Jazz drumming is one of the hardest styles of music to learn and play along to - in my opinion. However, there are so many drummers nowadays that can play along to jazz music so naturally. If you are interested in playing along to jazz music, I suggest you read through this article as it has some insightful tips and tricks for jazz drum play alongs.
Jazz music is ALWAYS played with a triplet feel. I have never seen or heard of jazz being playing in 16th notes or 32nd notes. If you don’t know what triplets are, then let me take a moment to explain them to you. A triplet is three notes per beat; 8th notes are subdivided into two notes per beat, and triplets are three notes per beat. So in the time it takes to play two 8th notes, you could play three 8th note triplets. The same idea applies when comparing them to 16th notes. In the time it takes to play four 16th notes, you can play three 8th note triplets. 8th note triplets are counted “1 and ah 2 and ah 3 and ah 4 and ah.”
There are also a lot of 16th note triplets playing in jazz drum play alongs. The same concepts are applied to playing 16th note triplets. In the time it takes to play three 8th note triplets, you can play six 16th note triplets. One more example, in the time it takes to play four 16th notes, you can play six 16th note triplets. 16th note triplets are counted “1 ti ta and ti ta 2 ti ta and ti ta 3 ti ta and ti ta 4 ti ta and ti ta.”
If the explanations above confuse you, I highly recommend checking out Mike Michalkow’s Jazz Drumming System. Not only is it an excellent educational tool for jazz drummers, it comes with world class jazz play alongs; recorded by top musicians such as Jody Fisher (guitar), Baba Elefante (bass), and Tilden Webb (piano).
Here is a video of a Jazz Drum Play Along. This is an authorized excerpt from the Jazz Drumming System. The audio file without the drums can be downloaded at the Free Drum Lessons Webiste.
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