8-100 Beat Riff Walk

Description

This is the open-ended extension of the riff walk: after the 7-beat riff walk, you keep adding sounds (extra heel drops, toe drops or a toe tip) before walking onto the next foot. The free foot always opens with a riff and then takes the weight, and the phrase repeats on the other side, so the walk still travels forward foot by foot. The 8-beat version, for example, fits one more heel drop on the walking foot right after its toe, before the closing left-right pair of heels, and from there you can keep stretching it as far as your control allows.

Practice Tips

• Add only one new sound at a time, and move on only when the whole pattern stays even at a slow tempo.
• Keep the brush and heel of the opening riff clearly apart; once the riff blurs, every sound after it slides out of place.