Exploring Advanced Funk Studies by Rick Latham, Introduction and Solo #1

Here is Part 1 of a series of videos on the classic drumming book Advanced Funk Studies by Rick Latham.
This is one of my favorite books of all time and it is the first book that I really enjoyed practicing when I was a young teenager.
In this video I start with a performance of solo #1 and then talk about the book. I also perform the solo at a few different tempos. Eventually I will record all of the solos in the book so stay tuned.
The equipment I am using for this video consists of: Doc Sweeney Stave Drums in African Olive wood 20"x 16" Bass Drum Toms: 8"x 8", 10"x 8", 14"x 14 flloor tom" 14"x 6.5" Snare Drum Cymbals are: Sabian Jack DeJohnette 20" Ride Wuhan 20" Lion Cymbal Paiste Traditional 16" and 17" thin crashes Sabian HH 13" Regular Hi-Hats Sabian 12" AA Mini Hats Heads on toms are Remo Pinstripes on toms Bass drum is an Aquarian Power stroke 1 head. Snare is a Aquarian coated head Microphones are a AKG C24 stereo overhead and an Shure Beta 52 on the Bass drum

[@scottpetersen3570]

Thank you for posting these. After I think I’ve got the solos down, I listen to your recordings and realize I have more work to do. 😀

[@powellrandolph]

I think his solos are great in teaching phrasing. Great video and playing as always! Thanks

[@evanlandi1366]

thank you for this, i bought the book because of your praise and i’m loving it

[@rondeangelis7384]

Your always inspiring Rick. Pulling my book out again 👍👌

[@luichek1858]

Great Instructional video, I just bought Advanced Funk Studies by Rick Latham so I will practice with both, your videos and the book :) Thanks a lot!

[@patrickdrummer84]

You played it excelent !!!

[@JasonFrith]

I was at that Day of Percussion. It was an eye opening day for me.

[@rickdior]

Hi Jason That was many moons ago...when I was young!

[@amphibian87]

Thank you for making this, it's been very helpful for me working my way through the book! If you don't mind, are you reading these solos note for note or is the page more of an outline to you after practicing it? I noticed that your eyes are on the book the whole time

[@rickdior]

Hi I am reading them. I am playing them as written, but you should not feel like you can't stray from what is written after you learn what is written and can play the solos accurately.

[@amphibian87]

@@rickdior wow, that's incomprehensible to me at this level! 100 bpm that's just skilled as all get out. thank you for the reply!

[@jerrytubs]

Grew up in bay area around Oakland and studied with Chuck Brown as all of us did including Garibaldi ,Bozzio sat in on some of Rick's gigs in LA nice cat solid and went through his book when lived in bay area lots of funk there in late 70s and early eighties dont see as much nowadays book future sounds the best by David G. U did a great job on this keep inspiring us all the Latinfunk thing is awesome! Love it for u drummers check out another former teacher of mind the late great Kim PLAINFIED OF berklee school of music latin machine

[@rickdior]

Hi Jerry Thanks for the comment and you are bringing back memories. I used to go see Kim Plainfield quite often in NYC in the early 80's. He would play with the Tom Pierson Big Band at the Jazz Cultural Theater. Great player. That was a reading band which got together to read Toms crazy charts and admission was free in the afternoons. Can't find that anymore! It's where I first met Anthony Jackson who was playing bass. A few of my friends studied with Kim as well as Kenwood Dennard at Drummers cCollective and I would pick their brains about the lessons. They loved him.

[@jerrytubs]

@@rickdior thanks for info loved Kim gir me redirected to Latin thing plus became friends invaluable experience

[@cheezruff]

Great book, was very formative for me in the early 80's. Gotta mention 2 Bill Connors CD's that Kim Plainfield played on - Double Up and Assembler. Kim plays great on those CD's and was a follow-up to Connors first Album/CD 'Step It' which had a very young Dave Weckl before he got famous w Chick Corea.

[@andrebanini]

Hi Rick, as always excellent stuff, I was wondering if you have a good exercise for developing fluency going between various subdivisions?

[@rickdior]

The table of time in Master Studies is a good place to start. Keep going back and forth between the groupings at all tempos. First on a pad and then around the drums.

[@juanescalante2206]

Great staff Rick. Thank you. How would you to make a Jim Chapin's Independence Book series? I would like to know your perspective on that

[@rickdior]

Hi That classic book is now somewhat obsolete as better methods on learning jazz coordination have been released such as John Riley's books. It's still fun to play and maybe I will do a video on the solos in that book. My drum set book also has an extensive section on jazz coordination as do books by Ed Soph and Peter Erskine.

[@juanescalante2206]

@@rickdior absolutly right about that book, especial how it's been written. Some exercises are confussing in the interpretation(straight or shuflle I mean). I rather study Syncopation. Thats way I would like to know you point of view. I' ve seen tour videos about jazz drumming and the exercises in your book and I love it. How can get your book?

[@kevinfrazee7690]

This may be kind of a silly question, but how do you know which hi hat notes to accent? I run across a hi hat with either snare or bass with an accent marking. Should I assume the hi hat is accented? Also are snare accents played as rim shots? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[@rickdior]

Hi Kevin That is not a silly question as the way it is written can be confusing. You can accent the hi hat with the BD or SD but you don't have to. I speak about adding hi hat accents several times in the videos and demonstrate doing so . You can ad lib on that but be careful to use the shaft tip method and don't overplay the hi Hat. It should never be overbearing. As far as rimshots go you can play them of course but this will get tedious. Better to use a snare with a punchy sound and save the rimshots for effect like on the snare fills and chosen parts of a groove.

[@kevinfrazee7690]

@@rickdior Thank you so much. I really appreciate your insight and wisdom. It is really confusing the way it is written, and as such I avoided this book for a while. When I listened to you play the solo section so masterfully it made me dig my copy back out! Thank you for all your hard work giving such great lessons. I love your playing so much, and you really inspire me. Thank you

[@kevinfrazee7690]

@@rickdior Want to say thank you for your advice, insight, and wisdom. I've been practicing solo #1 really using my ears as to where to place hi hat accents. Thank you so much for your help!