Answering a question from a drumming forum— I can give a longer answer here, because a) it would be pompous to do that on a forum, and b) I don’t want to waste my time […]
Groove o’ the day: Samba in 7
Here’s a bright samba groove in 7/4, played by Airto on Misturada, by the group Quarteto Novo. These are excerpts from the drum solo, starting at 0:49. Tempo is about quarter note = 220. I […]
CYMBALISTIC: developments
CYMBALISTIC: An interesting part of being a very small cymbal company, like Cymbal & Gong, is that there is some variance in the product over time. Day to day there may different guys at the […]
CRUISE SHIP DRUMMER! zoom call
This except not with these idiots.
SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT SLASH FEELER: I’m thinking about doing a group zoom call— you join me in an online conversation about all matters pertaining to drumming, teaching, playing, whatever anyone wants to talk about.
Very occasional quote of the day: time and feathering
“[T]here are certain things that will never change. Good time is good time, whether it’s Baby Dodds riding on a snare drum or Jack DeJohnette slammin’ a full kit. Time is time whether you put […]
Developing a Weckl lick – 01
Hot on the heels of the six stroke roll post, here is a related thing, a flashy fusion lick by Dave Weckl. I pulled it off of a Paquito d’Rivera album in about 1987, and […]
Six stroke roll combinations
No big deal, just a page of six stroke roll combinations and phrases, in 16th notes and 16th triplets. I call them that under duress, it just happens to be the common name for this […]
Things to listen for – ballads
Some things aren’t easily dealt with in transcriptions— you just have to listen a lot and notice things, and use them when you play. Here we’ll look at ballads, and the information you want to […]
Other things besides speed
A lot of us have very limited imaginations about how to get better playing the drums— basically, do it faster and that’s it. There are other things— sound, dynamics, touch, a number of musical considerations. […]
Very occasional quote of the day: one way
“I’m one of the cats that used to start them playing like lightning. We used to play like lightning all night long up at Minton’s sometimes. I got tired playing fast all the time. You […]
Syncopation p. 38 in quarter note triplets
Rewriting the very famous page 38 exercise from Syncopation, with all the syncopated rhythms replaced by approximately similar quarter note triplet rhythms. Someday I’ll forgo the bass drum line— which I include out of respect […]
Scale, purpose, context, and economics
Random artistic/critical concept time, about assessing a piece of art or design, or anything else in life. Assessing meaning “liking things or not.” Everything, all around us, every day, we’re surrounded by little things we […]