Advanced Sextuplet Chops - Gospel Chops Drumming Masterclass

In this Lesson, you will learn to play the ‘4 Stick Cross’ Sextuplet Chop. This fill features a left leading (LRLR) cross-over pattern between the Hi Hat and the Floor Tom. The pattern occurs on beat 3 of both bars and is a little awkward to play at high speeds. When practicing this orchestration, remember to bring the left hand under the right when transitioning from the Hi Hats to the Floor Tom. The fill also features an interesting Paradiddle-diddle orchestration in Phrase 1 and a 6 Stroke Roll in Phrase 3.

In this lesson you will learn how to play the ‘Smooth Rider’ Sextuplet Chop. This fill features many interesting ideas put together. Phrase 1 is played completely with the hands and features a 6 Stroke Roll and two (RRL) 3 note sticking patterns. Beats 3 of both bars are made up of a RKK RKK pattern and a LKK RKK pattern and the fill finishes on a 4 + on the Crash/Snare followed by the Kick to transition back into the groove.

In this lesson you will learn how to play the 'Hallmark' Sextuplet Chop. This fill features a number of different length sticking patterns joined mostly by doubled Bass Drum insertions. The sticking patterns all differ in length throughout this fill are arranged in groups of 3,7,2,3,4,7,7 and 2. The fill also features an interesting 7 note sticking (LRRLRLL) between beats 1 and 2 of both bars as well as a very tasty right leading 7-note orchestration to transition back into the groove.

In this lesson you will learn how to play the ‘Slick Slider’ Sextuplet Chop. This fill features a shrinking 9 note sticking pattern based on the 6 Stroke Roll that gets shorter by one note each time (RLLRRL RLL, RLLRRL RL, RLLRRL R). The fill also features 5 doubled Kick Drum strokes inserted throughout and finishes on the Crash and the Snare on beats 4 + to transition back into the groove. It is called the ‘Slick Slider’ because it slides down the toms twice throughout the fill and flows very smoothly around the kit.

In this lesson you will learn how to play the ‘McIntyre Mudshake’ Sextuplet Chop. There are many notable patterns within the phrases of this fill and it is an excellent Kick Drum workout. Phrase 1 makes a simple and repeatable lick around the drums and works great as a stand-alone fill on its own. This chop also features an interesting (RRLKK LRKK RRL) orchestration in Phrase 2 played between the Kick, Snare and Hi Hats as well the recurring theme of KKRL played all over the kit.

This chop was written during a lesson with one of my students where I was guiding him through the process of how to make up a linear sextuplet fill. The resulting fill is what was transcribed during the lesson and later became part of this course.

In this lesson you will learn how to play the ‘Fay Smelter’ Sextuplet Chop. The 4 phrases combine nicely to make a unique fill with a lot of attitude. The left handed ghost notes in Phrase 3 can be a little difficult to keep quiet and the fill finishes with a slightly different variation of the ‘4 Stick Cross’ covered in lesson 2.

In this lesson you will learn how to play the ‘Go-to Gavin’ Sextuplet Chop. This chop is very hand dominant and features only Single Kick Drum insertions. This fill was inspired by Gavin Harrison’s playing in the song ‘Hatesong’ on Porcupine Tree’s 2005 live DVD Arriving Somewhere. I fell in love with this style of fill from the moment I heard it and decided to write my own version using similar sticking's and orchestrations.

In this lesson you will learn how to play the ‘Trail Blazer’ Sextuplet Chop. This chop features an interesting orchestration of the RLRLKK pattern in phrase 1. The orchestration forces a lot of hand movement and creates the illusion of a cross-over when the hands don’t actually cross. Watch out for the (KRLRLL RRLKKL) sticking in phrase 3 as it feels a little unnatural at first and take note of the identical rhythms with different orchestrations in Phrases 2 and 4.

In this lesson you will learn how to play the ‘Caramel Kick’ Sextuplet Chop. This chop features a very satisfying (LRLRLL) pattern that flows down the toms between phrases 1 and 2. The sticking, ghosting and kick drum insertions in Phases 3 and 4 can be a little awkward to play as well. Watch out for the LRL sicking and the single ghost note in the middle of Phrase 3 as it can be a little difficult to coordinate too.

In this lesson you will learn how to play the ‘Angry Bird’ Sextuplet Chop. This chop features an accented Paradiddle sticking in Phrase 1 as well as a left leading Paradiddle-diddle sticking in Phrase 3. Phrase 4 flows very nicely down the toms and back to the Hi Hat and Snare to finish the pattern.

By now, you should have 40 new phrases under your belt and be able to apply these phrases into the gospel chop sequences I have given you. In this section, I have created a summary of the 40 Phrases you have learned so far and have put them into 3 Phrase Banks.

