Rock 'n' Jazz Clinic

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.

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Groove Freedom Part 1: One-, Two-, and Three-Note Permutations

Welcome to the first of three articles based on my new book, Groove Freedom. I wrote the book for my own practice after realizing how limited I was in certain grooves—in other words, how little “freedom” I had. Playing a…

by Mike Johnston
Feb 14, 2018

Open-Handed Playing

Discovering Rhythms Inside the Paradiddle Besides being one of the most popular rudiments, the single paradiddle is a good example to illustrate the overlap between linear and rudimental drumming, and it’s great for working on an open-handed approach (right hand…

by Claus Hessler
Feb 9, 2018

A 5-Step Workout for Building Coordination Over a Pulse

Complete independence is something that we all strive for, but it can be very confusing and frustrating to practice. This workout/challenge will focus on what I would consider to be “practical independence.” In other words, it’s designed to build the…

by Mike Johnston
Feb 5, 2018

Give The Audience Some

Grounding Odd-Time Grooves With a Quarter-Note Pulse Playing songs in odd times can be challenging to you as a drummer, but one thing that doesn’t get much attention is how tough odd times can be on the audience. It’s called…

Modern Drummer
Feb 1, 2018

Flamacue Variations

26 Ways to Apply the Standard Rudiment to the Drumset In this article we’ll take the flamacue rudiment and apply it to the drumset. Let’s start by playing the flamacue on the snare. Now play it in 3/4. Notice that…

by Powell Randolph
Jan 30, 2018
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Rediscovering Rudiments

Simple Ways to Progress Beyond the Snare Regardless of your desire as a drummer, whether it’s to play blistering solos or tasteful grooves, studying the rudiments will do much to help you take your craft to the next level. In…

by Miguel Monroy
Jan 24, 2018

Two-Limb Patterns

Grooving Over Linear Ostinatos

by Joel Popelsky
Dec 28, 2017

Comparisons

There is an ancient Chinese curse that says “May your children live in ‘interesting’ times”—meaning, I suppose, a period of calamity and conflict. That also implies that if you grew up in a dull era, it was also a safe…

by Jim Chapin
Dec 12, 2017

Hi-Hat Accents - Adding Melody to Your Grooves

In this lesson we’ll embellish 16th-note grooves with hi-hat accents. In Exercises 1–4, accents are placed on the main hi-hat in the first measure, and in the second measure the right-handed accents are moved to the ride or an auxiliary…

Article by Powell Randolph | Photo by Ken Howie
Nov 30, 2017

Grooving With Fives

A Progressive Approach to Phrasing Quintuplets on the Drumkit   Sixteenth-note quintuplets are five notes played per quarter note. The simplest way to count them in 4/4 is, “ONE, two, three, four, five; TWO, two, three, four, five; THREE, two,…

by Mike McPhee
Nov 1, 2017

Fill Displacements

Deepen Your Vocabulary

by Dave DiCenso
Oct 31, 2017

Latin Rhythms in Pop Music

Part 1: Bossa Nova and Samba   I often meet drummers who just aren’t interested in studying Latin rhythms. I’ve heard the same thing many times: “I’m never going to play a samba, mambo, songo, or 6/8 groove, so why…

by Chuck Silverman
Oct 30, 2017
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Further Beyond the Barline

2/4 Hemiolas in ¾ and 6/8 Welcome to my second article discussing an approach to improvisation that will allow you to play longer and more interesting solo phrases in a variety of styles. As in the first part, which appeared…

by Germán Baratto
Oct 24, 2017

Don't Disturb The Groove!

Part 3: Combination Patterns In this third installment we’ll combine the two techniques that we’ve been working on: broken doubles and hi-hat substitutions. Some of the grooves incorporate the entire drumset rather than only the bass drum, snare, and hi-hat.…

by Tobias Ralph
Oct 20, 2017
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