Drum Beat Project

Beat 349 of my #DrumBeatProject 9.3.26 w/alt views and notations 11/4 fun. @wilco was playing at the incredible hilltop venue, St. Michael`s Fortress, in Šibenik, Croatia and as I was walking around the venue, decided to pop up on stage, partially uncover my drums and come up with something. I had no idea it was in 11/4 - was just playing what came out. Relying heavily on @meinlpercussion here: birds & waterfall resting on the SD for LH slaps and small caxixi as the RH mallet alternating between the tambo & FT. It was very windy as evidenced by the swinging speaker stacks, so I did this one quickly, resting the phone on trap tables, hence the close up vids. The breakdown of 11 is 2+3+3+3. The toughest parts are the triple BD notes at the end of the mea. and foremost, just keeping it swinging! The HH is just doubling the tambo part fyi. Full length videos and extras of Beat 348 up now on my Substack page & extra videos & pics of 349 will be up mid next week - link in bio. Past beats & scores for all solo pieces are on my website & vids on my youtube channel. Super psyched to be on 5 songs of the incredible new @SylvanEsso record Ow ∞ - out now!
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Beat 348 of my #DrumBeatProject 9.1.26 - 6 against 4 fun. I was on a walk in Mantova, Italy and stopped in a music store. I bought this rather hideous kalimba since it’s fully tunable and I can switch out the tines easily (not super common). So when I got back to the beautiful outdoor venue (palace), I put that on the snare to amplify it and this beat immediately happened - the version w/mallets on the FT (2nd & 3rd vids). Then I grabbed those wonderful little brass dishes that were gifted to me the previous night in Rome by @profmattbrennan (author of the incredible “Kick It: A Social History of the Drum Kit”) & annie_cosmos_ and subbed those in place of the FT’s, using cooking chopsticks so they’d project better (vids 1 & 4). I love how the tones of those bowls sit above the kalimba melody and the registers of both make it so the bass drum cross-rhythm is clear. But besides those timbres, I really like the implied meters. The RH is playing triplets, but on 2 alternating pitches, so it sounds duple. The BD and kalimba parts are alternating and doing the same thing - but since the high notes of the melody occur on the “a" & “e" subdivisions - the meter sounds ambiguous. The hi-hat part playing on cts. 2 & 4 is the only thing clearly defining the 12/8 time. So it’s a nice, bright little duple/triple/4:6 stew. When the RH is on floor toms, the whole thing is much more subdued. But the trickiest part executing it was keeping those quiet enough to not drown out the unamplified kalimba. Placing it on the snare head as a resonator makes it quite a bit louder, but it’s still the quietest voice in the beat. Thx to @drmtech1 for the videography! Full length videos and xtras of Beat #347 up now on my Substack page & extra videos & pics of #348 will be up mid next week - link in bio. Past beats & scores for all solo pieces are on my website & vids on my youtube channel. I’ve got two shows on the 12th @munchmuseum Oslo w/Karl Ove Knausgård. @clark.hubbard #ABeatAWeek #drumbeatimmersion drumbeattheory drumbeatproject loveyourneighbor ...

Beat 347 of my #DrumBeatProject 8.26.26 on stage in Antwerp. I was liking last week`s beat enough that I decided to do a variation using more of the kit but keeping the same basic compositional structure & wands as stx. I changed the open hi-hat hemiolas to Swiss triplet sweeps between the ride & toms and snare. I added the flat ride & 2nd floor tom to lead into the final 2 wand-on-wand 8th notes to finish the phrase. I kept the little 32nd figure that begins both mea. but split that between the HH & ride. Same sparse but impactful bass drum part as last week. 1st vid is w/my monitor on, 2nd is a front view, 3rd is from the other side, 4th is slower in case you`re trying at home & 5th w/ @rootseq so you can hear the wand sticks better.
Thx to @drmtech_ for the videography! Full length videos, wand talk and xtras of sibling Beat #346 up now on my Substack page & extra videos of #347 will be up mid next week - link in bio. Past beats & scores for all solo pieces are on my website & vids on my youtube channel. A few shows remaining w/ @wilco this week in Italy & Croatia & 2 shows @munchmuseum Oslo 9/12 w/Karl Ove Knausgård. @clark.hubbard #ABeatAWeek #drumbeatimmersion drumbeattheory drumbeatproject loveyourneighbor ...

