The Primordial YLEM

Q: First off I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge your massive groove agilitization mechanisms with which you portray such finesetude. (I think I read too many P-Funk Liner notes!)

I shall now get to my question. In what possible way can you come up with such immensely funky grooves with the most basic building blocks of drumming? Can you also scratch the surface on how you incorporate all of those crazy independent techniques while making them sound so natural?

BTW Life on Planet Groove, the live Maceo album was phenom. Could you recommend any other funk work of yours or any one else so I can expand my vocabulary past the Meters, P-Funk, and Earth Wind and Fire?

Thanks for such inspiring music and messing up my head with pan sonic independence

Joe Giata
Motown20@aol.com

Dear Joe

Primordial YLEM (pron Yell-em-bee)

Don't leave out your ghost notes — that's the soul of the beat, then add variations but don't leave out your YLEM — that LH playing those soulfoul ghost notes real quiet. This beat is scarier when those ghost notes are sneaky and quiet.

Put your RH oh the Hi-Hat your LH on the snare and play that South West stickin' like you just don't care.

Strong = S = South.

Weak = W = West.

Play the strong beats with the RH — notes falling on 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + (that is the 1 + of a sixteenth note subdivision).

Play the weak beats with the LH — notes falling on E A E A E A E A

Base your groove on the Primordial YLEM but accent any of the 16th notes you wish, especially your LH sixteenths.

Now don't forget to Rock and Roll with so much soul you gonna Rock till you're a hundred and one years old.

Now, check this out:

1) Record the YLEM without a metronome then compare the recording to the metronome beat and then re-record.

If you strive to play metronomically you can end up sounding ten times better than any metronome could ever sound.

2) Play like there's no tomorrow.

3) Be a beat seaking missile

4) If the Funk is embued with your most expansive elements of humanity it's meta-funk and to answer your question, the basic building blocks of funk require your basic DNA — Downright Nasty Attitude! :-)

(My) Independence techniques, they sound natural?

That's because I think in terms of expressing my life through drumming. I don't think in terms of independence technique ultimately. Whatever so called independance technique I do happen to formulate (for the purpose of faster learning) I internalize. I feel it sounds natural because your internatal nature is responding to my internal nature purely.

Kenwood Dennard