Aaron Edgar
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.
Gene Hoglan
The Man, the Machine, the Atomic Clock Gene Hoglan has been raising the bar in extreme metal drumming for decades. The list of iconic metal bands he’s played with is ridiculous: Death, Strapping Young Lad, Testament, Dark Angel, Old Man’s…
The Path to Polyrhythmic Proficiency
Building Grooves That Train You to Hear Two Things at Once The main challenge with any polyrhythm is being able to hear and feel it as it relates to the pulse. The best way to attack this challenge is by…
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…
Neil Peart
“La Villa Strangiato” from Hemispheres We transcribed a ton of classic Neil Peart parts in our May 2020 tribute issue to Rush’s legendary drummer. One song we left out, however, was the instrumental tour de force “La Villa Strangiato” from…
Dirk Verbeuren
An In-Depth Look at Extreme Metal’s Master Blaster. 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…
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…
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…