Beat 346 of my #DrumBeatProject 8.17.26 on stage in Nijmagen, NL. I was messing around with my wand sticks and this one happened. I chose to include it for the Hi-hat openings hemiola and the sparse but impactful bass drum part. Those combined w/the tinging wands give this one a certain charm that I really like. My wand supply just got replenished thx to a gift from my college professor, Jim Campbell. Since I now have plenty of backups, I wasn`t hesitant to lay into the drums w/these brittle beauties. TY Jim! And thx to @drmtch1 for the videography! Full length videos, writings and xtras of Beat 345 up now on my Substack page & extra videos and variations of 346 will be up mid next week - link in bio. Past beats & scores for all solo pieces are on my website & vids on my youtube channel. Many shows w/Wilco this month in Europe & 2 shows @munchmuseum Oslo 9/12 w/Karl Ove Knausgård. @clark.hubbard #ABeatAWeek #drumbeatimmersion
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Beat 345 of my #DrumBeatProject 7.14.26 Another one from backstage in VA Beach. The Dome venue where @Wilco was playing had a really nice backstage area - replete with a couple of metal whale nicknacks. I couldn’t resist checking out their sound and when I did, this beat emerged. Actually, it started with just 2 whales until I discovered more in another room. I couldn’t decide between a samba or mambo foot pattern, so tried both. In total there are 4 related beats: 3 metals (whales) w/ each foot pattern and 2 metals (whales) w/each foot pattern. This post contains some of these and at various tempos. The SD part is probably my fav part of the beat though. It`s a 3 subdivision hemiola over the syncopated Afro-Cuban-esque RH melody and foot patterns. Of course, the RH part can be on anything: toms, cym and bell, cowbells, wood blks etc. explore! Full length videos and xtras of Beat #344 up now on my Substack page & lots of extra videos and variations of #345 will be up mid next week - link in bio. Past beats & scores for all solo pieces are on my website & vids on my youtube channel. Many shows w/Wilco this month in Europe too & 2 shows @munchmuseum Oslo 9/12 w/Karl Ove Knausgård. @clark.hubbard #ABeatAWeek #drumbeatimmersion
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Beat 344 of my #DrumBeatProject 5.31.26. This is a sibling beat with Beat #335 written (improvised) minutes after that one & notated later. This one forgoes the tongue drum for @aluphone bells, but I’m still keeping time w/the wisteria branch (noticed it’s sound while cleaning up the yard and had to try it out) as a rattle/brush/mallet. The left foot is playing @upcycledpercussion key-chime via @dixondrums foot pedal. The bass drum part is a steady answer to the aluphone melody. In the 1st video I’m playing the branch with the right hand on the ride and in the 2nd w/the left hand on the rack tom. It’s a simple enough melody to execute with either hand depending on what instrument/surface you want to play the branch (brush, broom) part with, so play around and have fun customizing it. Longer & additional video examples of how this one quickly evolved will be up on my Substack page midweek, check it out! Btw, xtra videos and a look at how I develop these beats from last week’s beat up there now - link in bio. Past bests & scores for all solo pieces are on my website & vids on my youtube channel. @clark.hubbard #ABeatAWeek #drumbeatimmersion
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Beat 343 of my #DrumBeatProject 7.14.26. The rhythm for this one popped into my head when I was walking in Virginia Beach on @Wilco tour, so when I got back to The Dome, I worked it out (orchestrated it) backstage. Later, I went to stage to record it (vids 3 & 4). I also tried it onstage in Wheeling the following day and it locked in a bit more (vids 1 & 2). I decided to post this one mainly because I really like the hi-hat part - played with the LF & using a custom @keplingerdrums jingle attachment. It provides a rhythmic punctuation line on top of the ‘patternistic` beat underneath. That`s the other reason I chose this one. I love pattern beats (which are distinctive from linear beats imo). Think @ringostarrmusic on "Come Together” or "Mystic Rhythms" by @Rush. Not the most popular Rush song, but that pattern approach left an indelible mark on my drumming in high school (as did "Tom Sawyer" & learning to play in 7/8 too!). I started creating these types of beats in songs for my high school rock band and loved playing them. A good Wilco ex. are the choruses to “Deeper Down” & several ex. are in this project as well. Technically, only the 2nd half of this one (if you think of the beat more as 2/4 + 3/8 than 7/8) is a pattern beat. The 1st 4 counts are FT ride & more traditional/ backbeat oriented. 1st vid is trad grip, 2nd matched. 3rd vid is without HH jingles and 4th is a close up of the hands part. More video examples & explanations will be up on my Substack page midweek - check it out! Btw, there’s an essay on Rush and lots of vids from last week’s beat up there now - link in bio. Scores for all solo pieces are on my website & vids on my youtube channel. @clark.hubbard #ABeatAWeek #drumbeatimmersion
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Beat #342 of my #DrumBeatProject 7.15.26. This one features a pitched melody (wooden tone drum) against a complementary rhythmic melody (BD). This idea has been floating around since April when I was given the tone drum. I wrote the beat back then & it grew into a longer piece still in progress. I finally got around to trying it out & ended up changing it slightly for a better feel - that`s the main beat here. I`m also including the original which just has a different LF / HH part, that`s the 5th vid here - notations for both beats are at the end. The 1st vid is a view from above. You can hear the slit drum better in the 2nd, side view vid. The 3rd is what it sounds like if you play the ride instead of the slit drum so you can really get a sense of the BD rhythmic melody (and it`s the best way to try it at home). The 4th vid shows that BD part nicely. And the 5th vid is the original beat w/the HH part moved from the upbeats to the downbeats. The LH/SD voicing can use brushes, brooms or cross-stick, w/snares on or off. More video examples & explanations will be up on my Substack page midweek - check it out! Scores for all solo pieces are on my website & vids on my youtube channel. Lots of xtra video clips & lessons from previous posts on my Substack as well, link in bio. @clark.hubbard #ABeatAWeek #drumbeatimmersion drumbeattheory drumbeatproject loveyourneighbor ...

