Some things I worked through with a student, based on the book Joe Porcaro’s Drum Set Method. It’s an interesting book, based on practical applications of rudiments as embellishments, fills, and for soloing. It’s rather […]
More six stroke rolls
Lots of snare drum stuff right now. Here are some more six stroke roll combinations, going a couple of steps beyond the last batch. Some patterns are helper patterns for the others, so watch out […]
CYMBALISTIC: Congratulations to Michael Griener!
Congratulations to our man in Berlin, Michael Griener for his playing on the soundtrack for The Brutalist, which just got an Oscar for best score— among numerous other awards and nominations. It’s exceedingly cool because he […]
Left handed rudiments
Collection of rudimental and quasi-rudimental patterns, starting and repeating with the left hand, that a student and I workshopped in a lesson recently. Good for strengthening your left hand, obviously; I find this orientation to […]
Very occasional quote of the day: mistake
“Make a mistake and make it loud.” – Art Blakey, 1978 Modern Drummer interview with Howard Howland
CYMBALISTIC: new cymbals in!
CYMBALISTIC: All right, videos are up for seven new cymbals. As I mentioned recently, I’m very excited about the way the cymbals have been trending— they vary slightly from batch to batch, and change a […]
Reed interpretation: five stroke rolls and stick shots – 02
Following up on the last thing, where we made a loose solo system adding five stroke rolls and stick shots to pp. 34-45 of Syncopation. Here we’re focused strictly on the snare drum aspect. You […]
Impure
I am interested in helping you keep your practice from becoming impure.– Shunruyu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind At the same time, they praised him when he didn’t deserve it. “I’d have games when I’d […]
Essential listening for combo playing
Listening to jazz records for the specific purpose of knowing what you’re doing playing in a combo setting— playing “regular” mainstream jazz. We’ll leave listening related to very modern playing as a separate topic. And […]
Very occasional quote of the day: now
“I defy any painter to say ‘Now I can paint a picture!’ A master is a man who can, to be sure, but he never knows from one picture to the next whether the […]
Stick Control for fills
I get pretty individualized finding the best way for my students to work on something. People come to me with a lot of different levels of background, and playing goals, so I can’t just give […]
Stupid in the form of a polyrhythm
Ever wonder how to play a 3:4:5:6 polyrhythm? Well, here you go: Those are the kinds of questions people ask at music.stack.exchange, where I’ve been visiting recently. It’s somewhat refreshingly fact oriented— it’s heavily moderated […]