I’m always seeking out methods for introducing people to non-drumming activities— playing the piano, in this case. Last year I bought an 80s-vintage Clavinova, and got some beginner piano books so I could learn how […]
Year: 2019
Page o’ coordination: Idris Mozambique
A page of exercises for learning basic performance vocabulary using Idris Muhammad’s Mozambique-like cymbal rhythm from this recent groove o’ the day. Play each of the hand patterns many times— if you need to, start […]
Cymbal sounds: Art Taylor – Sonny’s Crib
This is a post I wrote about Art Taylor’s cymbals, for the Cymbalistic site blog, plus a few added comments for this site: Here is Art Taylor playing a very interesting ride cymbal that reminds […]
Todd’s methods: Gospel 6
Get me. Here’s a practice method for people who have bought my new print book Syncopation in 3/4. It’s closely related to my standard Reed 2/2 funk method, except here we’ll be doing a slow […]
Syncopated melodic solo – 01
Here I’ve composed a syncopated, non-technical, four-tone melodic solo for drum set. It is through-composed, 36 bars long, in eight bar phrases with a four bar tag. Play this with the snares off, and pencil […]
Groove o’ the day: Idris Muhammad Mozambique
Here is Idris Muhammad playing a Mozambique-like Latin groove with Melvin Sparks, on Speak Low, from the album Sparkling. Muhammad isn’t on many of the records I listen to all the time, but he is […]
Stick Control flams in 5/8 – 01
This is pretty straightforward, almost something you can do without writing it out— I’ve simply transcribed the basic flam exercises from p. 16 of Stick Control into 5/8. I get bored practicing things in a […]
The leap to playing
I feel like this A big problem for many students is how to get from practicing exercises in a book to real playing. It’s actually an issue for everyone, but in this post we’re just […]
Groove o’ the day: Soul Makossa
This is the groove from a track regarded as the first Disco song— Soul Makossa, by Cameroonian performer Manu Dibango. The drummer is Joby Jobs, and he has a bad right hand— he is apparently […]
CYMBALISTIC: Two new 22″ rides in stock!
CYMBALISTIC news: Thanks to a very successful Germany trip in December, stock of cymbals on hand is a little skimpy right now, but we do have a couple of new 22″ A-type rides available— one […]
EZ rock beats in 5/4 – 01
For one of my students, an easy page of rock beats in 5/4. We did one of these a few years ago, but this page illustrates the 2+3 / 3+2 phrasing of this time signature, […]
Tyshawn Sorey linear lick
I did something I don’t usually do— transcribe a lick for a stranger on the internet with no context and no information about the player or music. I have no idea where the person got […]