Education
Modern Drummer is the world’s most widely read drum magazine, is dedicated entirely to the art of drumming and caters to the needs of amateur, semi-pro, and professional drummers.
“Duet 9”
As an ongoing tribute to Ron Spagnardi who founded Modern Drummer Publications in 1977 and was an excellent drum teacher and author in his own right, Modern Drummer is going to include some of the articles, exercises, and pieces that…
Hybrid Drumming with Alternate Mode
This month let’s take a closer look at hybrid drumming that uses several advanced triggering concepts. We will also be focusing on “randomizing” sound selection. Hybrid drumming is a highly complex system and process, particularly when you move into the…
The Rhythm Of Practice
Beats are something you do; drumming is something you live. The drums don’t want you to be good at them. The world will throw every excuse at you not to practice or play drums. We have all heard the excuses,…
Joe Morello: Master Studies
In our further celebration of Joe Morello’s legendary book Master Studies; in the next few months Modern Drummer will be bringing you one of the best and most beneficial sections of the book and Joe’s teaching, the Control Studies. The…
“Hoedown”
Emerson, Lake, & Palmer Trilogy, recorded in 1972 This is one of my favorite instrumentals, probably one of the all-time great pieces of music I played with Emerson, Lake, & Palmer. Without a shadow of a doubt, it’s one of…
Double Bass Drumming Soloing Over the Double Bass Roll
This month we will continue with another excerpt from Joe Franco’s groundbreaking book, Double Bass Drumming. This month Modern Drummer is focusing on Joe’s section on soloing over the double bass roll using accented rolls and accent patterns with the…
Hybrid Drumming / The Electro-Organic Approach
There are special moments in the musical instrument industry when instrument manufacturers produce some truly innovative products. These are risky ventures financially, but amazing things can happen when engineers and designers are given the time and resources to innovate and…
Practice Outside of the Box
For this month’s article, I’d like to discuss the concept of practicing creatively or “outside of the box”. I’ll agree there’s certainly nothing wrong with playing through a drum method book as written. However, I’ve discovered that there are many…
Joe Morello: Master Studies
In our further celebration of Joe Morello’s legendary book Master Studies; in the next few months Modern Drummer will be bringing you one of the best and most beneficial sections of the book and Joe’s teaching, the Control Studies. While…
Triplets to Sixteenth notes
This is an exercise that I call Triplets to Sixteenth notes. This entire exercise can be played over the foot patterns written in bar A, B, and C. For starters, I will play a bar of triplets and then I’ll…
Open Handed Drumming is to play ‘Open Hearted’
The ‘Open Handed’ Mindset You might have seen me play and noticed I do things a little differently. By now you know ‘different is good’, because there are no rules! The way I play is called OPEN HANDED DRUMMING, which…
Double Bass Drumming Part 5 Eight Note Triple Fills
This month we will continue with more fills from Joe Franco’s groundbreaking book, Double Bass Drumming. This month Modern Drummer is including Joe’s explanation of eighth note triplet double bass fills using his Single Stroke System, and we are including…
The Polyrhythm Conversion Timetable
The following comparative timetable illustrates how polymeters and polyrhythms work with one another when played at the same tempo and time signature.The first fundamental polymeter starts with with 3 over-4 notes (3:4), followed by 5:4, 6:4, 7:4, and 8:4. Within…
Carmine Appice: Realistic Sixteenth Note Triplets
Continuing Modern Drummer’s celebration of the 50th anniversary of Carmine Appice’s Ultimate Realistic Rock book, this month we present a sound often associated with Carmine’s playing in Vanilla Fudge, many of John Bonham’s Led Zeppelin grooves, and later with Dennis…