Beat #341 of my #DrumBeatProject 7.10.26 backstage again making the best of a rained out show in SC. I was messing around w/an alternating sticking pattern to improve my flow around the drums while waiting to hear the status of show. I decided to put a bembe groove in between repetitions in order to break up that toms pattern and put it into a more musical context. I then decided to put the RH of the bembe groove on the @aluphone bells to add a pitched melodic layer that alternates nicely with the melodic ascending and descending pattern on the snare and toms. The first vids = stx, 2nd = mallets & are both from @Wilco backstage @greenfieldlakeamp Wilmington. The 3rd vid is the handles of the @promarksticks brooms & 4th tips and are both in catering @fireflydistillery Charleston (hence the background sounds and also why I’m using brooms - as to not be too annoying!). You can hear the BD part the best in the last video. The most difficult aspects are the quick jump between bells at the end of meas. 1 & 3 and the BD doubling the bells on the bembe. I suggest trying this one out by putting the aluphone part (if you don`t have those) on the ride cym. I’ll also have a couple of xtra videos and more thoughts midweek on my Substack page - check it out! Scores for all solo pieces are on my website & vids on my youtube channel. Lots of xtra video clips & lessons from previous posts on my Substack as well, link in bio. @clark.hubbard #ABeatAWeek #drumbeatimmersion drumbeattheory drumbeatproject loveyourneighbor ...

Beat #340 of my #DrumBeatProject 7.1.26 backstage @cainsballroom taking my new Cricket sticks for a test drive! These innovative bundles are made by Matt Gordon and were originally designed for body percussion - but I’m really digging them on kit! This one has a few interesting moments, namely the guiro-esque scrape on ct. 1, the 4-note consecutive BD/cym figure and the 32nd note FT fill at the end of the 2-measure phrase. Getting to play both fluid/longer & super staccato sounds and motions alongside each other is very satisfying to me, try it out. I didn’t use the mallet heads on the backs of the bundles for this one - but will explore that another time. The 2nd vid is a bit slower than the 1st - notations at the end as always. DM if you want more info on these stx. I’ll also have a couple of xtra videos midweek on my Substack page of me playing this while @Nelscline is messing with me… And a little tour of the Cain’s backstage DR - check it out! Scores for all solo pieces are on my website & vids on my youtube channel. Lots of xtra video clips & lessons from previous posts on my substack, link in bio. @clark.hubbard #ABeatAWeek #drumbeatimmersion drumbeattheory drumbeatproject loveyourneighbor ...

