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Month: July 2017

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When they say they have drums

  • July 31, 2017
  • 1

All right dude I told ya we had a sweet drum set for you, here you go They don’t have drums. You’re going to get burned. Always. Pardon me— I just had a couple of […]

  • Betty Davis
  • downloads
  • funk
  • Groove o' the day
  • grooves
  • Semmie Neal Jr.

Groove o’ the day: Betty Davis – Shut Off The Light

  • July 26, 2017
  • 0

Fairly funky thing here… fairly compared to nuclear war, maybe… the opening groove from Shut Off The Light from Betty Davis’s Nasty Gal album. Drums are variously credited as being Nicky Neal, Semmie Neal Jr., […]

  • 4-Way Coordination
  • coordination
  • Dahlgren and Fine
  • harmonic coordination
  • Reed interpretations
  • syncopation
  • Todd's Methods

EZ “harmonic” independence

  • July 26, 2017
  • 0

Fairly EZ. EZ compared to the thing it’s based on. This is something that came out of practicing the harmonic independence section of 4-Way Coordination by Dahlgren & Fine. Looking at that book makes you […]

  • 6/4
  • Figure Control
  • Funk Control
  • practice loops

FIGURE CONTROL: 6/4 – Free Design riff

  • July 18, 2017
  • 0

Stretching the concept of my Funk Control series a little bit. Here we’re just doing some basic orchestrations with a rhythmic figure, the vamp in 6/4 from Stereolab’s The Free Design, which I posted before […]

  • 12/8
  • Reed interpretations
  • shuffle
  • Todd's Methods
  • triplets

Todd’s funk shuffle drill

  • July 14, 2017
  • 0

This is a loose collection of stuff with which you can drill a rather busy, modern funk shuffle feel or triplet funk feel, a la Lopsy Lu or The Brecker Brothers’ Inside Out: OK, those […]

  • performance practices
  • practicing
  • Reed interpretations
  • syncopation

The hard way

  • July 12, 2017
  • 0

Lately I’ve been noticing a lot of talk about doing things the hardest way possible— among drumming students there’s a great fear of “crutches” and “cheating.” The path of least resistance offends people’s protestant work […]

About the author:

Todd Bishop is a drummer, drum teacher, Origin recording artist, blogger(hey?), visual artist, and cymbal dealer living in Portland, Oregon.

Get lessons with Todd, in-person in Portland, or via Zoom/Facetime/MS Teams worldwide.

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Also visit my site CYMBALISTIC to get some great cymbals made in Turkey, by Cymbal & Gong. They're some of the finest cymbals in the world for anyone seeking a traditional 50s/60s jazz sound. I play them, players love them. Be sure to check out our own speciality model, the Extra Special Janavar.

You can also purchase my books, including Syncopation in 3/4, 100 Grooves, Samba & Bossa Nova Field Manual, and the Books of the Blog from 2011-2018, as well as some CSD! merchandise.

NEWS: On November 6-9 we will be bringing cymbals to Berlin and Dresden, Germany. Get on the mailing list @ Cymbalistic for locations and updates.

Recent Posts

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