Here’s a song I was working on with one of my students which happens to be timely since it’s in 5/4— Water, by PJ Harvey, with a great pop drumming performance by Robert Ellis. What […]
Category: rock
Cracking 5/4: rock variations
I wasn’t planning on making this part of this series, but it happened to come up. I was prepping for a recording session today which will involve a couple of tunes in 7/4, and I […]
Transcription: the Birthday break
For once there’s not much to say– here’s one of my favorite drum breaks in the world, played by Ringo Starr on Birthday, by the Beatles: Get the pdf YouTube audio after the break:
Basic beats
Here’s a rare bone for my younger/beginning-er readers. What we have here is a collection of basic “rock” beats- really they’re good for many/most varieties of popular music using the drum set. The names I’ve […]
Groove(s) o’ the day: Jocko Homo
Another curiosity for the groove o’ the day, and the first drum beat I ever learned: Jocko Homo by Devo. Drums by… I forget if it was Bob 1 or Bob 2 [UPDATE: Oh, it […]
DBMITW: The Beta Band
Let’s feature somebody with an actual video for once: A few more after the break:
Everybody Paice out
A couple of old favorites from the heyday of the cowbell and the four-stroke ruff down the drums ending on the bass drum (there’s got to be a better name for that lick): Get Lay […]
Things to do with a beat
Writing by making lists of things- it’s just where I’m at right now. This is a quick run down of one of the main jobs/avenues for creativity on the drums- the manner in which you […]
Kristen’s rock micro-syllabus
Here I’ve written up a thing I’ve been doing verbally with Kristen, one of my 6th grade students, to acquaint with some of the basic moves in rock-style drumming. Our method has been to run […]
Two simple rock applications
You’ve probably noticed by now that I do a lot with Ted Reed’s Syncopation? Here are two more methods which I have developed (along with my Rock beats with Syncopation piece) to introduce my intermediate […]
Todd’s Methods, pt. 3: Rock beats with Syncopation
Most drum books present their stuff fully written out verbatim for the drum set, which is fine for learning patterns, but not for thinking like a musician. This is something I made up to introduce […]