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
🎵
MusicTranscript
00:00Now, moving on to a funk groove.
00:03Now, when I'm playing a funk groove, to me, the kick and snare are extremely important,
00:10but for me, the hi-hat makes what the funk is funky about.
00:15And I'll show you what I mean.
00:16So, if I'm playing, like, a really easy funk groove, like this.
00:30Now, it's the relationship between the kick, snare, and the hi-hat.
00:46Many times when I see drummers playing, they're just using the hi-hat for time,
00:51but the hi-hat is really essential inside of that groove.
00:55Now, you can approach playing the snare with ghost notes, or you can just do a straight two and four.
01:03But I like doing the ghost notes mixing in with the hi-hat, because it gives it a very cool sound.
01:08So, I'm going to break this beat down and just show you the hi-hat first.
01:15The accent is on one, which is the quarter note two, quarter note three, four.
01:46Now, I will throw claps in the middle of that, too.
01:50So, when I'm doing the claps, the claps now come on the two and the four.
01:54So, hold on.
02:15That's one side of the funk.
02:30Now, when I was coming up, learning how to play, I got a call to play with Cameo.
02:38And I learned something very important when I was playing with Cameo.
02:42I never made it to the stage with them, because their drummer, Reefer Griffin, was doing another concert and he came back.
02:48So, they sent me home after three days, but I learned a lot.
02:52And this is what I learned from Larry Blackman.
02:56He plays very rude when he's playing funk.
03:00So, you take a song like Single Life.
03:04The hi-hat that he's playing is just a rude kind of sound.
03:10He's not using the tip of the stick. He's using the side of the stick to get that sound.
03:15And he's holding the hi-hats very tight.
03:36Great sound. I love that sound.
03:38I also use that sound when I'm playing on the hip-hop record.
03:42I like the way that sounds when it's coming across, just holding down the groove.
03:48So, I'll just take the same thing.
04:09Works really well. Hard-hitting, great, fat sound.
04:13When everybody comes in, you're just sitting holding down the groove. Works really well.