There are many exercises that concentrate on building independence. One such is the Right Hand Lead concept. The right (or lead) hand plays a rhythm that acts as a lead voice. The other hand fills in the rest of the subdivisions. Typically, the bass drum then plays the main rhythm with the right hand. This concept is often used when building independence in a jazz context.

The following system applies the right hand lead approach to building grooves.

Exercise 1. Play this rhythm with your right hand. This will be our lead voice throughout the se exercises.

Exercise 2. Now fill in the remaining 16th notes with the left hand on the snare drum. Play them as ghosts (soft) notes.

Exercise 3. Play the same pattern as above only now we will add accents on beats 2 and 4 which will bring out our backbeat. It is essential when building a groove to have a backbeat which will help solidify the groove and make it feel good.

Exercise 4. In keeping consistent with the Right Hand Lead concept, add the bass drum to all the right hand notes.

Exercises 5. Now we will take out some of these bass drum notes. This helps the exercise sound and feel like an actual groove.

Exercise 6. The same groove as Ex. 5, Play and orchestrate (move) the right hand to the toms. This will add a more melodic quality to our groove.

Exercise 7. Place the right hand on the ride cymbal and orchestrate the left hand to the toms.

Exercise 8. Orchestrate both the right and left hands.