I spend so much time talking about how great Ted Reed’s Progressive Steps to Syncopation (commonly known as “Syncopation”) is, and how you can do everything with it— and should— and how it’s the only book you […]
3+3+2
I’m really not happy with the quality of the available beginner/younger student drum set materials. For the most part they’re terribly designed. They’re either extremely dull, or they demand too much, or they’re just dumb— […]
Groove o’ the day: Tony Allen / African Message
More Afrobeat: here’s Tony Allen playing with Africa 70. The tune is African Message, from the album No Accommodation For Lagos. Tempo is 118. It’s starts with solo drums playing this groove: Here’s a little […]
Practice loop: Fela Kuti / Buy Africa
Oh, here’s the practice loop I’m using with that 4:3 Chaffee thing. It’s sampled from Buy Africa, by Fela Kuti, from his 1971 album Fela’s London Scene. Tempo is about 87 bpm. It’s in 4/4, […]
Chaffee jazz patterns in a 4:3 feel
Playing the jazz patterns from Gary Chaffee’s time functioning volume as 16th notes in a 4:3 feel. I feel like kind of a horse’s ass writing this— it’s all already in the book. But there […]
Daily best music in the world: Billy Hart with Buster Williams
A busy few days here, so here’s a Buster Williams album with Billy Hart on drums, which I’ve been running on a continuous loop since Monday.
EZ Hemiola Funk beats with RLB
Just an easy page of hemiola funk-type beats including the RLB pattern as a fill, that I wrote for my students, who have been having a lot of fun with this series. Write in the […]
Billy Hart clinic
Had a very interesting time at a Billy Hart clinic yesterday at Portland State University— I was sick, and barely made it through the two hours, but I went. If you came into the clinic […]
Daily best music in the world: RIP Jon Christensen
Dexter Gordon to Jon Christensen: “You’re not from Harlem, and you’re 20 years old – play how you feel!” My brother, John Bishop, said this on Facebook: “He was the sound, aesthetic, time feel, phrasing, […]
Here is the deal with 6/8 time
I had an interesting interaction on a drumming forum recently— it’s ongoing actually— there was an extremely long and frustrating conversation involving a whole lot of basic misunderstandings about rhythm and meter. A user is […]
NOW AVAILABLE: 2019 Book of the Blog
OK, the 2019 CRUISE SHIP DRUMMER! Book of the Blog is now available for purchase. This handsome 131 page volume includes all of the downloadable materials, transcriptions, and practice methods posted on the site in 2019. […]
Try the “transcriptions” label instead!
Housekeeping item: Did you just click on the transcription label on one of my old posts? I stopped regularly using using that label several years ago— to see all of the transcriptions posted over the entire history […]