the Funky Drummer

so y'all are familiar w/ the Funky Drummer by James Brown ,right? So my question is when playing this song do you play it w/ one hand on the HH or two? One handed is all right , but the song is long and kinda fast , two hands is all right too but it leaves out a few HH strokes and is a little awkward. I was just wondering what any of you guys out there who've played the song do ...one hand or two? the you tube beat box vs drums video has a guy doing the "hold the stick in the middle and rock back and forth" thing, but I don't see myself doing it that way. thanks

Clyde Stubblefield did it one handed. I do it one handed so that way the hi-hat doesn't get broken up. You get that unrelenting, steady 16th sound on the HH that way. It is a pretty fast tempo to one hand 16ths, but keep working at it and you'll get it.

yah , thats what I thought I was hearing from the album. I got a few students who've been working on it which caused me to have to learn it too, it seems to be more of a stamina thing than a syncopation issue when it comes to playing the whole song....it's a long frickin song , and plenty mean on the right arm. Yeah for Stamina! Thanks for the info.

Hey - just found something on iTunes - if you search for "funky drummer", you'll find a song by Clyde Stubblefield from an album called "The Original Funky Drummer BreakBeat Album". The preview on iTunes contains just the drums - pretty cool. In this version, he's clearly stopping the 16ths on the HH during the two kick drum beats - gives your hand a very short break.

Actually I just previewed the rest of the album - it's all just Clyde! Pretty cool.

Sounds like he's doing a rlrr Lrrl rLrr Lrrl every measure (L is accented). L on snare and ghosted except 2, "E" of 3 and then 4. That sure makes things a lot easier on the right hand. Some snares are buzzed.

Yep - except I think the last measure is Lrrl (just like measure 2) (but the Lrll would make for a nice variation).

Yes, you're right. I goofed typing it. Corrected in original post

I just checked out that iTunes track and it sounds to me like that is either 1) Clyde re-recording the groove for someone or 2) he is playing the groove with a different sticking. The original recording has steady 16th notes. I don't think the iTunes track is just the original version "slowed down" either. It sounds like an entirely different groove. The key to playing it like the original is to keep a low stick height on the HH and stay super relaxed.

OK. So after checking out the rest of the Clyde Stubblefield album, it looks like he recorded a whole CD of breakbeats for people to sample. He is definitely playing a different groove on the iTunes track than on the original Funky Drummer track. The original is much harder to play because it isn't linear.