Beat #339 of my #DrumBeatProject 6.18.26 backstage @wolf_trap - I`m including this one in the project for educational reasons: I realized after I recorded it, that it`s 3 groups of 5 plus 1 (see the notations at the end). I didn`t know that when I improvised it, but thought it interesting that something I worked on back in college w/the gr8 @caseyondrums (different permutations of 5 note groupings within a 4/4 meter) came out this way in my playing - I guess it stuck, thx Casey! The accents & HH opening don`t make it sound like that though imo - but more of a dense diddle-based, right-hand-lead beat instead. It started flat, then added the big SD accent, then the HH opening - all of which is documented in my next Substack post coming midweek. It wasn`t until I notated it that I discovered the little "5`s" surprise. The right side limbs are in unison, w/the LH filling in all the spaces. Def worth trying out at home. Scores for all solo pieces are on my website & vids on my youtube channel. Lots of xtra video clips & lessons on my substack, link in bio. @clark.hubbard #ABeatAWeek #drumbeatimmersion drumbeattheory drumbeatproject loveyourneighbor ...

Beat #338 of my #DrumBeatProject 6.23.26 from @wilco Solid Sound Festival. This is a straight forward 2 beat/cut time feel groove for the Woodie Guthrie/ Wilco / Billy Bragg song, Airline To Heaven . I added an overdub part from the Mermaid Avenue recorded version to the LH part on @stack_ring_percussion secured to the rack tom via @drumgees - and the RH is alternating between 2 samples of foot stomps & hand claps on the SPD. In the 2nd - 4th vids, the RH is on a @meinlpercussion tambo. The challenge is just getting that quick LH motion between surfaces w/out affecting the sound or time too much. Using some custom HH bells too by @ashwin_deepankar - Big thx to @drmtch1 for the camera work! A behind-the-scenes tour of my percussion world is on my last substack post & a video explanation of my part to "Jolly Banker" will be up there in a few days as well - check it out! Scores for all solo pieces are on my website & vids on my youtube channel. @clark.hubbard #ABeatAWeek #drumbeatimmersion drumbeattheory drumbeatproject loveyourneighbor ...

Beat #337 of my #DrumBeatProject 6.13.26 from MI on tour. This one just happened while checking my kit on stage before a @wilco show. Open-handed 1/2x feel with a slight twist - the lone SD backbeat happens on ct. 4 instead of the traditional halftime feel of ct. 3 - somehow this one still feels like 1/2x though. The RH is alternating between the 2 floor toms to get a little pitch variation and the HH has one open note at the end as a cadence point - w/the BD basically filling in between the hands. Xtra videos and commentary will be on my Substack page. Big thx to @drmtch1 for the camera work! Scores for all solo pieces are on my website & vids on my youtube channel. @clark.hubbard #ABeatAWeek #drumbeatimmersion drumbeattheory drumbeatproject loveyourneighbor ...

Beat #336 of my #DrumBeatProject 6.3.26 from @electricalaudio - the house that Steve Albini built, always gr8 to be back there. I was recording last week w/the incredible @majelconnery & came up w/this beat for a song. I got the kit to sound a bit processed: nice and crunchy, by preparing it with seed pods on the drums and cyms thanks to the ingenious @drumgees - those things are game changers! It’s a simple pattern beat w/samba BD ostinato & using @davedeming demsticks to execute it all (& not crush the pods!). Nothing very tricky here besides making sure to strike the correct spot on the SD and HH to get the alternate sounds. The first vid has the best sound to hear those differences. The 2nd vid shows everything nicely including the optional pandeiro (drumgee`d to the RT) hit on the “+ of ct. 4”. 3rd vid is a close-up of the 2 SD playing areas and 4th vid has the dbl/"+a"pandeiro hit. I’ve got some fun xtra session vids & pics for this post that’ll be up on my Substack page (link in bio) this coming week, check it out! 5th clip is a tease of that...Scores for all solo pieces are on my website & vids on my youtube channel. Lots of @wilco tour dates on sale now. @clark.hubbard #ABeatAWeek #drumbeatimmersion drumbeattheory drumbeatproject loveyourneighbor ...

