Lessons
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.
Accent Options
Drum Channel and I would like to share something with you that I created called accent options. This is a warmup or rudimental exercise that I like to use. You can take any rudiment that has an accent and apply…
Up-Tempo Jazz Ride Playing
I use a kind of circular motion to achieve my desired sound, as was taught to me by Sam Woodyard. The quarter note is being accented slightly, yet consistently, creating a driving and danceable feel. Digging in is what we…
“How To Get What You Want” Breakdown
We were in the studio one day trying to get different drum sounds and I was playing this minimalistic beat to hear what was going on in the recording. When we were listening back to it, I said, ‘We should…
Taylor Hawkins In His Own Words…
I wasn’t good at sports and I was having a hard time finding girlfriends. It was 1982. I was ten years old, and just getting into the music of the day, new wave, the Police, and stuff. My older brother…
Transcriptions:
“Salute to Kareem,” Mother’s Milk; “Suck my Kiss,” Blood Sugar Sex Magik; “Breaking the Girl,” Blood Sugar Sex Magik;“Readymade,” Stadium Arcadium; “Dark Necessities,” The Getaway; In this month’s cover story and interview Chad Smith talks about R&B and funk drumming,…
Breaking Down “Lightning in a Bottle”
When I start the Summer Set’s “Lightning in a Bottle,” I like using the rim. In the recording, it sounds like there’s a hi-hat, but when I play it live, I change it up. I like to add ghost notes…
Play “Sole Survivor” by Asia
“Sole Survivor”—from Asia, 1982—was one of the first pieces of music Asia recorded. The drum part is quite interesting because it has various sections where bars of 4/4 go into bars of 3/4 and 2/4. Normally, the music with Asia…
Kenny Aronoff
Excerpted from Modern Drummer Legends Vol. 5: Kenny Aronoff “Paper in Fire” John Cougar Mellencamp, The Lonesome Jubilee I always tried to come up with new innovative and creative drum parts for all of John’s songs. After the success of…
Downstrokes For Young Marching Drummers
Adding Contrast to Your Accent Patterns With drum corps and winter-percussion audition season upon us, I wanted to bring light to a concept that comes up fairly often. In my 20 years of teaching high school and college marching ensembles,…
Danny Seraphine
“Introduction”Chicago Transit Authority, 1969 “This was a powerful musical statement written by Terry Kath that set the tone for our band’s first album,” says Seraphine. “The song was inspired by the Don Ellis Big Band recording called ‘Autumn,’ which we…
Keeping Time and Creating Fills Around the Kit
Time is what we are about as drummers. If it weren’t for time, there would be no drummers. We are communicators. We use time to create grooves and melodies. Everybody has different time. I could preach about time for a…
Creating Hooks
How should drums fit into a song, and how can you make the drums become another hook within a song? When you think about the word “hook,” it’s something you get hooked on that you want to have over and…
Six Standout Grooves from Dookie
Tré Cool’s Explosive Drumming One day back in 1994, I went to the music store to pick up this album hilariously titled Dookie. I went home as fast as I could, put it in my CD player, and my life…
What Was That?
Five Genius Charlie Watts Fills You hardly ever see “Charlie Watts” and “Drum Fills” in the same sentence. Discussions around him usually involve his groove, his feel, and the way he never plays his hi-hat with his backbeat. Rightfully so—as…
