Mike Johnston Archives - Modern Drummer Magazine

Mike Johnston

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.

Mike Johnston

MD contributor Lia Braswell catches up with her old friend... 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…

Modern Drummer
Aug 1, 2020

The 45-Minute Practice Routine

Get Organized to Optimize Your Time Behind the Kit When I sit back and think about the thousands of questions I’ve been asked by students in my eighteen-year career as a drum teacher and clinician, I would have to say…

by Mike Johnston
Jan 24, 2018

Odd Groupings Over Samba with Mike Johnston

What do you do when you have two things in the refrigerator or pantry that taste awesome by themselves? You put them together! You start simple, combining things like peanut butter and jelly, eggs and bacon, milk and cereal. Then…

Mike Johnston
Feb 23, 2017

Grooving in Form with Mike Johnston

Rock ‘N’ Jazz Clinic Grooving in Form Part 1: AABA Beats by Mike Johnstonb One of the first things you learn when you begin to play in bands is song form, and one of the most popular forms is AABA.…

Modern Drummer
Feb 23, 2017

Grooving in Form: AABC with Mike Johnston

Rock ‘N’ Jazz Clinic Grooving in Form AABC by Mike Johnston In our previous lesson (July 2015), we learned how to use the simple song form AABA to create some hip triplet-based grooves. This month we’re going to push the…

Modern Drummer
Feb 23, 2017

The Flexible Five - Exploring the Five-Stroke Roll on the Drumset

Rock ‘N’ Jazz Clinic The Flexible Five Exploring the Five-Stroke Roll on the Drumset by Mike Johnston One of the most common questions I get from students is about applying rudiments on the kit. They want to know how to…

Modern Drummer
Feb 23, 2017

Bass Drum Development - 4 Focused Exercises for Building Raw Speed

One of the most common questions I get asked in clinics is, “How did you develop your foot speed?” And that is often followed by, “What pedal do you use?” I can promise you this: Bass drum speed has almost…

Mike Johnston
Feb 23, 2017

Raw Speed Bass Drum Workout with Mike Johnston

This bass drum workout is all about developing your raw speed. Raw speed is very different from pattern speed. Pattern speed requires your brain to keep track of a specific sequence of rights, lefts, and kicks, and you have to…

Mike Johnston
Feb 23, 2017

World Groove Independence Mash-Up

When I began writing my latest book, Groove Freedom, the goal was to gain flexibility both within my students’ grooves and my own. As I practiced the book’s systems, I realized they helped with independence as well as with groove.…

Modern Drummer
Nov 18, 2015