Beat #335 of my #DrumBeatProject 5.31.26 - A different kind of brush beat (insert groans)... I was gardening & about to compost this dried wisteria branch when I noticed how good it sounded - so headed to the kit & improvised this week`s beat. The slit/tongue drum and @upcycledpercussion key-chime-foot-peddle were already there, so incorporated those. It`s 3 limbs playing ostinatos w/the BD playing the melody. The whole process took mere minutes and made quite the mess! After the vids are some pics showing each instrument - and the mess... I`m officially on Substack now! So if you know folks who are interested in deeper explanations and behind-the-scenes examples of these beats - let them know. I`ll post a video of a kit rundown of this beat early next week as well as the full takes. Scores for all solo pieces are on my website & vids on my youtube channel. Lots of @wilco tour dates on sale now. @clark.hubbard #ABeatAWeek #drumbeatimmersion drumbeattheory drumbeatproject loveyourneighbor ...

Beat #334 of my #DrumBeatProject 5.5.26. Turn it up! Another one from backstage in OK City. A theme and variation beat - only diff. between the two mea. is the added BD notes in bar 2 which is also the trickiest part: the offset Swiss Triplets between SD & BD. I mainly chose this one for the sound though. Something about the snares off and tuning of that SD just gives the groove a vibe that puts it somewhere between world, funk and rudimental (turn it up to hear that better). Even though I thought of it as written when I made the vids, I cannot hear it that way anymore for some reason!? I hear everything shifted an 8th forward w/the HH openings happening on ct. 2 & the + of 4… weird…I included a couple of vids w/snare on too for good measure 2 & 4). Camera work & hijinks by @mikaeljorgensen - Scores for all solo pieces are on my website & vids on my youtube channel. Lots of @wilco tour dates on sale now too and I play on a few tracks from @cutworms new record #Transmitter - check it out! @clark.hubbard #ABeatAWeek #drumbeatimmersion drumbeattheory drumbeatproject loveyourneighbor ...

Beat #333 of my #DrumBeatProject 5.14.26. A study in multiple motions. I was going to remove my cherished @morfbeats gamelan strips from the kit but decided to mess around for few mins first, resulting in this beat. It started w/the RH doing a hand drumming-style motion between thumb and fingers on the Korean gwangari gong (2nd vid) and the LH just using a single mallet on the strips. But the tricky part ended up not being the syncopated LH melody against the Mambo foot pattern as I expected - but that lateral RH motion, so I decided to investigate that a bit more. I started using 2 mallets in the LH to practice using opposing motions between hands for fun (or torture!), basically just to see if I could do it… And then changed the RH to 2 ( @davedeming & @promarksticks customized heat-shrink) broom stx (1st vid) keeping that same lateral motion (w/a happy accident of the prepared snare springs getting hit for added color), then brush swipes (3rd vid: again that back-and-forth / side-to-side motion) and finally ditching all RH motion & just holding a prepared drink mixer on the gwangari (4th vid). I have to point out that it made the most sense to use Stevens grip in the RH and Burton gip in the LH (indicative of a Total Percussion approach to drumkit btw - you never know when a technique from another area of percussion can be utilized in other, non-traditional contexts). Keeping the LH alternating between inside and outside mallets while playing the rhythmic melody was also a formidable challenge. This isn’t my favorite sounding beat or feeling groove, but I wanted to include it in the project for the subtle yet super interesting (to me!) independence lesson of the steady lateral RH motion against the syncopated and sometimes opposing LH lateral motion w/2 different grips all on top of the foot ostinato = cool educational, skill-building stuff imo - all explored in a MUSICAL setting. But be warned if trying at home - it can get a bit frustrating sorting it all out! @clark.hubbard #ABeatAWeek #drumbeatimmersion drumbeattheory drumbeatproject loveyourneighbor ...

