[practice] Three Plus One

I've been working on a lot of hand/foot combinations lately, but it's mostly been various two-plus-two or paradiddle variations. Tapping idly while waiting for my coffee to finish brewing, it dawned on me that three-plus-one might be a little more interesting. Three strokes, whether with your hand or your foot, require a lot more control than simply a bounce-rebound.

So here's the deal: Keep quarter notes on either the ride cymbal or the hihat, depending on which hand is free. Then cycle through the following patterns, typically four or eight bars of each before moving on.

HFFF HFFF HFFF HFFF
FHFF FHFF FHFF FHFF
FFHF FFHF FFHF FFHF
FFFH FFFH FFFH FFFH

Then switch your hands and feet for eight variations, total. As with all of these sorts of things, you want to work through every combination of right hand/right foot, right hand/left foot, left hand/right foot and left hand/left foot. That seems like a lot, but it goes by quickly.

I'm going to try this one out tonight and report back in the "drumming diary."