The Dogg (Hip Hop) - Walkthrough
With
Sophie AllowaySophie Alloway walks through the hip-hop groove in The Dogg, explaining its half-time feel and the single snare on beat three.
What's in the course
114 lessons (3h 47m) · 1 free
01. Rock Drumming Introduction
7:55
02. Example 1 - Single Strokes
2:44
03. Example 2 - Double Strokes
1:28
04. Example 3 - Paradiddles
2:37
05. Bonus - Combining Singles, Doubles, and Paradiddles
2:22
06. Rock Lesson 2 - Adding Rests
1:48
07. Example 1 - Rest on Beat 4
1:56
08. Example 2 - Rest on Beat 2
1:36
09. Example 3 - Moving Rests
1:05
10. Example 4 - Piston Bars 12-16
1:56
11. Bonus Exercise 1
1:49
12. Bonus Exercise 2
1:02
13. Rock Section Summary
1:50
01. Pop - Adding the Hi-Hat
1:31
02. Example 1 - Quarter Notes on Hi-Hat
1:40
03. Example 2 - Resting on Beat 1
1:42
04. Example 3 - Two Consecutive Quarter Note Rests
1:28
05. Bonus Exercise 1
1:11
06. Bonus Exercise 2
1:10
07. Pop Lesson 2 Example 1 - Combining the Hi-Hat & Snare
1:11
08. Example 2 - Moving Quickly Between Drum Voices
1:17
09. Example 3 - Two Drum Voices in One Bar
0:59
10. Example 4 - Take It to the Top Bars 1-4
1:10
11. Bonus Exercise 1
1:08
12. Bonus Exercise 2
1:04
13. Pop Music Section Summary
0:51
01. Introduction to Country Music
4:13
02. Skills Checkpoint
1:54
03. Example 1 - Half-Note Rest
1:18
04. Example 2 - Placing of the Half-Note Rest
1:31
05. Example 3 - Bass Drum Phrases
1:29
06. Bonus Exercise 1
1:27
07. Bonus Exercise 2
1:10
08. Country Lesson 2 - Combining Bass Drum, Snare, and Hi-Hat
3:07
09. Example 1 - Combining the Bass Drum & Hi-Hat
1:40
10. Example 2 - Adding the Half-Note Rest in Various Positions
1:10
11. Example 3 - Moving Quickly Between Drum Voices
1:10
12. Example 4 - Borderlands Bars 1-4
1:06
13. Bonus Exercise 1
1:30
14. Bonus Exercise 2
0:56
15. Country Music Section Summary
0:26
01. Metal Introduction - Playing Two Drum Voices
3:35
02. Example 1 - Focusing on Coordination
2:19
03. Example 2 - Bass Drum Variations
1:16
04. Example 3 - Coordinating the Hands
1:09
05. Bonus Exercise 1
1:05
06. Bonus Exercise 2
0:50
07. Metal Lesson 1 Summary
0:25
08. Metal Lesson 2 - Playing Your First Full Beat
1:56
09. Example 1 - Basic Rock Beat Hi-Hat Pattern
1:08
10. Example 2 - Adding the Back Beat
0:58
11. Example 3 - Adding the Bass Drum
0:59
12. Example 4 - Power Trip Bars 13-14
1:32
13. Bonus Exercise 1
1:10
14. Bonus Exercise 2
0:53
15. Metal Section Summary
1:05
01. Indie - Introduction to the Style
1:26
02. Example 1 - Resting on Beat Three
1:01
03. Example 2 - More Variations
1:00
04. Example 3 - Coordinating the Limbs
2:16
05. Bonus Exercise 1
1:10
06. Bonus Exercise 2
0:50
07. Indie Lesson 1 Summary
0:25
08. Indie Checkpoint - Mallets
2:46
09. Indie Lesson 2 - Introducing 8th Note Bass Drum and Snare
1:25
10. Example 1 - Eighth-Note Snare
1:36
11. Example 2 - Eighth-Note Bass Drum
1:04
12. Example 3 - Eighth Note Phrase
0:59
13. Example 4 - 'Big Mouth' Bars 1-4
1:48
14. Bonus Exercise 1
0:38
15. Bonus Exercise 2
0:59
16. Indie Section Summary
0:34
01. Hip-Hop Introduction - Basic Beats and Fills
1:33
02. Example 1 - Snare & Bass Drum Fill
1:10
03. Example 2 - Snare & Hi-Hat Fill
1:08
04. Example 3 - Fill Using Snare, Hi-Hat & Bass Drum
1:09
05. Bonus Exercise 1
1:38
06. Bonus Exercise 2
0:47
07. Hip-Hop Lesson 1 Summary
0:32
08. Hip Hop Lesson 2 - Introduction to Eighth Note Beats
3:53
09. Example 1 - The Basic Eighth-Note Beat
1:19
10. Example 2 - Snare Drum Variations
1:28
11. Example 3 - Bass Drum Variations
1:09
12. Example 4 - 'The Dogg' Bars 13-16
1:56
13. Bonus Exercise 1
1:04
14. Bonus Exercise 2
1:09
15. Hip-Hop Section Summary
0:32
01. Introduction to the Pieces
1:04
02. Piston (Rock) - Walkthrough
4:57
03. Piston (Rock) - Performance
0:46
04. Take it to the Top (Pop) - Walkthrough
3:58
05. Take it to the Top (Pop) - Performance
0:50
06. Borderlands (Country) - Walkthrough
3:49
07. Borderlands (Country) - Performance
0:48
08. Power Trip - Walkthrough
5:04
09. Power Trip (Metal) - Performance
0:51
10. Big Mouth (Indie) - Walkthrough
5:26
11. Big Mouth (Indie) - Performance
0:52
12. The Dogg (Hip Hop) - Walkthrough
You are here6:14
13. The Dogg (Hip Hop) - Performance
0:51
14. Overload (Rock) - Walkthrough
5:23
15. Overload (Rock) - Performance
0:50
16. Slam (Metal) - Walkthrough
4:28
17. Slam (Metal) - Performance
0:51
18. Under the Radar (Indie) - Walkthrough
5:02
19. Under the Radar (Indie) - Performance
0:50
Lesson transcript
Music Lesson: Hip Hop Drum Patterns in "The Dog"
In the hip hop piece "The Dog," there are a couple of things I just want to draw your attention to because it's quite an unusual drum part that's been written.
