Practicing unison exercises is an excellent way to determine the accuracy and precision of your four limbs as they function together. Like links in a steel chain, the sturdiness of your groove depends on the strength of your weakest limb. Working on exercises like the ones contained in this column can help alleviate very common tendencies, such as unintentional flams between the limbs. In order to play accurate unisons, each limb should move with a natural, flowing motion and from a consistent stroke height. To analyze the motion of your limbs, try placing a mirror to the left of your drumset so that you can clearly see how your hands and feet are interacting with one another. Practice these exercises with a metronome or drum machine so that you can focus on keeping your timing, while also making sure the stroke velocity remains consistent from measure to measure. The goal […]

December 2014 Issue