Triplet Systems for Syncopation

Let's look at a few classic interpretations of Ted Reed's Syncopation.  These are great on the pad as a general stick control method, and once you orchestrate them on the kit they are great for developing soloing ideas.

Most people head straight to page 37 or 38 (depending on the version of the book you have), which works perfectly fine.  It offers plenty of variety and is great for developing sight reading skills.  However, when these concepts are new to a student, I prefer to start them on page 33 or 34 (again, depending on your version) as each line is contains only a one bar rhythm that is repeated four times.

Here I've just grabbed a few examples at random for the purpose of demonstration, but you should try it from page 33 all the way through to "Exercise 8" on page 45.

For each system we're going to play triplets, and read the rhythms on the page as accents.  Notes on the downbeats are obviously accented on the downbeat, and notes on the upbeat are accented on the third partial of the triplet.  You'll never play the second partial of the triplet in any of these examples.

The first system is to simply play with alternating sticking.  Do it off the left as well as the right.

In some of the later examples you'll find three or more unaccented notes following an accent.  In this case it's fun to add in a paradiddle starting on the accent.

Next, we'll play the unaccented parts of the triplet as double strokes (RLL, RRL, LRR, LLR).  Sometimes this will cause the sticking to naturally flip to the opposite hand in each bar and sometimes it will stay on the same hand.  When it stays the same be sure to play it off the other side as well.  If you find a beat of the bar with no accents in it just play alternating sticking, as in the third example below.

Final, we'll go back to alternating sticking, but add rolls on the notes that are not accented.