Rock 'n' Jazz Clinic Archives - Modern Drummer Magazine

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.

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…

Jun 3, 2020

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…

by Damon Grant and Marcos Torres
Feb 28, 2020

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…

by Dylan Wissing
Dec 27, 2019

“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…

by Dylan Wissing
Oct 29, 2019

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…

by Jost Nickel
Sep 30, 2019

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…

by Daniel Bédard
Aug 26, 2019

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…

by Ted Warren
Jul 31, 2019

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…

by Jost Nickel
Apr 30, 2019

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…

by Jayson Brinkworth
Feb 27, 2019

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+…

by Chuck Kerrigan
Feb 5, 2019

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…

by Rod Morgenstein
Dec 12, 2018

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…

by Howard Fields
Nov 8, 2018

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…

by Chuck Kerrigan
Oct 22, 2018

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…

by Randy Martin
Oct 11, 2018

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…

by James Morton
Sep 20, 2018