Strictly Technique
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.
Endurance Exercises
Balance Your Left and Right Hands! The purpose of this exercise is to strengthen each hand individually in order to achieve a balance between the two. For the right-handed drummer, the left hand is the weaker hand, and vice versa.…
Paradiddle Combinations
We’re taking a little trip into the past to revisit a fantastic paradiddle lesson from Joe Morello’s essential book, Master Studies II . The following exercises are great for developing control. Practice each one slowly at first, and remain relaxed…
Table of Time
This month’s Strictly Technique column features an excerpt from legendary jazz drummer/educator Joe Morello’s classic book Master Studies, called “Table of Time.” This exercise will help your development of the single-stroke roll, and also help you develop the ability to…
Coordinating the Body
Exercises for Better Alignment In this lesson we’ll explore exercises that can be utilized to strengthen the alignment of your limbs. Although these ideas are designed to help alignment between the hands and feet, they also challenge subdivision accuracy, consistency…
Stick Technique Revisited
Part 5: The Moeller Whip Stroke The Moeller whip stroke is named after Sanford “Gus” Moeller, a famous teacher from the early 1900s who became known for teaching a whipping motion used by Civil War drummers. In recent years, “Moeller”…
Stick Technique Revisited
Part 4: Alley-Oop The alley-oop technique is what I call a wrist/finger combination used for playing double strokes (diddles) and triple strokes. While it can be likened to the push/pull technique, which is a wrist stroke followed by a finger…
Stick Technique Revisited
Part 3: Downstrokes, Taps, and Upstrokes If we used only free strokes, our playing would become pretty dull, since every note would be played at the same stick height and dynamic level. In order to add accents and dynamic contour…
Stick Technique Revisited
Part 2: The Free Stroke The free stroke, which is also commonly referred to as the full stroke, rebound stroke, or legato stroke, is the most important technique you should learn, as it’s the foundation for almost every other stroke…
Stick Technique Revisited
Part 1: Matched Grip Matched grip simply means that the hands hold the sticks in a mirror image of one another. There are important variations within matched grip, however, both in terms of the hand angles and fulcrums (pivot points)…
Technique Vs. Musicality Remove Yourself and Let Nature Guide You
A lot of drummers like to pit technique and musicality against each other as if they’re polar opposites. But they’re actually very closely related. TO READ THE FULL STORY: SUBSCRIBE TO ACCESS LOG IN
The Ancient European Rudimental Codex
Welcome to the Rudimental Codex, an alternative collection of rudiments that focuses specifically on the ancient European legacy of rudimental drumming.
Inverted Paradiddle-Diddles
Rudiments can essentially be described as groupings of single and double strokes in different configurations and rhythms.
Inverted Double Strokes
In this lesson, we’ll focus on double-stroke rolls and invert them to create interesting fills and grooves.
Developing The Weak Hand
One of the most confidence-shattering problems facing any drummer is the realization that one hand just doesn't work right.
