What if you think of something to play that doesn’t have a standard technique? That’s what jazz cats have been doing since jazz was born. All of a sudden, you want to play something that […]
Category: technique
I answer technique questions
A question about technique from Ben in Australia: I have been working on my grip which has become prominently German. I’m finding that it’s very comfortable and natural for the slower aspects with grooves, sticking […]
Drum lesson with Murray Spivack
Here’s a rare thing, a famous drum teacher, Murray Spivack, giving a drum lesson to Louis Bellson: The portion with Spivack is dedicated to basic stuff: holding the sticks, making basic strokes, and playing rudiments. […]
How not to hit a drum
Hey, it’s been awhile since I’ve watched a drumming video, and rendered the tidal wave of complaints and irritations that come with it, so here are some comments I wrote when someone made me watch […]
Whither the hihat foot
What does it do? Right up front: in playing the drums, the left foot is basically subservient. A lot of people vaguely suspect they’re not doing enough with it. Some go on to become fixated […]
Hand dominance: still bull
Advertising a belief. Yes, hand dominance is still bull. At least with regard to drumming. It happened again this week: a new student, right handed, who had never hit a drum before, automatically led everything […]
Very occasional quote of the day: sound and touch
“I’m not happy with my sound at all. I wish I sounded like Art Blakey or Elvin Jones. You have to be born with a certain feel or touch. Blakey had that African sound. It […]
Brute force freedom
Not Mickey Roker, never will be In the Josef Hoffman piano technique post I said: We read this now and put an emphasis on the freedom part, but he’s talking about freedom through massive technical abilities— […]
Carl Friedberg on touch and technique on the piano
More from Piano Mastery by Harriette Brower— some words on sound and technique at the piano from Carl Friedberg (1872-1955). He was the principal piano instructor at Juilliard in the mid 20th century— Nina Simone […]
Touch and grace
Combining two different posts I was working on, because they overlap, and are fairly inextricable: developing good touch on the drums, and developing some physical grace in playing. Sounding and looking like a musician and […]
Rimshots vs. no rimshots
Here’s a little video of me stunningly adorned in lush Irish wool, playing some crap for a second in response to a drum forum question, about technique for low-volume rimshots. You’ll notice there’s very little […]
Very occasional quote of the day: a lot of technique
“I could be playing for a month and never run into anything that requires a lot of technique. It might require that I play very simply. If you’ve got a lot of chops and you […]