Here’s a little sub-rant of my other recent teaching rant. I wrote this in January, and wasn’t going to post it— it’s kind of silly. But people seem to enjoy these, and it’s not totally […]
Category: rants
Authenticity
“I grew up happy and rich and I can play blues.” — Miles Davis “You’re not Art Blakey, you’re a white kid from Eugene.” — some guy I worried about “authenticity” for maybe a couple […]
New gear rules
NO I’m getting a little punchy from working on this new book, so I just started writing rules about gear. Consider the following to be LEGALLY BINDING. Failure to comply may result in a SUBSTANTIAL […]
Leave them kids alone
Dumbest, wrongest quasi-educational thing I could find to illustrate this post. This little rant has been kicking around my drafts folder for awhile. I wasn’t even going to post it, but then I had another frustrating […]
Amazingness in cymbals
Making videos of some new cymbals for sale today, so it’s a good time post this thing that has been sitting in my drafts folder for some months: In selling these fantastic Cymbal & Gong […]
A quick rant and etymological aside
La mano dall’inferno OK, I want everybody stop saying “dominant” hand, “weaker” hand— anything like that, as if it’s a thing. It’s not a thing. None of your drumming abilities are dictated by the hand you […]
CRUISE SHIP DRUMMER! rhythm guide
Everyone has seen things like this polluting the internet: What fun. I get that I’m the only person who thinks these are the trashiest possible associations to attach to anything musical— judging from the delighted […]
Anything at all, with energy
Why do they always look surprised. Today there is two big pieces in The Atlantic about social media advancing some very dark ideas, and about trolling and fascism, so maybe it’s a good day to […]
Moron bad drumming
We are all Hector Berlioz. Following up on my bad drummers post from some weeks ago. I hate to even say bad drummers, because playing badly is not an immutable thing. I like to think […]
A minor rant: Elvin’s 18
In Elvin Jones’s 1982 Modern Drummer interview, Rick Mattingly asked him about his use of an 18″ bass drum: RM: I’ve heard various explanations of why jazz drummers started using 18″ bass drums. Some people […]
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, […]
A rant: limits of playalong tracks
You playing along with a backing track. So, I watch the YouTube videos of drummers playing along with their playalong tracks, and sounding pretty OK, and I think you know, I probably wouldn’t sound any better […]