Jabo-Style Ride Funk drum pattern
A two-bar ride-cymbal funk groove: eighth notes on the ride with a bell on 1, the hi-hat foot on 2 and 4, a light ghost lattice and a bar-two snare accent on the a of 2 that kicks into beat 3. Press Play to hear it with a sampled drum kit at 106 BPM, change the tempo or swing, and follow every hit on the grid.
How to count the Jabo-Style Ride Funk
Count it as: 1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a · two bars. The pattern is a 2-bar phrase in 4/4 (two-bar 16th-note ride-cymbal funk pocket).
The Jabo-Style Ride Funk pattern, hit by hit
Each character is one step of the grid and each group is one beat. X is an accented hit, x a normal hit, o a quiet or ghost note and - a rest.
| Voice | Bar 1 | Bar 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Kick | X--- --x- --x- ---- | X--x ---- X-x- ---- |
| Snare | ---- X--- ---- X--- | ---- X--X ---- X--- |
| Ghost snare | -o-o ---- -o-o ---o | -o-- ---- -o-- -o-o |
| Pedal hat | ---- o--- ---- o--- | ---- o--- ---- o--- |
| Ride | --x- x-x- x-x- x-x- | --x- x-x- x-x- x-x- |
| Ride bell | x--- ---- ---- ---- | x--- ---- ---- ---- |
Tempo and feel
Loose on top, locked underneath. The ride gives the groove air, while the hat foot and backbeat keep it pinned. The default tempo is 106 BPM. It plays with 54% swing by default; move the Swing control toward 50% to hear it straight. Slow it down until every hit is controlled, then raise the tempo a few BPM at a time.
How to practise the Jabo-Style Ride Funk
Play the ride eighths and the hi-hat foot on 2 and 4 together. Add the backbeat and ghosts, keeping the ride even through them. In bar two, play the beat 2 backbeat, then the a-of-2 accent that kicks into beat 3.
Variations to try next
Play the ride on the bell throughout. Drop the bar-two a-of-2 accent. Move the ride hand to closed hi-hat and keep the foot.
Where to hear this feel
Records in this family include James Brown - Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine and James Brown - Super Bad. A style study of the ride-cymbal funk time associated with John "Jabo" Starks, who drummed for Bobby Bland before joining the James Brown band: eighth notes on the ride, the hi-hat foot on 2 and 4, and a bar-two snare accent on the a of 2 that kicks into beat 3. It is authored for practice, not transcribed.