For a student, here is a summary of some things we did in a lesson— putting some singles exercises from Stick Control (pp. 8-11) onto the drum set. We’ll make a two measure phrase out […]
Category: Stick Control
What to do with Stick Control
Kind of a big one. Blow this up and make a poster out of it… actually I should probably do that, and sell it along with my other merch… …BUT these are some things to […]
Stick Control for fills
I get pretty individualized finding the best way for my students to work on something. People come to me with a lot of different levels of background, and playing goals, so I can’t just give […]
Stick Control with a backbeat
Another little oddball Stick Control related item, for drum set: some Stone-type sticking patterns with accented unisons added, on beats 2-4, and on beat 3. Introducing the idea— if you like it, you could obviously […]
EZ 8th note groove with Stick Control
A simple 8th note groove sequence using the book Stick Control, played on the drum set. Use Stick Control pp. 5-7, or my page of sticking patterns, which I think is in a better order. […]
Rock with Stick Control!
A little thing I improvised while warming up for a rehearsal. All my rock stuff is oriented around getting off the hihat, getting both hands moving around the drums. A lot of students get locked […]
Stick Control in 7 by Ralph Humphrey
A little item from an old issue of Percussioner International magazine, which I just found in my mom’s basement— the Steve Smith issue, from November 1987. Here Ralph Humphrey shares some paradiddle-based stick control patterns […]
Stickings a la Funky Primer
This is part of why I write so much stuff— you never know what a particular student is going to need, and in what form. For whatever weird reason, somebody will do really well with […]
Sticking patterns for drum set – basic
An item for one of my students— an adult student who is new to reading music: a page of sticking patterns, based on this 2018 post reorganizing the first pages of Stick Control. I could just […]
Stick control patterns for jazz
I posted something like this before, but here it is in a new form, for a different student— we’re using some sticking patterns to simplify learning some basic jazz coordination. Swing the 8th notes. Play […]
Subtractive method: an alternative approach
I just saw this from brother writer Jon McCaslin, over at the excellent and much hipper-named Four On The Floor blog: a Syncopated Stick Control method, which he’s using to bring some rhythm interest to practicing Stone. […]
Jazz fills with Stone
Another item from a drum lesson. A student and I were playing around with Stick Control, using it as a launch pad for jazz fills. The starting place was my post on rubadub using Stick […]