70s Jazz-Funk and Fusion
Like Duolingo, but for 70s Jazz-Funk and Fusion. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.
For the part of you with thirty open tabs that never became anything.
25 levels across 4 sections, about 50 minutes end to end, roughly 10 days at five minutes a day. It moves through Locking into the 70s Pocket, Electric Textures and Ensemble Comping, Improvising and Building Tension, and The Sonic Architecture of 70s Fusion. It assumes you already know the basics.
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Key ideas in 70s Jazz-Funk and Fusion
- Fusion replaced uneven triplet swing with straight, even sixteenth-note subdivisions.
- The primary pulse shifted from the ride cymbal to an interlocking hi-hat and snare grid.
- Syncopation targets sixteenth-note offbeats rather than swung eighth-note upbeats.
- Ghost notes are low-velocity taps filling sixteenth-note spaces between main backbeats.
- They create continuous forward propulsion and texture rather than just keeping time.
- Dynamic contrast between accent hits (beats 2 and 4) and ghost notes generates the groove.
- Opening the hi-hat on an offbeat sixteenth builds lift that resolves on the beat.
- A fast foot choke cuts resonance instantly, yielding a dry, articulate funk accent.
- Half-open cymbal sizzle elevates energy across full fusion solo sections.
- Landing on the sixteenth note before beat 1 pulls the ear forward without accelerating tempo.
- Anticipating downbeats leaves beat 1 silent, transforming heavy pulses into funk lift.
- The dynamic role of snare ghost notes in fusion drumming grooves
- The hi-hat motor maintains a strictly centered, unflinching subdivision pulse.
- Snare backbeats on 2 and 4 are placed slightly behind the center for a fat pocket.
- Sixteenth-note syncopated pushes sit slightly on top of the front edge of the beat.
- The micro-timing placement of groove elements from most forward to most laid back within a fusion pocket
You've tried the other tabs
Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.
You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.
One answer, then back to scrolling.
Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.
Tomo gives 70s Jazz-Funk and Fusion the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.
Here's what playing it feels like
A real question from this course. Take your best guess.
Where did fusion drummers relocate the primary pulse that used to live on the jazz ride cymbal?
Get it right to open this lesson and 24 more in the app.
Where 70s Jazz-Funk and Fusion takes you
Unpack the explosive sound of 1970s jazz-funk, where sophisticated harmony met deep electric grooves. Learn how rhythm sections lock into the pocket, how to comp on classic electric keys, and how to build soaring solos over hypnotic vamps.
- 1
Locking into the 70s Pocket
- The 16th-Note Funk Grid
- The Bass and Drum Engine
- 2
Electric Textures and Ensemble Comping
- Electric Keys and Clavinet Comping
- Horn Stabs and Rhythm Guitar Textures
- 3
Improvising and Building Tension
- Soloing Over Static Vamps
- Polyrhythms and Metric Displacement
- 4
The Sonic Architecture of 70s Fusion
- Analog Synthesis and Studio Effects
- Landmark Blueprints of 70s Fusion
4 sections · 8 units · 25 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
You pick the voice
70s Jazz-Funk and Fusion is taught in the The Professor style: clear, structured, thorough. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.
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