Tony Allen - "Confusion" Quarter Note Hi-Hat Opening Exercise

I began transcribing Tony Allen's work hoping to learn about the subtleties of Afro-beat drumming.  The hi-hat is the main comping voice because the snare and bass pattern is fairly repetitious.   Allen's control over the hats is extraordinary!  To gain dexterity with my left foot I've started working on a couple of exercises based on Allen's performance on "Confusion". 

I keep the hats open for the duration of a quarter note and move that to the next eighth note every measure.  Search Tony Allen on YouTube and you will learn that the "bounce" of Afro-beat comes from the hats closing on the "&" of every beat.  With a little finesse  you can really keep the hats pulsating even on the downbeats!

Here a bit faster and with more of a musical context as every other measure features the open hi-hat.

Allen uses an eighth note opening on the hats with more regularity.  I will try and update with more exercises as I transcribe more of Tony Allen's playing and see what he is doing.  For now experiment by adding accents and sixteenth notes to the hat voicing.

Enjoy!