One thing that I've been practicing and trying to improve on in my own playing over the past few years is my facility at playing fast tempos. Some lessons with John Riley and incorporating his "open/closed"
ride cymbal/hand technique (ie. let the stick do all the work!) has personally really helped me open things up and take my fast ride cymbal playing to another level.
Today I've compiled three approaches by three very accomplished and renowned teachers:
- As I mentioned above here is John Riley demonstrating his technique:
From my time with John he told me that this approach was greatly influenced by Tony Williams and his loose, dancing up-tempo beat.
Here's an example of Tony in action playing as John described to me:
- Here is long time UNT drum set prof. Ed Soph demonstrating his approach, first as a basic bounce pattern on a drum pad and then applying it to the ride cymbal:
- And finally here's Ralph Peterson Jr. from his excellent dvd from Jazzheaven.com: