Matt’s Paradiddle Thing has been so useful to me, that I decided to apply the same methodology to double paradiddles. Don’t be put off by the amount of ink on the page- the system is […]
Category: Todd’s Methods
More on samba feel
Following up on my earlier post on feel in samba, here I have gone a little further in analyzing what’s going on with the repinicado/”tripteenth” (Michael Spiro’s term, I believe) thing in samba, and have […]
Samba Cruzado – third surdo warm-ups
Here are some new preparatory studies for working with samba cruzado, and for getting this third surdo thing happening with the bass drum- I’ve refined my methods a bit as I’ve been working with this […]
Todd’s methods: same-handed flam accents
This is something that came organically out of my own playing- it came up again and again in improvising for years before I finally analyzed it. The only place I’ve seen it mentioned since is […]
Todd’s Methods: adding bass and snare to samba cruzado
Well, we’re all samba all the time around here these days, but what the heck- the point of this enterprise is for me to post things I’m interested in, and working on, and right now […]
Todd’s methods: 11-note pattern – part 1
This is part one of something I’ve written up strictly for my own practice, but others may be able to use it as a guide for developing and exploring their own ideas. Or maybe someone […]
Todd’s Methods: Samba builder
Here’s a little method I improvised for developing some flexibility with the samba- I put this together pretty quickly away from the drums, so I’m sure I’ll add to it as I work with it […]
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 […]
Todd’s Methods, Pt. 2: triplet partials in Syncopation
The second in a series of quick, sketchily-outlined demonstrations of my practice methods. Here I give a couple of my variations on common ways of using Ted Reed’s Syncopation. If you’ve worked with that book […]
Todd’s Methods, Pt. 1: daku-daku-paradiddle
New series: quick and dirty presentation of some of my practice methods. The idea is to write them up fast and on one page, so explanations may not be as thorough as everyone would like. […]