The Mahavishnu Orchestra was John McLaughlin's mid-1970s ensemble that essentially invented the high-energy fusion vocabulary. Billy Cobham was the drummer for the original lineup — and the things he was playing in 1972 are still, fifty years later, the technical ceiling of the genre. Fast double-handed 16th-note hand patterns. Open-handed playing (left hand on the hi-hat / ride, right on snare and toms). Rolling 8th-note-triplet kick under steady 16th hands — a 4-against-3 polyrhythm at performance tempos. Long melodic fills around the kit at speeds that defy belief.
The technical demands are no joke. Don't approach this lesson before your hands are well-developed and your double-bass technique (or fast right-foot triplets if you only have one pedal) is automatic. This is a Level 4 capstone for the fusion track and the natural bridge into modern jazz drumming.
The Five Cobham Things
- Open-handed playing. Cobham was a left-handed player who played a right-handed setup, which forced him to lead the hi-hat with his left while the right held the backbeat. The result: total freedom on the snare-side hand. Practise leading the hat with your weak hand for one of these exercises.
- Fast double-handed 16ths. Both hands on the snare, alternating R-L, at extreme speed. The rest of the kit drops in between.
- Polyrhythmic kick. 8th-note triplets in the kick under 16ths in the hands — 4-against-3 in real time.
- Long melodic fills. Fills are not bursts; they are sentences, often eight bars long, that build like a saxophone solo.
- Sheer energy. Cobham's playing is loud, fast, and uncompromising. Pick up that intent, even at moderate tempos.