Rock Perspectives
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.
Beat Displacements
Exercises for Internalizing 16th-Note Permutations Displacement is a beat-editing tool that can make a groove sound glitchy. This is achieved by shifting the groove in such a way that what was originally played on beat 1 is now landing somewhere…
Odd Groupings on the Offbeats
Alternative Rhythmic Placements for More Adventurous Options If you’ve been working through my articles over the past few years, you’ve been exposed to a good number of odd subdivisions, particularly quintuplets. We almost exclusively start those advanced rhythms on the…
Rhythmic Emotion -A Masterclass in Applying Tension-and-Release to Your Drumming
A Masterclass in Applying Tension-and-Release to Your Drumming TO READ THE FULL STORY: LOG IN Digital Access $4.99 /month or $49.99 /year SAVE 15% Digital Monthly Magazine 47 Years of Archives (500+ Issues) 40+ Drum Channel Subscribe Now All Access…
Metric Modulation
What’s commonly called “implied metric modulation” refers to the auditory illusion that takes place when you apply patterns typically played in one subdivision within another subdivision. TO READ THE FULL STORY: LOG IN Digital Access $4.99 /month or $49.99 /year…
Rhythmic Design with Your Eyes
We’ve all felt stuck in a creative rut at one time or another. TO READ THE FULL STORY: LOG IN Digital Access $4.99 /month or $49.99 /year SAVE 15% Digital Monthly Magazine 47 Years of Archives (500+ Issues) 40+ Drum…
Rhythmic Problem Solving
A Systematic Approach to Odd Subdivisions Gary Chester’s classic book, The New Breed, contains thirty-nine “systems,” which are essentially grooves that you play with two or three limbs while the remaining voices work through a series of reading material. This…
A New Perspective on Polyrhythms, Part 2
The easiest way to create a five-over-two polyrhythm, or five equally spaced notes over two beats, is to play quintuplet single strokes across two different surfaces. TO READ THE FULL STORY: LOG IN Digital Access $4.99 /month or $49.99 /year…
A New Perspective on Polyrhythms, Part 1
Two-over-Five Variations The easiest way to think about a two-over-five polyrhythm is that you have two equally spaced notes across five beats. If we use 5/4 as a foundation, the quarter note naturally implies our layer of five. To play…
Septuplet Linear Patterns
Further Exploring the Classic Concept in Odd Groupings Last month we explored a vast array of linear quintuplet patterns. The most fun thing about linear concepts is that almost any pattern you play can be modified in multiple ways. For…
Quintuplet Linear Patterns
Adding Some Funk to Odd Groupings TO READ THE FULL STORY: LOG IN Digital Access $4.99 /month or $49.99 /year SAVE 15% Digital Monthly Magazine 47 Years of Archives (500+ Issues) 40+ Drum Channel Subscribe Now All Access (Print +…
The Hi-Hat Foot’s Voice
For a lot of drummers, though, the hi-hat foot can get neglected and might be the most difficult limb to work on. TO READ THE FULL STORY: LOG IN Digital Access $4.99 /month or $49.99 /year SAVE 15% Digital Monthly…
Mobile Madness
When I first started exploring odd rhythms while coming up, the tools available to help were virtually nonexistent. You had metronomes that were limited to quarter notes, 8ths, 16ths, and if you were lucky, triplets. TO READ THE FULL STORY:…
Glitched Beats
Diving Deep into Displacements Most of us seem to be listening to music digitally these days almost exclusively. And while streaming means never having to deal with a skipping record or CD anymore, those skips and glitches can provide a…
The Duality of 16th-Note Meters
Time signatures such as 15/16, 17/16, and 29/16 can bring out anxiety in drummers who aren’t familiar with them. The truth of the matter is that they’re only slightly different from quarter-or 8th-note meters, which are far more common. TO…
Music As A Game
In his book Effortless Mastery, jazz pianist, composer, and author Kenny Werner wrote, “Don’t forget: Music is something we just made up. It doesn’t actually exist as anything but a game for us.” TO READ THE FULL STORY: LOG IN…
