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.
Triplet Fill Concepts - Part 1: Three Over Four
Welcome to the first of three lessons in our “Triplet Fill Concepts” series. In this part, I’m going to show you how to play some simple three-over-four ideas using accents over triplets. TO READ THE FULL STORY: SUBSCRIBE TO ACCESS…
The Reeducation of Drumming Education by Ben Sesar
I’ve made it my mission to carve a straighter path to greatness, not only for myself but also for those willing to learn. In doing so, however, I’ve had to question the current standards regarding the way we educate ourselves…
Practi-Patterns - A Dozen of the Most Common Kick/Snare Figures
One of the best things you can do in your drumming study is work on practical techniques, stickings, grooves, and fills that can be applied in real-life situations on the bandstand and in the studio. After playing a wide variety…
Quintuplets, Part 1: The Basics
Some may think of quintuplets—groups of five notes in the space of a quarter note—as an unusual rhythm reserved for the technical folks playing math music. But quintuplets aren’t that different from triplets (which weren’t always commonplace), and it’s possible…
Raw Speed Bass Drum Workout with Mike Johnston
This bass drum workout is all about developing your raw speed. Raw speed is very different from pattern speed. Pattern speed requires your brain to keep track of a specific sequence of rights, lefts, and kicks, and you have to…
Ghost Notes 101 with Jim Riley
One thing that separates the novice drummer from the professional is the ability to play grooves that have dimension. Ghost notes are a great way to achieve this, but first you need to understand, on an elemental level, how to…
Strictly Technique - Hearing The Click On The "E"
In this lesson, we’ll work on shifting our perception of a metronome so that we’re hearing each quarter-note pulse as the second 16th note, or “e,” of each beat. Benny Greb has talked about using this concept to help improve…
Do I Need an Attorney? Part 1: When to Expand Your Team
I was recently in a difficult situation with a business I was doing work for on a weekly basis. They owed me a considerable amount of money but had no intention of paying me for my services. After failing to convince…
Rock 'N' Jazz Clinic - Groove Construction
Ghost notes are an excellent way to expand your dynamic range. In this lesson, we’ll focus on dynamics and technique while working on ghost notes by using an ostinato approach. TO READ THE FULL STORY: SUBSCRIBE TO ACCESS LOG IN
Around The World - African Pop Meets American Funk
Popular African pop rhythms from the past twenty to thirty years are starting to appear in American funk music. In this article we’ll explore the triplet-based African rhythm mangambe, which we’ll apply to a funk setting. TO READ THE FULL…
Rock Perspectives - Groove Contraction
Groove contraction can create rhythmic tension and release. Similar to how, with implied metric modulation, we can use new subdivisions to trick listeners into feeling like the quarter-note pulse has shifted, we can use the concept of contraction to make…
Concepts - Playing From The Inside Out
This month I’d like to discuss one of the biggest issues I see with young drummers: the loose and questionable sound of unintentional ideas. This usually happens during fills and solos, but it sometimes exists during grooves as well. Many…
Jazz Drummer's Workshop - Five-Note Patterns
We discussed Tony Williams’ use of five-note ride patterns in the February 2015 issue of Modern Drummer. In this lesson we’ll analyze approaches that Max Roach and Bill Stewart have used to utilize five-note groupings around the drumset, and we’ll…
Bebop Syncopation - Part 1: Max Roach and Art Blakey
Ted Reed’s Progressive Steps to Syncopation for the Modern Drummer is considered a timeless book by many leading drummers and educators. One page alone can inspire a lifetime’s worth of practice material. In this series of articles we’ll explore new…