Beat #332 of my #DrumBeatProject 2.27.26. I like how this doesn’t have a traditional backbeat and instead the highs (SD) and lows (BD) conversation is more akin to a bass line w/HH chatter on top and a nice open HH punctuation as a cadence. I’m guessing this was around when I was finishing up the superbly fantastic podcast Fela Kuti: Fear No Man by the always amazing @jadabumrad - a must listen! (All of his output is...)Tony Allen has always been huge for me (which you well know if you’ve seen my beats!). And this one sounds like one of my approximations of something he might do mixed into my personal-drumming-experience-stew. The most challenging aspect is going to be the 3 consecutive SD hits btw. Def worth a try tho. I made a note to try this one when I wrote it - but just got around to it while on tour last week, so here are the backstage vids from OK City. 2nd Vid is longer to get the trance-like stasis of this groove. 3rd is slower to show the SD part clearly. Scores for all solo pieces are on my website & vids on my youtube channel. Lots of @wilco tour dates on sale now too and I play on a few tracks from @cutworms new record #Transmitter - check it out! @clark.hubbard #ABeatAWeek #drumbeatimmersion drumbeattheory drumbeatproject loveyourneighbor ...

Beat #331 of my #DrumBeatProject 4.27.26 as promised, this one is directly related to last week`s beat. I included 2 interpretations here: the 1st video from soundcheck is what I play live for the @wilco song Sunlight Ends, the other vids are an alt version, adding 1/4`s on alternating rides but keeping the same BD, LF @meinlpercussion foot cabasa (love that thing) and LH brush part. So much drumkit playing utilizes the HH (left foot) as a time-keeper / grounding voice. Last week I talked about giving it a part in place of a pulse - and this week we add dynamics! I have never been required or seen (!) a crescendo or diminuendo written for the left foot - very odd imo - and a wealth to explore there... This beat addresses that via imitating a studio delay on SD & percussion from the recording - the solution being the foot cabasa & tandem SD brush diminuendo. Those are Webs in the 1st vid and my customized @promarksticks brushes (w/shaker handles & coins affixed) in the subsequent vids. Try this one! Even using HH instead of cabasa - the independence between the feet might take a minute to sort out physically, but worth it. The other challenging aspect is getting a smooth & even diminuendo on the SD - not easy! Thx to @drmtch1 for the video work! Scores for all solo pieces are on my website & vids on my youtube channel. Lots of @wilco tour dates on sale now too and I play on a few tracks from @cutworms new record #Transmitter - check it out! @clark.hubbard #ABeatAWeek #drumbeatimmersion drumbeattheory drumbeatproject loveyourneighbor ...

Beat #330 of my #DrumBeatProject 4.24.26, warning: this one requires a deeper look. It’s not flashy but still unconventional and educational enough to include in this project, so dig in! Most drumbeats use the HiHat (left foot) in a purely conventional and supportive role - either holding it all down with a time-keeping ostinato while the other limbs elaborate or just by controlling the timbre and openings of the hats with pressure from the LF while the RH (or LH) ride on it. This one gives the HH a part outside of those roles. It’s not too dissimilar from my beat on the Wilco song “I Might” where the LF is playing a supportive percussion overdub part from the record with the aid of a tambo attachment. This one though has it briefly in unison with the BD - which is the trickiest part of it imo - when the BD continues without it after 3 hits. The hands are providing the ostinatos here - RH w/upbeats on the cym and LH w/the brush circles around the accented hit on count 2, and the BD has the “melody” (or defining rhythmic line). This all came out of me working on another similar beat for a Wilco song - more on that next week! Back to recording the Wilco dressing room for this week while on tour: the 2nd video has the RH on FT / 3rd vid with a rod in the RH and 4th vid is the mirror view (the BD beater is visible in this one). Scores for all solo pieces are on my website & vids on my youtube channel. Lots of @wilco tour dates on sale now too and I play on a few tracks from @cutworms new record #Transmitter - check it out! @clark.hubbard #ABeatAWeek #drumbeatimmersion drumbeattheory drumbeatproject loveyourneighbor ...