Stewart Copeland’s statements about jazz came up on line recently, and I was curious about that, so I dug around and found some things. He dubiously claims to have a jazz background, but as we’ll […]
Syncopation rhythms – quarter note triplets
The need for this arose when I was practicing yesterday, so here we go— two pages of syncopation rhythms including quarter note triplets and inverted quarter note triplets. You know what to do. Get the […]
Page o’ coordination: quasi-samba – bass drum variations
More student stuff! Someone needed a Latin rhythm for a tune he’s playing in a rehearsal combo, and this repeating quasi-samba pattern is what he came up with. So in the lesson we worked through […]
Converting 3/8 hemiola patterns to 2/4
That’s it, CRUISE SHIP DRUMMER! is now an all what-I’m-teaching-in-lessons web site. I’m preoccupied with other stuff right now, travel plans and whatnot. I started doing this around 2013, and quite a bit lately— changing […]
More Tiki Fulwood funk fills
Another item I was working on with a student, for everyone waiting for the other shoe to drop on that 2013 Tiki Fulwood/Funkadelic fills post. It’s a fun, low-intensity thing to do with Syncopation pp. […]
Afro 6 – advanced bass drum ideas/coordination
A page of patterns I’m playing around with, in an Afro 6 feel, that are difficult or unusual for varying reasons— either the bass drum is in unison with the left hand, or the actual […]
Reed interpretation: Matt’s double bass method – 02
Continuing a double bass drum method I’m developing with a student. I don’t play double bass, and have very little to teach on the subject, but we’re building a pretty substantial drill out of it. […]
Transcription: Jake Hanna fours
Here’s Jake Hanna trading fours with Duke Jordan, on Jordan’s album Live Live Live— a Japanese import release from the late 90s. This is a pretty ordinary club date; Hanna was almost 70 and Duke […]
Kenny Clarke and Max Roach
It’s interesting that history doesn’t really move in a linear way, even when you have adjacent history-making players living in the same city at the same time, playing with the same people: “Kenny’s influence was that […]
Transcription: Kenny Clarke – Swing to Bop
Kenny Clarke playing brushes on Swing To Bop, from the album The Immortal Charlie Christian. This was recorded live at Minton’s Playhouse in 1941— epicenter of the formation of bebop. We’re hearing a strong quarter […]
My objections to drumming videos
Posting this instead of the bilious, totally unproductive anti-YouTube drumming video rant I was working on, entitled Satan’s Vomitorium. Don’t worry, it wasn’t any good, or even finished— you’re not missing anything. See this post […]
Todd’s rock drill
Along the lines of that jazz drill from a few weeks back, here’s a rock/funk drill I’m playing— or universal backbeat-music drill. My wife, Casey Scott, is a songwriter, and is getting ready to record […]