Drum Lesson: Analyzing the Break from "Shuck Up" by Bambara

And that was a break from a track called "Shuck Up" by Bambara, or Bambara from the mid-70s. Again, another classic drum break used in a load of hip-hop tunes, Public Enemy and the like.

Groove Features

And yeah, it's slightly different from the other grooves that I've been playing in that you don't have a straight hi-hat lick going all the way through. So normally, you get:

• Straight hi-hat pattern: But this one, the particular feature of this one is that the hi-hat is just on the offbeat, which gives the groove a kind of a bounce all of its own.

Swung Groove

• I mean, it's a swung groove as well, so you've got that swing element to it.
• The offbeat hi-hat kind of picks it up even more and gives it more of a bounce.

Key Elements

So that's one thing to look at:

1. Offbeat Hi-Hats: You've got your offbeat hi-hats.
2. Ghost Notes: There are a few little ghost notes because your right hand is only playing the offbeat. You can kind of fill in the beats a bit more with your left hand doing the ghost notes on the snare.
3. Occasional Swing Beats: Occasionally, you'll get that swing beat on the hi-hat, which the drummer throws in for the odd beat here and there. This pattern doesn't get used that often, only maybe once in the whole kind of break. It's just something you can throw in there occasionally to give it a bit more of a lift.

Fill Technique

Another big part of this is at the end of either the two or the four bars:

• Repeat Fill: You've got this kind of fill that he repeats, which is a really nice fill in itself.
• It features those kind of open hi-hats along with the kick drum, which push the beat along. It's a nice fill to lead into the next round of the groove, so to speak.

Practice Tips

This is a good one to practice. It's also important to focus on getting your foot technique on your hi-hat really locked down.

• Hi-Hat Technique: It's literally just a really quick lift on the hi-hat and back down again. You can also play around with where you hit the hi-hat:

  • If you hit it just on top, you get a cleaner sound.
  • If you hit it at an angle (and I think on this, he actually hits it at an angle from the sound of it), you get a much rawer, heavier sound.

These are the features of this break, and it's just a lovely, bouncy drum break, which is why so many people have sampled it.