Triplet Comping in Jazz Drumming
by Tim Lake
One of the quintessential elements of jazz drumming is triplet comping, something used heavily by people like Elvin Jones.
This usually means filling in the remaining triplets between each quarter note with the snare drum and/or bass drum.
This worksheet shows you how to count each beat, "1-trip-let" "2-trip-let", how the notes line up in the different parts, and where to place the comping note.
It is important to work on this slowly, while counting a loud and make sure it is led by the cymbal. These figures should sit lightly below the cymbal line and give it some forward momentum. Don't drown the cymbal in loud comping pattern especially with those bass drum triplets.
In the PDF there are two more exercises with the triplet divided between the snare and the kick.
You can start to move the snare part around the kit onto different sounds, once comfortable with the basic pattern.
Listen to Coltrane Plays the Blues for some Elvin examples of these patterns, and more, in use.
This was originally posted on "Jazz Drumming Blog".