Curriculum · Jazz · Level 2

Level 2 · Jazz

Comping Basics

The snare's eight most common positions, one per bar

Duration · 30 min Focus · Independence / Vocabulary
Prerequisites

Comping — short for "accompanying" — is what the drummer does behind a soloist. Specifically, it's the snare drum's quiet, conversational hits that comment on what the soloist is playing while the ride and hi-hat foot hold time. Done well, it sounds like the drummer is speaking to the soloist; done poorly, it's a random snare drum interrupting the music.

The vocabulary of comping is built from single-position figures: one snare hit per bar, in each of the eight common positions in the bar. Once you can play any one of those positions cleanly while the ride and foot hold time, you can combine them, vary them, and start to comp musically. But first, drill them one at a time. This is the same Chapin-method philosophy that drove the Independence (Chapin Method) lesson — depth, not variety.

The Eight Common Positions

Counted in 8th notes within the swung 4/4 bar, the positions are:

  • Beat 1 — landing on the downbeat with the ride.
  • & of 1 — the swung skip after beat 1.
  • Beat 2 — with the hat-foot and the ride's second quarter.
  • & of 2 — the most common comp position; with the ride's swung skip.
  • Beat 3 — with the ride's third quarter.
  • & of 3 — the swung skip after beat 3.
  • Beat 4 — with the hat-foot and the ride's fourth quarter.
  • & of 4 — the swung skip into the next bar; the natural pickup.

The exercises below drill five of these — the ones not already covered in the Chapin-method lesson. Each holds the ride pattern + hi-hat foot + feathered kick on 1 constant, and adds ONE snare hit per bar at the named position. Loop each one twenty to forty times before moving on.

Exercises

1 — Snare on Beat 1
4/4 · swing 8ths · ♩ = 140
Snare on the downbeat — landing with the ride quarter and the feathered kick. Three things sound at once on beat 1 (ride, snare, kick), then the snare is silent for the rest of the bar. The whole-bar snare rest after the hit is what makes this position feel like a statement; the snare hits, then yields the bar back to the soloist.
2 — Snare on the & of 1
4/4 · swing 8ths · ♩ = 140
The snare sits with the second 8th of the first ride pair — the swung skip after beat 1, which is the & of 1. Pass/fail: the snare locks with that skip note every time and never lands on the downbeat.
3 — Snare on Beat 2
4/4 · swing 8ths · ♩ = 140
Position-counting in shorthand jazz notation is famously confusing — play the loop and let your ears confirm which beat the snare lands on. The point of this one: the snare falls on a beat the hat-foot is also marking, so the two must sound as one attack, not a flam.
4 — Snare on the & of 3
4/4 · swing 8ths · ♩ = 140
Snare on the swung skip after beat 3 — the second 8th of the third ride pair. It lands with the ride's ding-a in the second half of the bar, balancing the & of 1 in the first half. Many comping ideas pair these two positions (a hit on the & of 1 and a hit on the & of 3) for symmetry. For now, just isolate it. Loop forty times.
5 — Snare on Beat 3 with Off-Kick
4/4 · swing 8ths · ♩ = 140
Snare on beat 3, with the ride's third quarter — and the kick now plays 1 and 3, so three voices stack on that beat. Listen for a single clean attack on 3: if you hear a flam between kick, snare, and ride, slow it down and re-stack.
Move on when
  • Each of the five single-position comp figures loops at ♩=140 for one minute without the ride wobbling
  • You can switch between any two figures from bar to bar without a stumble
  • The single snare hit is unambiguously placed — its position in the bar is clear to a listener with no count given
Listening 3 records

Listen for it

  1. 01

    Max Roach Clifford Brown and Max Roach

    Listen for how often Roach plays a single snare hit per bar — comping basics taken to a master level.

  2. 02

    Art Blakey Jazz Messengers — Moanin'

    The hard-bop comping vocabulary; positions used here are everywhere on this record.

  3. 03

    Kenny Clarke Bud Powell — The Amazing Bud Powell Vol. 1

    Bebop comping at its origins — Clarke was the architect of single-position figures.

Where Next

Comping Vocabulary → ready Trading Fours → ready