Rock 'n' Jazz Clinic
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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: LOG IN Digital Access $4.99 /month or $49.99 /year SAVE 15% Digital Monthly Magazine…
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: LOG IN Digital Access $4.99 /month or $49.99 /year SAVE 15% Digital Monthly Magazine…
“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. TO READ THE FULL STORY: LOG IN Digital Access $4.99 /month or $49.99 /year SAVE 15% Digital Monthly…
Hand and Foot Rolls
Creative Combinations for Fills 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. Be sure to check out the QR codes throughout this lesson for…
The 5/4 Half-Time Shuffle
A Perennial Groove with an Enlightened Perception For those of you who’ve never heard the coveted half-time shuffle, which is also commonly referred to as the Purdie shuffle, I’d encourage you to check out the timeless tracks “Babylon Sisters” and…
Superimposing 4/4 Ideas Over 3/4
Because we play the drumset with four limbs, we can present more than one feel or time signature at once. TO READ THE FULL STORY: LOG IN Digital Access $4.99 /month or $49.99 /year SAVE 15% Digital Monthly Magazine 47…
Moving Around the Kit
Utilizing Clockwise and Counterclockwise Motions in Fills In this workshop, we’ll explore moving fills around the kit easily in two directions: clockwise and counterclockwise. Most right-handed drummers orchestrate fills in a clockwise direction. For example, they may start a fill…
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. TO READ THE FULL STORY: LOG IN Digital Access $4.99 /month or $49.99 /year…
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: LOG IN Digital Access $4.99 /month or $49.99 /year SAVE 15% Digital Monthly Magazine 47 Years of Archives (500+…
Playing Around With Time
One aspect of drumming that I enjoy very much is playing around with time. I can remember listening to some amazing lick or passage, and being completely baffled by what I heard. Almost instinctively, I would rush to the turntable…
Beat Shifting
The rhythmic potential of a beat is not exhausted once it is mastered in its original written form. By employing a technique, which one might call “beat shifting,” any beat can be transformed into interesting variations that are similar to…
Balance
One of the most important aspects of playing the drumset, and one that is often neglected by many players, is that of balance. Too many times rock drummers play with no bottom (i.e., too much cymbal volume, and too little…
The Shuffle
One might be hard pressed to find anything more musically exciting than a good drummer setting fire to a band by laying down a strong, straight-ahead shuffle beat. The shuffle is a very dynamic rhythmic feel. It has been used…
Artificial Groupings For Fills
In the July, 1984 MD, in the Ask A Pro column, a reader asked Steve Smith about a fill Steve played on the Journey song “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart).” The notation looked like this: Now, if you were like many…
