The Dogg (Hip Hop) - Walkthrough

Preview

# Music Lesson: Hip Hop Drum Patterns in "The Dog"

In the hip hop piece **"The Dog,"** there are a couple of things I just want to draw your attention to because it's quite an unusual drum part that's been written.

## Bar One: Half Time Feel

- The first bar has **one snare on beat three**, which creates a **half-time feel**.
- Normally, snares are on beats **two and four**, but when there's only one snare, we call it a **half-time feel**.

### Demonstration

- To demonstrate:
1. Normal groove: Snares on 2 and 4.
2. Half-time groove: Snares reduced to just beat three.

- I changed the bass drum as well, as moving only the snare wouldn't yield the same feel. The half-time approach has a **whole different feel**.

## Bar Two: Groove Revolution

- By the **second bar**, it feels like the groove has turned on its head:
- **Snare on beat one.**
- **Snare on beat three.**
- **Bass drum on beat two.**

- This keeps us on our toes; we can’t relax too much because of all these changes.

## Bar Three: Hi-Hat Fill

- The **third bar** resembles the first bar, but there's a **hi-hat fill** in the fourth bar of the first line that we need to watch for:
- I instinctively want to play on beat **three**, but there's a **rest** there, so I'm trying hard not to.

### Execution

- **Observe the rest** and come in with a bass drum on beat four.
- Here’s how it sounds:
**1, 2, 3, 4.**

- It feels a bit strange having a **quarter note rest** after **two eighth note hi-hats** and then a bass drum on beat four, but it's good practice to tackle challenges.

## Line Two: Moving Away from Half-Time

- In the **second line**, we have:
- A **heavy bass drum** playing on beats **1, 2, and 3**.
- Hi-hat with snare on **beat four**.

- This means we're losing the backbeat on **beats two** for these bars.

### Snare Fill

- There’s a **snare fill halfway through bar three** leading into bar four.
- I’ll play the whole line for you so you can hear it.
- For the snare fill, I favor **Right, Left, Right, Right, Left, Right.**
- I’ll play both hi-hats with the right hand, as they lock in well with the bass drum.

## Line Three: Return to Funk Elements

- You might think we’re leading into a **bass drum with a hi-hat** on beat one of the **third line**, but we are not.
- The **bass drum is on beats two and four** for the first two bars.

### Funk Influence

- This kind of feel is often heard at the beginning of **funk** or **disco tunes**.
- To demonstrate without moving too far from this piece:
- A drummer might play **16th notes on the hi-hat** at the start of a solo funk tune, with the bass drum on beats **2 and 4**.
- Example: **1, 2, 3, 4.**

- Many hip hop drumming techniques originated from **funk and soul tunes**, with drummers from those pieces often sampled in hip hop.

## Continuation and Conclusion

- When we reach the **third bar of the third line**, we reintroduce the snare on **beat four**.
- Bar four of the third line remains the same.

### Final Line

- In the **last line** of this piece, there’s a more conventional drum groove, involving **eighth notes on the hi-hat**.
- The **snare returns to its normal place on beats two and four**, with bass drums alternating between **quarter notes and eighth notes**.

### Last Bar

- The last bar starts with a **half note rest**, occupying the first half of the bar, so count through to hit beats **three**, **the end of three**, and **four** in the right place.
- Here’s how the last bar sounds:
**1, 2, 3, 4, 1 and 2 and 3 and 4.**

- There are three snares in a row. You can play them differently; I choose to go to the hi-hat.

### Sticking Pattern

- I will play the snares **Right, Left, Left**, leaving my right hand free to play the hi-hat on the last note.

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