Curriculum · Jazz · Level 2

Level 2 · Jazz

The Jazz Waltz

Swing in three — the other meter every jazz drummer plays

Duration · 25 min Focus · Time / Meter / Vocabulary
Prerequisites

A large slice of the jazz repertoire lives in 3/4: "My Favorite Things," "Someday My Prince Will Come," "Bluesette," "Alice in Wonderland," half of Bill Evans' set lists. The jazz waltz is not 4/4 swing with a beat missing — it's its own feel, with its own ride pattern and its own way of breathing.

The Ride in Three

The standard waltz ride is ding · ding-a · ding: quarter on 1, swung 8ths on 2, quarter on 3. The skip note (the "a" of 2) is swung exactly like the 4/4 skip note — late, in the last third of the beat. The hi-hat foot moves from "2 and 4" to just beat 2, which is what makes the bar feel like it turns in a circle rather than marching in a line.

Keeping the Bar From Turning Around

The classic beginner failure in 3/4 is losing which beat is "1" — the bar silently rotates and you're suddenly playing the ride pattern starting on 2. The fix is the hi-hat foot: as long as the chick is on beat 2, your body knows where the bar is. If you feel the pattern drift, stop, sing "ONE two-and three" for a bar, and re-enter.

Where the Comp Goes

In 4/4 the snare comps around the backbeat; in a waltz there is no backbeat. Comps in 3/4 most naturally land on the & of 2 (locking with the skip note) or on beat 3 (setting up the next downbeat). The exercises add one comp at a time — the goal is a rolling, circular time-feel, not a downbeat-heavy "oom-pah-pah."

Exercises

1 — The Waltz Ride Pattern
3/4 · swing 8ths · ♩ = 120
Ding · ding-a · ding. Swing the second 8th of beat 2 — it lands where the last triplet partial would, exactly like the 4/4 skip note. Count "1, 2-and, 3" out loud until the three-ness stops feeling strange.
2 — Add the Hi-Hat Foot on 2
3/4 · swing 8ths · ♩ = 120
One chick per bar, on 2. This is your anchor against the bar turning around — if the chick ever feels like it's on 1 or 3, the bar has rotated on you.
3 — Comp on the & of 2
3/4 · swing 8ths · ♩ = 120
The snare joins the skip note — ride and comp land together on the swung &-of-2. Keep the comp lighter than the ride; it's a nudge inside the time, not an accent on top of it.
4 — Two-Bar Waltz Phrase
3/4 · swing 8ths · 2 bars · ♩ = 120
Bar 1 plain, bar 2 comps on the &-of-2 and beat 3 — a question-and-answer phrase. The beat-3 comp sets up the next downbeat; let it breathe rather than punch.
Move on when
  • Waltz ride pattern (Ex 1) loops in 3/4 at ♩=120 without the bar turning around
  • Hi-hat foot lands on beat 2 of every bar and nowhere else
  • Two-bar phrase (Ex 4) holds for two minutes with the comp landing on the swung "&" of 2
Listening 3 records

Listen for it

  1. 01

    Elvin Jones John Coltrane — My Favorite Things

    The most famous jazz waltz recording. The bar circles; it never marches.

  2. 02

    Paul Motian Bill Evans Trio — Waltz for Debby

    Waltz time at its most elastic — brushes, space, and implied rather than stated pulse.

  3. 03

    Jimmy Cobb Miles Davis — Someday My Prince Will Come

    A straighter, more grounded waltz feel — a useful contrast with Elvin's circling version.

Where Next

Comping Basics → ready Trading Fours → ready