In March I went to New York and took some lessons with Billy Ward and Robby Ameen. One of the things Billy got me to do was play a groove then begin to gradually embellish it without losing the basic underlying groove. He specifically wanted me to hear in my head what I wanted to hear on the kit BEFORE I played it - rather than just throwing my arms around and hoping for the best.
At one point he came over to me and started singing rhythmic phrases for me to try and implement. This was his way of simulating what it's like when you're playing live with other musicians. Perhaps you're on a gig and the guitarist plays a rhythmic phrase and you want to mimic that on the toms, or the bass player does something cool and you want to answer his phrase with your bass drum.
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