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.
Master Studies II: Paradiddles with Fill-Ins Using Double Strokes
As a follow-up to Joe Morello’s legendary Master Studies book, he released Master Studies II in 2006. Joe was a masterful teacher and helped many great drummers with their musicality, technique, and touch. Joe was also masterful at creating exercises,…
Encyclopedia of Double Bass Drumming: The Ladder
For the last several months, we have been excerpting chapters from the new and revised edition of the Encyclopedia of Double Bass Drumming by Bobby Rondinelli. The new and expanded edition of his book includes nine new double bass drumming…
SIMPLICITY WINS: The Go-Round Grooves
What is groove? Think of it as an empty cup that you pour your own meaning into. A name is like this. How many Chris’ do you know? The name is the same, but every time you think of that…
Primus "Eleven" from Sailing the Seas of Cheese, drummer Tim Alexander
This month’s transcription honors Primus and their “old” drummer Tim Alexander, with the Primus track “Eleven” from their album Sailing the Seas of Cheese. As the title implies, the song is based in an 11-beat groove. To make the rhythm easier to read…
Rhythm Vocabulary Development: Filling in the Spaces in 5/4
A useful way to conceptualize rhythm is to think of it as space. In the context of drumming, each note fills a specific space within the time signature. For instance, a quarter note in 4/4 fills the space of one…
Putting It All Together
Modern Drummer founder Ron Spagnardi wrote an excellent book called Understanding the Language of Music, a Drummer’s Guide to Theory and Harmony. This book spells out the basics of theory and harmony in a very easy to understand way. It…
Master Studies II: Paradiddles with Fill-Ins Using Single Strokes
As a follow-up to Joe Morello’s legendary Master Studies book, he released Master Studies II in 2006. Joe was a masterful teacher and helped many great drummers with their musicality, technique, and touch. Joe was also masterful at creating exercises,…
Encyclopedia of Double Bass Drumming: Double-Stroke Hands, Single Stroke Feet
In the new and revised edition of the Encyclopedia of Double Bass Drumming, Bobby includes nine new double bass drumming chapters. The new and expanded edition covers contemporary techniques such as bass drum double strokes, feet-only exercises, binary and ternary…
4OD: The 4 Offenses of Drummers
‘Listen, or your tongue will make you deaf.’ Native American proverb Drumming creates SYNERGY. Synergy is when 1 + 1 = 3, it’s when we as a group go to a place that any one of us couldn’t have gotten…
Tool "Chocolate Chip Trip," from Fear Inoculum, drummer Danny Carey
This month’s transcription highlights the incredible drumming of Tool’s Danny Carey. The song “Chocolate Chip Trip,” from their 2019 album Fear Inoculum, serves in part as a tribute to the legendary Billy Cobham. “Chocolate Chip Trip” mirrors the opening of Cobham’s Stratus from…
Duet 24
Ron Spagnardi wrote a terrific book called Snare Drum Duets: 25 Duets for Two Snare Drummers. It offers a selection of 25 challenging duets that range in difficulty from relatively simple to more complex. A wide assortment of time signatures…
Master Studies II: Paradiddle Combinations
As a follow-up to Joe Morello’s legendary Master Studies book, he released Master Studies II in 2006. Joe was a masterful teacher and helped many great drummers with their musicality, technique, and touch. Joe was also masterful at creating exercises,…
Encyclopedia of Double Bass Drumming: Fast Track Double Bass
In the new and revised edition of the Encyclopedia of Double Bass Drumming, Bobby includes nine new double bass drumming chapters. The new and expanded edition covers contemporary techniques such as bass drum double strokes, feet-only exercises, binary and ternary…
Superpowers and Kryptonite
The superheroes that we love all had to learn (sometimes the hard way) the discipline that comes with a superpower, that is knowing when not to use it. One of Chad Smith’s superpowers is playing quirky fills in unexpected places.…
