Jazz Two-Feel drum pattern
A one-bar jazz two-feel: spang-a-lang on the ride, the hi-hat foot on 2 and 4, a light kick on 1 and 3 with the bass half notes and a cross-stick on 4. Press Play to hear it with a sampled drum kit at 132 BPM, change the tempo or swing, and follow every hit on the grid.
How to count the Jazz Two-Feel
Count it as: 1 trip let 2 trip let 3 trip let 4 trip let. The pattern is one bar of 4/4 (one-bar eighth-note-triplet ride in two).
The Jazz Two-Feel 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 | Pattern |
|---|---|
| Kick | o-- --- o-- --- |
| Cross-stick | --- --- --- x-- |
| Pedal hat | --- x-- --- x-- |
| Ride | x-- x-o x-- x-o |
Tempo and feel
Laid back and spacious. It should feel like two big beats a bar under a swinging ride, ready to open into four, the way the Oscar Peterson Trio with Ray Brown and Ed Thigpen did. The default tempo is 132 BPM. It plays with 67% 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 Jazz Two-Feel
Play the ride with the hi-hat foot on 2 and 4. Add the kick on 1 and 3, as light as the bass half notes it doubles. Add the cross-stick on 4 without letting it get louder than the ride.
Variations to try next
Go to four: feather the kick on every beat and drop the cross-stick. Play the cross-stick on 2 and 4. Leave the kick out and let the bass carry the half notes.
Where to hear this feel
Records in this family include The Oscar Peterson Trio - We Get Requests (Ed Thigpen) and The Oscar Peterson Trio - Night Train (Ed Thigpen). A practice study of the jazz two-feel, the half-note feel often used for the head of a standard before the band goes into four. The ride keeps spang-a-lang with the skip note on the let of 2 and the let of 4, the hi-hat foot closes on 2 and 4, and a light kick on 1 and 3 doubles the bass player's half notes. The cross-stick on 4 is an informed choice that many drummers add in a two-feel; others play it on 2 and 4 or leave it out. It is authored for practice, not transcribed.