Bank 1 – Right Leading Phrases

Bank 2 – Left Leading Phrases

Bank 3 – Kick Leading Phrases

It’s time to get a little more creative and start to cut and paste, combine, and arrange these phrases into your own Gospel Chop sequences. In the following 5 lessons, you will see examples of fills that I have created by combining 4 Phrases together from the Phrase Banks. All you need to do now is pick out some phrases and arrange them in different sequences to challenge yourself. Make sure you choose and select your phrases carefully so you don’t create any awkward patterns like 3 or 4 right hands, left hands or kicks in a row.

TASK 1 – Learn and master Combination Fills 1-5

TASK 2 – Use the Phrase Banks to create you own Fills

In this lesson you will see a collection of 10 Phrases that you can use as ‘go-to’ licks when you are improvising. These Phrases work well as stand-alone fills on their own and sound great at high speeds.

Many of these phrases have been taken from the fills in the previous section of the course and there are a few bonus phrases added in towards the end. Practise these phrases over and over paying attention to your dynamics and gradually increase the tempo.

Happy shredding!

In the following Section, you will learn to play five 3 Piece Linear Sextuplet Fills.

I created this section of the course to show that you don’t need to have a large and extensive Drum Kit in front of you to showcase your chops. I am finding that these days my gigging kit is getting smaller and smaller and is often reduced to just 3 pieces. Playing with three pieces is of great benefit because it makes you be more creative and forces you to make the most of what you’ve got.

At this stage of the course you should be getting faster at decoding and learning the Chop Sequences. The following 5 lessons are fast-tracked lessons and only include 4 parts.

Lesson Structure

1.  Demonstration @ 95 BPM

2.  Breaking It Down – Super Slow

3.  Putting It Together – Sextuplet Combination Exercise @ 60 BPM

4.  The Finished Product @ 95BPM

The summaries of the individual phrases are included in the PDF’s.

The '4 Stick Cross' #2 3 Piece Sextuplet Chop

In this lesson you will learn to play the ‘4 Stick Cross’ #2 3 Piece Sextuplet Chop. This fill features three 4 Stick Cross-over sticking’s as well as an interesting RLR sticking between the Floor Tom and the Hi Hats. The first three phrases are unique as they start on a Kick Drum stroke. 

Note - When playing 3 Piece fills, it is important to become confident leading with your left hand as it is often used to transition from the Floor Tom back to the Snare or Hi Hat.

In this lesson you will learn to play the ‘Kick Wrangler’ 3 Piece Sextuplet Chop. This fill features 9 doubled Kick Drum strokes and is very right foot dominant. It is difficult to play a high speeds because many of these Kick Drum strokes are very close together and are only separated by single or double notes played by the hands.

In this lesson you will learn to play the ‘LR Swiper’ 3 Piece Sextuplet Chop. This fill features a LR swiping motion between the Hi Hats and the Snare. There are also two ‘4 Stick Cross’ sticking’s to further complicate things. This fill is the hand equivalent of a tongue twister but flows nicely when you can transition smoothly between the Phrases. The ending is also a little awkward as it finishes in a LRLKKR sticking and transitions back into the groove with a Crash Cymbal stroke played by the left hand.

In this lesson you will learn to play the ‘Pocket Rocket’ 3 Piece Sextuplet Chop. The way that the accents and the Kick Drum notes fall within this pattern make the chop sound very groove-like. Because the accents fall heavily on beats 2 and 4, this fill could be classed as a Pocket Chop. The two left handed accents on the last beat of Phrase 1 and the third beat of Phrase 2 make this rhythm a little awkward to play at high speeds. The fill finishes with a very simple (probably the easiest in this course) RLRLKK pattern finishing on the Crash and the Snare to transition back into the groove.

In this lesson you will see an example and an explanation of how to develop skills improvising with sextuplet chops.

TASK – Put on a slow metronome and begin playing various phrases from the phrase banks and combine them into an improvised solo. Keep it slow so you have time to think. Add in your own sticking’s, orchestrations and kick patterns and get comfortable transitioning between your different ideas and transitioning smoothly. Do this for minutes at a time or until you run out of ideas. You can always go back to single strokes, rudiments or just leave some space if you run out patterns to play.

It may take weeks or months to develop confidence improvising with these patterns but persistence is the key. Gradually increase the tempo if your improvisation sessions and flow will come.

In this video you will see my concluding remarks as well as some extra footage.

The footage consists of extra exercises, bonus chop sequences, 32nd Note Chops, shredding examples and footage of me practicing in preparation for the recordings.

You’re at the end of this course now, but it’s really only the beginning because there is a lot more work to do. You can always play these fills, cleaner, faster and smoother and add new chops to your repertoire. I hope you revisit this material over and over and have many hours of enjoyable and challenging practise ahead. It is your job now to take these ideas, make them your own, build upon them and work them into your game.

Congratulations and thank you for completing this course! Stay tuned for my next course Advanced 32^nd note chops, which is coming soon. It was a pleasure making this material for you.

Cheers!

Nick