Great lesson as always Q! I play with the "legato sound" on my right hand because with the "tap" I feel the overtones of the snare tend to be louder and harder to control! But I will try to add to my vocabulary the tap to have also a more "open" sound! I learned the "sweep pattern" from Jason Sutter, he has a nice (and fancy) lesson on drumeo, it's not exactly your pattern but there are some sort of "cousin pattern"! About the books I have a really nice book by Jon Hazila (Mastering the art of brushes) - but there are a lot of patterns on that book 😂 -. I saw some videos from Ulysses Owens Jr. on Instagram with some tips on playing the brushes and I loved it! About the matched grip, Ari Hoenig told me to hold the brush with the index finger extended (A la Chris Dave). Thanks again and sorry for my extended comments!
Thanks for sharing Joel! Both legato and staccato sounds and approaches are great and can be useful for different situations or sounds your'e going for. It's good to work on both for sure. Your extended comments are always welcomed my friend:)
@@drumqtips Thank you very much! I always read and appreciate your answers but I just dont reply because I try to avoid wasting your time! Thanks for all your amazing work!
Funny you should mention the Hoenig idea of index finger being extended… I play brushes with matched grip, and I intuitively do that index finger extended thing, gives me more control with the sweeps
Everything Roy played on that whole album is textbook greatness. That album is Blues and the Abstract Truth by the great arranger/saxophonist Oliver Nelson.
ha! I met you at Western yyyears ago in my undergrad. I needed something to supplement a brush lesson with one of my drum students, glad I found this. Cheers
LOVE brushes! About 17 years ago I was fortunate to have an hour lesson with Jeff Hamilton. After listening to me play time on the ride, he asked what I wanted to work on. I said, Brushes!
I have had brushes for for a really long time, but I practically never played them. I’m getting into that stuff now because it sound really really awesome and your video is very helpful
I've been working on brushes a lot over the last year and am constantly amazed at what an incredibly rich art form they are on their own . Very happy to see a brush video from you. Keep up the great content.
Man, being a lefty drummer learning brush patterns is such a complicated and painful experience if you are a visual learner like me. I even put up a mirror to watch brush videos to make it less of a pain to learn the patterns. We need more lefty brush drum videos 😂
Great and very informative video Mr Davis ! Very important point, that some of the greatest brush players played most often with the snares off- it gives a starkness and clarity to the brush sound, and I often forget that important concept.
Thank you for this, Quincy. I've just started messing around with brushes for a lounge band audition for a cruise, and bought a pair of steel brushes. I didn't know know exactly what to do with them, but now I have a much clearer idea. I'll exercise these patterns and follow your next brush videos.
Thx a lot for your advises, great info, looking forward too watch you again on this matter. I personally love Elvin Jones’ finesse when playing brushes.
Thanks Quincy for that nice introduction which reminded me of learning playing brushes from the book "The Sound of Brushes" by Ed Thigpen in the 80s. I got the impression that you might also know it.
My pleasure Christoph! Ed Thigpen is absolutely a big influence of mine and yes, I know of his brush book and video. Awesome! Thanks for watching Chris:)
Another great lesson thank you! Ed Thigpen's book is amazing (listening to his soothing voice in headphones while tracing the patterns - it's literally getting a personal lesson from Ed!) and listening to him with Oscar trio has really helped me. Thanks so much!
When I tried to go through the Thigpen book back in the day, I thought it was too complicated. The Philly Joe Jones book was more my speed, heh. I also have the Florian Alexandru-Zorn book, but sadly I have yet to crack it open.
Great lesson as usual. Keep it simple. Make it sound and feel as good as you can. That’s where gigs come from. The only guy I was waiting to hear you mention, but you didn’t, was Jimmy Cobb. He was a great brush player and switched seamlessly between sticks and brushes. He is one of my all time favorite all around combo drummers.
In ballads I sometimes shoot for a double time feel on the sweeping motion! When done right it adds very interesting color. On brushes I do just the basic patterns. Keep thing consistents.
Estimado Quincy saludos cordiales desde Argentina , Villa Garibaldi , acá le decimos brochas o escobillas allá (brush) creo que ningún toque de palillos puede superar a las escobillas en lograr un swing máximo en expresión y ritmo por el barrido sobre el parche que es infinito en sus recorridos , si uno busca swinguear a pleno en los tambores las brochas son la gran herramienta, también aportan gracia y elegancia , felicitaciones por tus videos sos campeón!!! abrazo
I'll be going into my nuances of brush playing in a future video. In the meantime, have a look at an older video I did on brushes called Brush Essentials. I think that will help you Petar:)
With the first brush pattern, I'll sometimes change the feel by playing the left hand in double time. It can also help keep the sweep sound more consistent when playing at extremely slow tempos.
Thank you for a great lesson. I love brushes. I’d recommend Ed Thigpens book on brushes too - it’s excellent! There’s also a dvd available, where he shows the brushpatterns, playing with Ron Carter og Tony Purrone.
Quincy, I hear the difference, counter clockwise sounds a little smother, but maybe that’s because you started learning that way and you might feel it better in that direction. Your technique sounds very good. I like vernell fornier , dejohnette, and Elvin . They have very unique ways of playing brushes, but of course there are many others that are excellent brush players as well. Thanks for your lesson, very good info.
this is what good brush playing sounds like: Elvin Jones Gene Krupa Joe Morello Ed Thigpen Papa Jo Louie Bellson Kenny Clarke Roy Haynes Lewis Nash Jeff Hamilton Clayton Cameron Quincy Davis
i was always of the impression one had to apply slight pressure on beats 2 and 4 with the sweeping hand, so as to accent the hihat tap; is this wrong, or is it acceptable?