by John Pickering

If you want to learn the art of trading "fours", The Drummer's Cookbook Volume II will help you put it all together. This book takes you through the entire process, from developing a vocabulary to real world application. Today's working drummers are asked to play fills and fours at a variety of different tempos, each requiring a different vocabulary. The author breaks down the process into three general tempo zones: moderate, bright and extreme. Develop your own musical vocabulary by studying the tools of the trade: uneven note groups, rhythm fragments, implied tempo changes, ghost notes, quarter note triplets, and more. Then put it all together by learning the format for fours. Learn to think in phrases: three beat groups, call and response, and symmetric and asymmetric phrases. Study the standard 32 bar AABA jazz format and learn the how, why and when of trading fours. Finally, all these skills can be practiced with several hundred two and four bar solos in each of the three tempo ranges.