Bar One: Half Time Feel
- The first bar has one snare on beat three, which creates a half-time feel.
- Normally, snares are on beats two and four, but when there's only one snare, we call it a half-time feel.
Demonstration
-
To demonstrate:
- Normal groove: Snares on 2 and 4.
- Half-time groove: Snares reduced to just beat three.
-
I changed the bass drum as well, as moving only the snare wouldn't yield the same feel. The half-time approach has a whole different feel.
Bar Two: Groove Revolution
-
By the second bar, it feels like the groove has turned on its head:
- Snare on beat one.
- Snare on beat three.
- Bass drum on beat two.
-
This keeps us on our toes; we can’t relax too much because of all these changes.
Bar Three: Hi-Hat Fill
- The third bar resembles the first bar, but there's a hi-hat fill in the fourth bar of the first line that we need to watch for:
- I instinctively want to play on beat three, but there's a rest there, so I'm trying hard not to.
Execution
-
Observe the rest and come in with a bass drum on beat four.
-
Here’s how it sounds:
1, 2, 3, 4. -
It feels a bit strange having a quarter note rest after two eighth note hi-hats and then a bass drum on beat four, but it's good practice to tackle challenges.
Line Two: Moving Away from Half-Time
-
In the second line, we have:
- A heavy bass drum playing on beats 1, 2, and 3.
- Hi-hat with snare on beat four.
-
This means we're losing the backbeat on beats two for these bars.
Snare Fill
- There’s a snare fill halfway through bar three leading into bar four.
- I’ll play the whole line for you so you can hear it.
- For the snare fill, I favor Right, Left, Right, Right, Left, Right.
- I’ll play both hi-hats with the right hand, as they lock in well with the bass drum.
Line Three: Return to Funk Elements
- You might think we’re leading into a bass drum with a hi-hat on beat one of the third line, but we are not.
- The bass drum is on beats two and four for the first two bars.
Funk Influence
-
This kind of feel is often heard at the beginning of funk or disco tunes.
-
To demonstrate without moving too far from this piece:
- A drummer might play 16th notes on the hi-hat at the start of a solo funk tune, with the bass drum on beats 2 and 4.
- Example: 1, 2, 3, 4.
-
Many hip hop drumming techniques originated from funk and soul tunes, with drummers from those pieces often sampled in hip hop.
Continuation and Conclusion
- When we reach the third bar of the third line, we reintroduce the snare on beat four.
- Bar four of the third line remains the same.
Final Line
- In the last line of this piece, there’s a more conventional drum groove, involving eighth notes on the hi-hat.
- The snare returns to its normal place on beats two and four, with bass drums alternating between quarter notes and eighth notes.
Last Bar
-
The last bar starts with a half note rest, occupying the first half of the bar, so count through to hit beats three, the end of three, and four in the right place.
-
Here’s how the last bar sounds:
1, 2, 3, 4, 1 and 2 and 3 and 4. -
There are three snares in a row. You can play them differently; I choose to go to the hi-hat.
Sticking Pattern
- I will play the snares Right, Left, Left, leaving my right hand free to play the hi-hat on the last note.
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Meet your guru
Meet your guru
Sophie Alloway is a session and touring drummer at the heart of the London jazz scene. She has performed with Jason Rebello, Yazz Ahmed, Laurence Cottle and Tony Allen, and notably played for Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace shortly before he became King.
Touring credits include Roots Manuva, the Thriller musical and Paul Stacey (Oasis / The Black Crowes). She is also the drummer in original fusion band Lydian Collective, with over six million Spotify streams.
Sophie has recorded sessions at Abbey Road, AIR and Angel studios, and her television appearances include Later… with Jools Holland, Glastonbury and two series of Adrian Dunbar’s drama Ridley. She is featured on Abbey Road Masters: The Drum Sessions and performed for the BBC Young Jazz Musician 2024 finalists, broadcast on BBC TV and Radio. Jon Newey of Jazz FM dubbed her the “goddess of groove”.
