South Indian Konnakol Rhythms Every Drummer Needs To Know

[00:00:00]Welcome to Shazz Drums. My name is Rod Abson and this video we're going to be looking at some carnatic concepts, some Indian concepts on the drums and their application. Uh, and more specifically the Jaty concept. Now what is the Jati concept? I think it's probably easier to demonstrate than it is to explain. So check this out. This is the Jaty concept. Uh, one 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 1 2 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 So what am I doing there? If you take the main first uh subdivision that we used dividing the beat into four, we call this our main rhythm. The main rhythm is 16th notes or or semiquavers. Yeah. And then you take the grouping that I did of of three underneath. We're going to call this our grouping or our subdivision. Uh you can multiply this subdivision four times using the number of the main rhythm. If you multiply the grouping or the subdivision by the same number as is the original main rhythm, you will resolve on the beat. This is the main concept of jazzi. Okay. So take another example.

[00:01:08]Take um six and five. Okay. So, 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 Yeah. So that I did six groupings of the five and I resolved. Okay, this is the main concept of jati. So if I can put this on the drums, how is it going to sound? Well, I'm going to start off by uh running what we call chhatusra. That is uh that is dividing the beat into four, but I'm going to double it. So be a grouping of eight because drummers love to play in eight. An eight beat, you know, a basic pop beat. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. I'm going to use that as my basic beat. And then I'm going to run a jaty three. Okay. I'm going to play a cross rhythm of three underneath it. Okay. So I'll play that eight times and it will resolve on the beat. Okay.

[00:02:02]Check this out.

[00:02:07]>> [music] [music] [music] >> Hey, hey, [music] hey.

[00:02:30][music] >> [music] >> Okay, cool. So, what exactly is going on there? Well, I'm taking eight as our main rhythm. I'm taking three as our subdivision or our grouping. And then I'm playing uh the three eight times to resolve onto beat one. Okay, now we're going to get a little bit more complicated. We're going to do chhatusra jati five. So, we're going to play the same beat that is is divisible by four.

[00:02:58]It's an eight beat. and we're gonna play a grouping of five against it. That will resolve eight times after eight times.

[00:03:05]Um, and the first thing to do is to vocalize it and to clap it so you understand the the subdivision. Okay?

[00:03:11]So, check this out. It should sound like this.

[00:03:13]1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 six 7 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 So eight groupings of the five and you will resolve. Okay, so you put that on the drums it sounds like this. Check it out.

[00:03:40]>> [music] >> Hey, [music] hey, [music] hey, hey.

[00:04:03][music] >> [music] [music] >> Okay, cool. So, it's starting to get a little bit more complicated now. I'm playing the click on the high hat with my left foot, even when I'm playing the five. Okay. So, uh you don't necessarily have to do that to begin with, but that's quite a nice um added level of complexity. Uh and okay, so for the final variation that we're going to work on today, we're going to change um the main rhythm from chhatusra from the eight to a tisra to a triplet bass rhythm, but we're going to play it in six. Okay? So, we're going to divide the beat into six and then we're going to play a tisra jati five. Okay? So, we're going to divide the six into five similar to how I demonstrated at the beginning. Okay? Um, and then, uh, as the theory checks out, we're going to play the five six times to resolve on beat one. Okay? So, when you put that on the drums, it will sound like this.

[00:05:08]Check it out. 1 2 3 four five six Hey, [music] hey, hey. [music] Okay, cool. So, there are three variations of this exercise that you can uh begin with, but then you can start doing your own. So, you can play a main rhythm groove based in five and try and play a grouping of four against it and uh five groupings of the four will resolve you back to one. You can start experimenting by yourself. Um, if you want to see a PDF, a written out uh sheet the the written out sheet music for this exercise, just click the link in the description box. It will take you to the Patreon and you can uh get the PDF there. In the shed jazz drum Spotify playlist, I put a song called Ranjani by Varashri Venu Gopal. It's from the album Var. She's an amazing singer, but she's also uh incred incredibly well educated in this concept and in these rhythms. Um it's really uh it's really evident in her musicality and it's very clearly demonstrated on this uh on this track Ranjani. So do check it out. You can try and play along with it if you want. Uh I haven't braved that yet but um you can give it a go. Um and yes uh just enjoy your trip to India. Enjoy learning this concept and getting these rhythms together. And as always, happy shedding.