UPDATE: Text updated after I stupidly (but defensibly!) misidentified the drummer as Ndugu Leon Chancler. When you print out the pdf, scratch out Ndugu’s name and put James Gadson. Here’s something great from James Gadson, […]
Month: March 2018
NEW E-BOOK: Syncopation in 3/4
That’s right, ANOTHER new e-book: Syncopation in 3/4. All of my regular followers are going to want to have this one… being as we are very dedicated to the myriad/infinite ways of practicing Ted Reed’s […]
A different kind of march
Playing a traditional/military-style march is something we have to do occasionally as drummers, so we may as well learn a few different ways of doing it. This is a hip, interesting take on the concept […]
Bill Stewart on cymbal technique
Here’s a nice video of part of an interview with Bill Stewart, speaking with Quincy Davis of the University of Manitoba, in which he discusses his cymbal technique. It relates to my earlier ranting and […]
NEW E-BOOK: EZ Rock Drumming – A Short Course For The Mastery Of Rock Beats
Hey, we’ve got another new e-book now available on Amazon: EZ ROCK DRUMMING A Short Course For The Mastery Of Rock Beats It’s the definitive explanation of my Syncopation-based rock method, which has been covered […]
EZ triplet bass drum / cymbal drill
Do you think most of what you play in real life is hip, complicated, multi-layered, polyrhythmic, hybrid-rudimental madness? Sir, it is not. Most of what you play is normal, obvious, easy stuff. You want to […]
11 Buddy intros
This is pretty interesting: Buddy Rich playing a drum intro on eleven takes of the same tune: Leap Frog, released on The Complete Charlie Parker on Verve box set. This is an actually an excerpt […]
Two alternative Dahlgren & Fine routines
YAAAH As I’ve mentioned, I’m getting a lot of productive work done with this much-loathed book, 4-Way Coordination, by Marvin Dahlgren & Elliot Fine. Mainly I’m using the worst part, the “harmonic” coordination chapter, for […]
Very occasional quote of the day: Buddy’s time
From the bassist Chuck Bergeron who was in Buddy Rich’s band in the 80s: “One afternoon, after a couple of nights of feeling that he wasn’t happy with where I was placing the beat, I […]
Transcription: Barry Altschul – Jitterbug Waltz
Here’s a drum solo in 3/4 by Barry Altschul, on a modern arrangement of Fats Waller’s Jitterbug Waltz, from Altschul’s album Irina— a pretty obscure (to me) record you can now download off Amazon. The […]
Single stroke 5s – 32nd notes
A set of exercises I improvised on my leg at the start of a rehearsal yesterday— and this would actually be good as part of a warmup. These are 5 stroke rolls in single strokes, in […]