Critical
Comping.
Four-way coordination for bebop comping, practised with your mind switched on.
You can play the pattern. The real question is whether you can use it when the band is playing.
Critical Comping is a complete study program in 13 chapters. It takes the classic four-limb coordination of jazz comping and trains it the way you will need it on the bandstand: with your attention on where every figure sits in the bar, and on what it says.
Sound familiar?
After hours and hours of practice, you assume the tools are ready to use. Then you play with other musicians, or try to phrase on your own, and the same phrase comes out every time. The one your habits built. Your comfort zone.
Please, let's not blame "feeling". Listening, style, repertoire and experience on the stand all matter, and no book or video course can hand you those. But the way you practise is yours to change.
And repeating the same exercises for years will not change it by magic. Things improve, slowly. Not with the jump in awareness and confidence you are looking for.
How much of your practice has gone into the what, and how much into the how? You have certainly worked on the motor side. Have you worked as hard on your rhythmic thinking?
The new part is where the figures sit
The patterns in this course are not the new part. The new part is how they are placed inside the pulse and the subdivision.
Rhythmic cells move through the bar using a logic of permutation.
They are broken up with rests and small contrapuntal elements.
Everything runs inside a fixed scheme of repetitions and combinations.
So you cannot switch off and repeat. You have to stay alert and think critically about what you are playing, which is exactly what the bandstand asks of you.
Mechanical control of a figure is the first step, not the finish line. After that you learn to use it in relation to its place in the 4/4 bar, and to the other rhythmic and melodic events around it, the way it happens in real interplay.
Hear it played
40 seconds from chapter 2, the free lesson. Three cameras, every limb in view.
Critical Comping does not claim to replace the traditional coordination methods. It is designed to work alongside them, as a tool that trains real-time analysis: awareness of what you are playing, and how you are playing it.
The goal is to build your ability to process and create on the spot, whether you are comping or phrasing. A musical speech that makes sense.
What you get
A look inside
Critical Comping (in 4:4) is where this starts
The free video you signed up for is chapter 2 of this course. The full course is the whole program: all 13 chapters, the complete book of scores, and a video for every exercise.
Jazz drummers and all-around modern drummers who already practise coordination, have done the reps, and want that work to show up on the stand.
Daniele
Chiantese
Performer, session musician and educator. Critical Comping came out of years of playing and teaching, and one observation: coordination studies build the hands wonderfully, but the constant repetition they rely on can switch the mind off.
One payment · Lifetime access
Get the full course →Want both books? Critical Comping + Sticking Brain, €129.
What format is it?
Online video lessons plus the PDF book of scores and study advice.
What level is it?
It is written for drummers who already practise four-way coordination and want to use it musically.
How long do I have access?
For life. Buy once and it stays in your account.
Can I get a refund?
Because you get the full course the moment you buy, all sales are final.