double-bass-drumming-training-manual

R&L Ch. 11—Power Threes

Skeleton sheet. This chapter has the metadata block and Core / Rotation / Reference tables but has not yet been rewritten to the shape of chapter-01.md and chapter-02.md—no first-session walkthrough, no worked advancement example, no per-exercise rationale. See chapter-template.md for the shape this sheet will take when filled, and DEVELOPMENT.md “Things to do later” for the outstanding propagation work.

Session role: focus block.

Every session opens with warm-up on the current R&L Ch. 1 exercises before you work this chapter. Baseline 30-min session: ~7–8 min warm-up (Ch. 1) → ~15 min focus (this chapter) → ~5–6 min application → ~2 min cool-down. Full detail in approach.md §6.

How to use this sheet

Application chapter (Stage 5 in approach.md §5). R&L introduces power threes as a quick and effective way to develop a thick-sounding beat. The structural idea is simple: the feet stay constant on a straight-8th or shuffle pattern, and the weak hand—on snare or a tom—plays between the strokes of the feet.

The chapter splits naturally into two halves. Beats 1–5 keep the feet in a straight-8th feel; Beats 6–10 keep them in a triplet or shuffle feel. Later beats extend the idea. R&L also encourages you to try the power-three concept with 16th notes in the feet once the straight-8th and shuffle versions are stable, and to experiment with different footings.

The bpm defaults come from the 16th-note beats row of approach.md §4 (start 50 bpm, target ~110 bpm). The feet are on 8ths or triplet 8ths here, so the ceiling is higher than in Chs. 2–7—but the hand placement is the hard part, not the feet.

Core (most sessions)

Ex. Section Role Start Target
1 Beats Continuous 8ths feet, hand between the feet (straight-8th feel) 50 bpm 110 bpm
3 Beats Straight-8th power-three variant 50 bpm 110 bpm
6 Beats Triplet / shuffle feel, hand between the feet 50 bpm 110 bpm

Rotation (some sessions)

Ex. Section Role Start Target
5 Beats Straight-8th variant with alternate hand placement 50 bpm 110 bpm
8 Beats Shuffle-feel variant 50 bpm 110 bpm
11 Beats 16th-note feet under a power-three hand pattern 40 bpm 100 bpm

Reference (discretionary)

Beats 2, 4, 7, 9, 10, 12 are variants on the same idea. Sample them for variety. The 16th-note-feet extension is the hardest content in the chapter and is only worth touching once the straight-8th and shuffle versions are clean.

Practice notes

Log line format

Log this chapter’s work with the exercise number prefixed by 11.—for example 11.1 76 bpm 5 min pass hand-placement. See approach.md §8.