Here’s a great record from 1970: Purple, led by Miroslav Vitous. With John McLoughlin, Joe Zawinul, and Billy Cobham. It’s very much in a post-In A Silent Way Miles mode, with Cobham sounding at times […]
Year: 2018
Page o’ coordination: linear pattern for Latin soloing
The 5+3 note phrase is one of the easiest and most useful of Gary Chaffee’s basic linear phrases. If you start phrase on the a of 2, the bass drum part makes a Latin tumbao […]
Erskine on practicing
An exchange about general practice topics, from Peter Erskine’s 1978 Modern Drummer interview with Gary Farmer. GF: [W]hat would an ideal practice routine consist of? PE: When I work on the snare drum, I try […]
Idiots, you’re doing it wrong. Fools!
This is you trying to play a normal drum set. Ergonomics! The science of putting things where scientists tell you to and shutting up. Our sad devotion to this clearly absurd contraption, the drum set, […]
Groove o’ the day: Ignacio Berroa 12/8
Another funk Afro 12/8 groove, played this time by Ignacio Berroa, on his record Codes, on the tune Woody’n You. From the intro: As you can probably see he’s playing rumba clave on the cowbell. […]
Practice loop: Zorn fast 4
Here’s a good practice loop for working on the recent EZ uptempo methods. Tempo is 154 bpm, or 308 depending on how you want to count it— which is about as fast as most people […]
Page o’ coordination: SBSB – 01
This is an emerging twist on our old Page o’ coordination formula: practicing various cymbal rhythms along with a repeating SD/BD coordination pattern. I’ve found that this opens up some creative possibilities; I’m a very […]
EZ uptempo jazz method – 02
It’s not so much a method as it is “some things to try”, using pp. 10-11 (“Lesson 4”) in Ted Reed’s Syncopation. Last time we looked at ways of making a broken time feel using […]
Microtiming jive
Microtiming is a term that gives me hives every time I hear musicians use it. To me it suggests misaligned priorities, a disappearance up one’s own rear end, and the resulting degraded musical abilities. The […]
Free Steve Gadd book
Here’s an excellent free book on Steve Gadd by Danish drummer Hans Fagt. Originally released in 1985, it contains the key bits— mainly grooves and solos— from some of his bigger recorded performances, from the […]
Groove o’ the day: Bernard Purdie Bossa
Hey, this is kind of a hip variation on the stock Bossa Nova groove everyone plays— played by Bernard Purdie on his Soul Drums record, on the tune Soul Bossa Nova. From the intro: He […]
The hard stuff
Do we have to? Because I’d really rather not. No one would ever accuse me of being a simplistic or non-technical drummer, but my philosophy has always been Do Easy. I spend a lot of […]