Ralph Rolle occupies one of the grooviest drum chairs on the planet. As well as his current job, holding down the foundation for disco/funk legends Nile Rogers & Chic, Ralph has also played for an impressive list of funk, soul, hip-hop artists and beyond, with a CV boasting Stevie Wonder, D’Angelo, Notorious B.I.G., Roger Daltrey, Bono and many, many more.
Armed with our cameras, we met Ralph at Yamaha’s UK HQ where he took the time to share some of his favourite funk and disco concepts, as well as important advice on how to approach your drumming goals.
Ralph Rolle's kit
Thanks to Yamaha, Zildjian and Remo for supplying the gear used in this masterclass.
Drums Yamaha Tour Custom (maple shells) Toms: 10” x 7” 12” x 8”, 16” x 15” Bass drum: 22 x 16” Snare Drum: Yamaha Tour Custom 14 x 6.5”
Cymbals Zildjian: 13” K hi-hats, 10” A Custom Splash, 16” A Custom Fast Crash, 16” A Custom Medium Crash, 17” K Custom Hybrid Crash, 17” K China, 20” A Custom Ride
00:00So currently right now I am the drummer with Nile Rodgers and Chic which is a
00:09really really great gig. What's so great about it is that we're looked upon as a
00:16disco band but the truth of the matter is is that we play R&B, disco, funk, pop
00:22and we cover a lot of different styles within our show and it's always a lot of
00:27fun. So what I'm going to demonstrate to you the first thing I want to do is I
00:31want to show you the groove that I play on Good Times. Now if you listen to the
00:35original, I think everyone knows that song, but if you listen to the original
00:39recording what you'll hear is claps and that's a group of people coming in and
00:43doing claps. I actually have to play the claps when I'm doing that groove so I'm
00:48holding down the groove and I'm bringing in the claps when it comes to the
00:53chorus. So in the beginning of the song it starts out with just bass and drums and
00:58and then the keys come in and then I come up with the claps on the chorus and I'll
01:03demonstrate that. Here we go.
01:23Now what I'm doing when I'm playing that groove when it comes to the claps, my left
01:50hand is actually staying within the sixteenth notes and I'll show you. It's going...
01:57If you see, I'm getting the claps in the middle of the upbeat sixteenth note.
02:17Because I want to get that consistent sixteenth note sound coming in on the snare so...
02:26Which is a lot of fun to get it in there and try to get it on time with the kick, the snare, and the hi-hat.
02:42Takes a little bit of practice but I think anybody can do it. All you just got to do is put in the time.
02:49One of the next songs that we do in Chic is the opening song which is called Everybody Dance.
02:54That is basically a straight disco song. It's the same type of groove because back when disco started, what was consistent throughout the songs that were written in was a quarter note bass.
03:05That was consistent throughout most of the songs because when you went to the club, that big sound would basically hit you in the chest and you would just want to get up and dance no matter what.
03:18Now, depending on the song, I will again utilize the claps along with holding down the groove, doing a 2-4 pattern on the snare with also with grace notes, with ghost notes.
03:33And I'll demonstrate that, okay?
03:35Okay.
04:01Now, when I first started playing in bands in New York, it was essential to try to get the sounds of the records that we were playing.
04:11And back then, a clap machine was just one little machine with only claps.
04:16There wasn't percussion or any other thing on there.
04:19So, now you can play whatever you want because you can sample any sound, which is great.
04:24But to emulate that particular sound, I usually use claps.
04:29And then on other songs, I will use congas and do conga fills and conga patterns.
04:34Now, when I'm playing and I'm doing the conga sounds and conga patterns, I'm holding down the groove with my right hand on the hi-hat and the snare.
04:46My foot is doing the same thing, but my left hand, luckily I'm a left-handed, open-handed drummer.
04:52I'm holding down a conga pattern on my left hand and doing different type of syncopated fills in the middle.
05:00And I will start out slow first, and then I'll show you the temples that will do it when I'm playing with Nile Rodgers and Sheik.
05:07Okay, so you start out.
05:09. . . . .
05:35. . .
05:37And then, after you do the conga pattern, you throw the hand claps on two and four with the snare.
05:43Okay, so I'm going to do the whole pattern together.
05:46I'm laughing because I remember when I started learning this, it was a mess.
05:52Yes, it was a head explosion, exactly.
05:54So the nickname in the band for me is Octopus because I'm doing all of this stuff at the same time.
05:59So I'm going to show you how I first do this beat slow, and then I'll show you the tempo we do it, which is about 120, 125.
06:06Okay.
06:34Okay, so now I'll show you the tempo we usually do it, which is about 120.
06:39Here we go.
06:40One, two.
06:41One, two.
06:42One, two.
06:43One, two.
06:44One, two.
06:45One, two.
06:46One, two.
06:47One, two.
06:48One, two.
06:49One, two.
06:50One, two.
06:51One, two.
06:52One, two.
06:53One, two.
06:54One, two.
06:55One, two.
06:56One, two.
06:57One, two.
06:58One, two.
06:59One, two.
07:00One, two.
07:01One, two.
07:02One, two.
07:03One, two.
07:04One, two.
07:05One, two.
07:06One, two.
07:07One, two.
07:08One, two.
07:09Now if I'm doing that same exact groove without the hand claps, I'm doing more of a syncopated pattern
07:17With the conga sounds with the sauce show you what I'm talking about
07:39Ah, fun. I have a lot of fun doing that. So that is how I play a disco groove with Nile Rodgers and Sheik
