Revisiting Jim Chapin's book

Supernoodle

Supernoodle

Senior Member
It's great coming back to "Advanced Techniques..." I forgot how good it is.

Playing triplet, straight 8ths and 16ths figures against the cymbal beat really does wonders to your swing and general sense of time. There is still no other book I know that does that.

At the same time your weak hand gets a workout, and you can do the bottom line with your bass drum foot (slower...).

The solos at the end of each section are really musical and funny too.
 
Paul Blood said:
That is a book I remember enjoying working out of when I was a kid, and I have no idea what happened to my copy. I'll buy another one for nostalgia.
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Paul Blood said:
Yes, no doubt about that! He loved drumming and would go out his way to help any drummer.
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Yes, he was old-school, a real gentleman. Louie Bellson was another extremely kind and generous person I met at PAS, who went out of his way to give me a hearing. Very different from many of the younger celebrities I approached.
 
What's the consensus on playing the 16ths and straight 8ths? Do you change the ride pattern to 1e+a2e+a or does it stay the same? If it's the latter, do you actually count it very slowly to get the 4:3 right or do you try to play it by feel?
 
Definitely dotted 8ths and 16ths on ride for those to start with, in time it'll become more fluid, just like it says in the book.

Those are the most effective sections, forcing you to go beyond triplets to dotted 8ths and 16ths on the ride. Most other books/teachers only discuss going straighter than triplets for faster tempos.

So definitely 16ths to start with, using the dotted line keys in the book. In time it'll become more fluid, just like Chapin says.

Rick Dior demonstrates it all perfectly...
 
So many of the classic "greats" studied from this book, that, if you want to play jazz, you ought to study it. An old mentor of mine, Paul Lagos, had studied with Philly Joe Jones. On Paul's copy of Chapin, Philly had written "Holy Bible" near the banner. I think John Riley's book "Bop Drumming" is also a gem. Lots of information in it besides independence. And his comping rhythms really swing. The soloing instruction is not to be missed. Still, I defer to Chapin, partly because the book has been with me 48 years, and I practiced with it again today. Kenny Washington uses it. Max Roach studied it ("Jim really beat us up with that book," was his remark). Tony Williams. Elvin. Charlie Persip. Hutch. The list is long. The cymbal groove chapters of Dahlgren/Fine's "Four Way Coordination" makes a good graduate course, offering grooves in various time signatures and utilizing hi hat independence. Tony studied "4-Way" too, as did Chris Dave. But Chapin is the foundation method. Marv Dahlgren told me that.
 
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