Rock 'n' Jazz Clinic
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.
The Bass Drum Owners Manual: Groove Etude and Hi-hat Substitutions
This month Modern Drummer will continue to include excerpts from Michael Packer’s essential book on bass drum control and technique The Bass Drum Owners Manual: Applying the Moeller Technique to the Bass Drum. As you have seen in previous months,…
The Bass Drum Owners Manual: Applying the Ankle, Leg, and Down Stroke to Consecutive Doubles and Grooves with Triplets
In past month’s we have detailed Michael Packer’s techniques of ankle, leg, and down strokes with the hi-hat and the bass drum feet. This month we will look at the applications of these strokes to playing consecutive doubles and…
Displaced Paradiddles
A Progressive, Grid-Based Approach to Developing Modern Licks from an Ancient Rudiment One of the most common ways to practice displacing rhythms so that they start on different partials of the beat is by applying them to the grid, which…
Percussion Playing for Drummers
As a working drummer, it’s likely that you’re going to be asked to play some hand percussion instruments at some point. TO READ THE FULL STORY: SUBSCRIBE TO ACCESS LOG IN
The Power of Silence
As drummers, we spend so much time developing technique, expanding our musical vocabulary, and obsessing over the components of our drumset. TO READ THE FULL STORY: SUBSCRIBE TO ACCESS LOG IN
“Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover”
In this lesson, we’re going to take a look at some ways to incorporate Ralph MacDonald’s tambourine part into that same groove.
Hand and Foot Rolls
This workshop is dedicated to what I refer to as hand and foot rolls, a particularly powerful and interesting way to orchestrate single-stroke rolls.
The 5/4 Half-Time Shuffle
For those of you who’ve never heard the coveted half-time shuffle, which is also commonly referred to as the Purdie shuffle,...
Moving Around the Kit
In this workshop, we’ll explore moving fills around the kit easily in two directions: clockwise and counterclockwise.
Five-A-Diddles
Throughout their careers, great drummers such as Zigaboo Modeliste, David Garibaldi, and Dave Weckl have opened our imaginations to the possibilities of paradiddles and their inversions.
Funk In Five
In this article, we will develop some funk patterns based on the following left-foot hi-hat pattern. TO READ THE FULL STORY: SUBSCRIBE TO ACCESS LOG IN
Playing Around With Time
One aspect of drumming that I enjoy very much is playing around with time.
Beat Shifting
The rhythmic potential of a beat is not exhausted once it is mastered in its original written form.
