Supremely talented drummer Jordan West has partnered up with us here at Reverb to do a few drum lesson videos. Today, we're kicking off the series with a lesson filmed at Chicago's Rax Trax Studios that shows you how to nail the "flutter lick" drum groove famously played by Steve Gadd.
Gadd's flutter lick is played on the kick, snare, and hi-hat and sounds a lot like a spread-out paradiddle, with a lot of similar double-stroke techniques. Throughout his career, Gadd has played this lick in a variety of unique ways, but today, Jordan is focusing on the basics at the core of the groove.
First, Jordan slows the beat way down and breaks it into a couple of manageable pieces. Once you nail the individual pieces, you can put them all together, and eventually place it naturally within a groove. Be sure to check out the full video above, and check out the records below, which feature the drumming of Steve Gadd.