Bill Bachman
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.
Stick Technique Revisited
Many drum instructors say, “Play naturally.” The problem with that statement is that we naturally hold on to things tightly. Have you ever seen someone pick up a drumstick for the first time and play smooth rebounding strokes? Great technique…
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…
Bill Bachman
Bill Bachman is a world-renowned educator with twenty-five... 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…
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: LOG IN Digital Access $4.99 /month or $49.99 /year SAVE 15%…
Eights And Sixes
We’re going to build upon the Eights and Sixes exercise that I introduced in Part 1 of this series by adding double strokes and rimshots into the routine. TO READ THE FULL STORY: LOG IN Digital Access $4.99 /month or…
Velocity and Energy Shifters
In this lesson, we’re going to combine flowing free-stroke 8th-note and paradiddle combinations using three different note rates. Along with developing the skills necessary to shift note rates accurately from one subdivision to the next, these exercises will also help…
Flowing Diddles, Triple Strokes, and Paradiddles
These three exercises focus on transitioning into diddles, triple strokes, and paradiddles without changing the hand motions. We’ll use flowing free strokes to go into these rudiments, and we’ll strive to maintain a relaxed and rebounding stroke on the first…
Strictly Technique - Consecutive Flams
In part two of this series, we’re going to take out the taps between the flams so that the flams are adjacent. When you do that, the challenge becomes playing the consecutive flams with consistent grace-note placement and sound quality.…
Strictly Technique - Consecutive Flams part 3: Inverted Motion
In the third installment of this series, we’re going to modify the exercise by removing one tap from the transitions. Instead of using a flam accent to shift from one hand to the next, we’ll use an inverted flam tap.…
Pataflafla Builder - Exercises for Developing a Challenging Yet Musical Rudiment
One of the most beneficial of the forty PAS rudiments is the pataflafla. It’s one of the few where each hand plays a totally different part. The leading hand uses what I call the Moeller whip-and-stop technique, and the secondary…
Dynamics Mechanics - Loud, Soft, and Everything in Between
Strictly Technique Dynamics Mechanics Loud, Soft, and Everything in Between by Bill Bachman I believe that a drummer should be able to pick up sticks and make music on any sound source. The two biggest keys to doing this are…
