Elvin Jones on Haskell Harr and learning the rudiments: “I did go through [Harr’s snare drum book] as a matter of fact. I went to public school in Pontiac, Michigan, so I didn’t do anything extra. […] I didn’t have […]
Month: November 2014
Survival chops: triplets and 16th notes, accented
Here’s a page of stuff that should be handy, with some accented 8th note triplets and 16th notes in 3/4 time. Playing 16th notes at the end of a run of triplets is something I […]
Erskine on Whiplash!
If you don’t know your subject well enoughto convey the real emotion of it, there’s always this. This is fun— they’ve interviewed Peter Erskine in re: the new smash sensation amazingly great jazz drumming education […]
DBMITW: Portland song
New video by my partner Casey Scott!
Philly Joe plays an entrance: Oleo
Lots of action here this week, but here’s a little something for you… the new Book of Intros is still on its way… finishing is always the hard part, and there’s always more to do […]
Things I learned at a Billy Mintz concert and clinic, and hanging at Revival Drums
Get it here. I already knew this, but I was reminded of how great is the distance between things we can talk about and write about with drumming, and the actual music itself. The actual […]
Daily best music in the world: earlyish Steve Gadd
Here’s some really great funk drumming by Steve Gadd, from 1975, on a fairly obscure album: Mobius, by Cedar Walton. Gadd invented or perfected much of the drumming language that is now usually just called […]
Billy Mintz clinic and concert in Portland TOMORROW
I don’t know how many local readers I have, but if you’re in Portland, you should go see Billy Mintz give a drum clinic, followed by a concert with his quartet tomorrow evening— follow the links […]
Dahlgren & Fine workout in 3/4
Here’s a triplet workout in 3/4, using 4-Way Coordination by Marvin Dahlgren and Elliot Fine. The idea is fairly obvious, and has certainly occurred to a lot of people, but it might help for me […]
NAKED CLICKBAIT: ten pieces of drumming equipment you should throw away TODAY!
I don’t know, I just felt like writing an inane Buzzfeed-style listicle a few weeks ago, and I’m tired of looking at this in my drafts folder. Please don’t be offended if one of your […]
VOQOTD: rudiments just made up by a couple of guys
Well, not exactly: many or most of them have been in use for a couple of hundred years at least, but the 26 Standard Drum Rudiments as a thing… read this letter to Percussive Notes by William […]
A Reed method for 16th notes in jazz— reading 8th notes
Continuing our previous Reed interpretation for comping with 16th notes in jazz, this time using the 8th note section of Syncopation— pp. 10-11, or “Lesson 4” in the new edition. The written rhythms on those […]