit 3 (a): alongwith 'a' of the 16th notes

P.S: Main problem is with hits 2 and 3, i'm not sure if thats right or not !!! thanks in advance :)

For this set of exercises, I like to have the metronome playing eighth notes or quarter notes throughout, it's just easier that way and it forces you to learn how to subdivide the quarter note. However if you are new to this stuff, I would recommend practicing each exercise on its own first. Take the example with the triplets that you talked about as an example. Instead of struggling with it because your metronome is set to 16ths, why don't you just set your metronome to triplets? Then you can really hear where the notes are supposed to fall.
 
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