Ralph Rolle occupies one of the grooviest drum chairs on the planet. As well as his job, holding down the foundation for disco/funk legends Nile Rogers & Chic, Ralph has also played for an impressive list of funk, soul, hip-hop artists and beyond, with a CV boasting Stevie Wonder, D’Angelo, Notorious B.I.G., Roger Daltrey, Bono and many, many more.
Ralph Rolle's kit
Thanks to Yamaha, Zildjian and Remo for supplying the gear used in this masterclass.
Drums
Yamaha Tour Custom (maple shells)
Toms: 10” x 7” 12” x 8”, 16” x 15”
Bass drum: 22 x 16”
Snare Drum: Yamaha Tour Custom 14 x 6.5”
Cymbals
Zildjian: 13” K hi-hats, 10” A Custom Splash, 16” A Custom Fast Crash, 16” A Custom Medium Crash, 17” K Custom Hybrid Crash, 17” K China, 20” A Custom Ride.
Heads
Remo Ambassador Coated, Powerstroke P3 Clear bass drum batter.
Electronics
Roland SPD-SX
Ralph Rolle's kit
Thanks to Yamaha, Zildjian and Remo for supplying the gear used in this masterclass.
Drums
Yamaha Tour Custom (maple shells)
Toms: 10” x 7” 12” x 8”, 16” x 15”
Bass drum: 22 x 16”
Snare Drum: Yamaha Tour Custom 14 x 6.5”
Cymbals
Zildjian: 13” K hi-hats, 10” A Custom Splash, 16” A Custom Fast Crash, 16” A Custom Medium Crash, 17” K Custom Hybrid Crash, 17” K China, 20” A Custom Ride.
Heads
Remo Ambassador Coated, Powerstroke P3 Clear bass drum batter.
Electronics
Roland SPD-SX
Category
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TechTranscript
00:00 Now, moving on to a funk groove.
00:03 Now, when I'm playing a funk groove, to me, the kick and snare are extremely important,
00:10 but for me, the hi-hat makes what the funk is funky about.
00:15 I'll show you what I mean.
00:16 So if I'm playing a really easy funk groove like this.
00:42 Now it's the relationship between the kick, snare, and the hi-hat.
00:46 Many times when I see drummers playing, they're just using the hi-hat for time, but the hi-hat
00:52 is really essential inside of that groove.
00:55 Now, you can approach playing the snare with ghost notes, or you could just do a straight
01:00 two and four, but I like doing the ghost notes mixing in with the hi-hat because it gives
01:06 it a very cool sound.
01:08 So I'm going to break this beat down and just show you the hi-hat first.
01:15 The accent is on one, which is the quarter note two, quarter note three, four.
01:36 Now, I will throw claps in the middle of that too.
01:52 So when I'm doing the claps, the claps now come on the two and the four.
01:56 Hold on.
02:17 That's one side of the funk.
02:31 Now, when I was coming up learning how to play, I got a call to play with Cameo, and
02:39 I learned something very important when I was playing with Cameo.
02:42 I never made it to the stage with them because the drummer, Reeford Griffin, was doing another
02:46 concert and he came back.
02:48 So they sent me home after three days, but I learned a lot.
02:52 And this is what I learned from Larry Blackman.
02:56 He plays very rude when he's playing funk.
03:00 So you take a song like "Single Life," the hi-hat that he's playing is just a rude kind
03:08 of sound.
03:10 He's not using the tip of the stick.
03:11 He's using the side of the stick to get that sound, and he's holding the hi-hats very tight.
03:16 Great sound.
03:36 I love that sound.
03:37 I also use that sound when I'm playing on the hip-hop record.
03:42 I like the way that sounds when it's coming across just holding down the groove.
03:47 So I'll just take the same thing.
04:09 Works really well.
04:10 Hard-hitting, great, fat sound.
04:12 So when everybody comes in, you're just sitting holding down the groove.
04:16 Works really well.
04:17 [music]