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 Drummer as Entertainer
It doesn’t seem fair. The band is having a hot night. The singer is wailing, guitars are screaming, keyboards are thumping, and you and the bass player are locked in tight. Everything is falling into the pocket. But you look…
Kenny Malone
August 4, 1938 – August 26, 2021 When it came to the artistry of drums, musicality, creativity, and imagination on a session or a gig, Kenny Malone offered up his soul every time he touched the drums. When he spoke…
16th-Note-Triplet Hand and Foot Patterns
Excepted from Building Bass Drum Technique The patterns on the following four pages are built around hand and foot coordination with 16th-note triplets. The exercises become increasingly difficult as you work your way through. A slower tempo at the onset…
Rock Pattern Exercises
Excepted from Rudiments to Rock Carmine Appice designed Rudiments to Rock specifically to provide beginning drum students with fresh ideas and procedures. Through the book’s exercises and explanations, Appice takes novice percussionists from basic fundamentals to the more difficult, modern…
ROC Drums May 1986
Many years ago, a friend of mine told me these crazy awesome Stratocaster clones were being sold out of a storefront on Dorman Avenue in San Francisco. We decided to investigate, and a man who looked more like a teenager…
Authentic Latin Rhythms
Listening implants music in a person at a very early age. Listening is accepting all different genres of music—from ethnic to jazz, rock, classical, Latin, African, and everything else. This is when we really begin to understand the different essences…
Drum Show Roundup
Modern Drummer Revisits Two Pandemic-Era Drum Extravaganzas The past 20 or so months have devastated music tours, trade shows, club gigs, and just about any large gathering of humanity. The number of events cancelled or postponed during the global pandemic…
Donn Bennett’s Drum Vault
Logo Heads Several years ago, I made the decision to begin selling off my drum collection. I’d spent decades amassing one of the most extensive collections of rare and vintage drums in the world. One of the biggest factors leading…
Cool Percussion Goodies
Just as guitar players always seem to be on the lookout for new pedals, percussionists appear to be forever seeking unique things they can add to their armory of stuff to shake, hit, and slap. Many of the products profiled…
PDP
Concept Select Series Snare Drums PDP’s new Concept Select Series is a collection of three beautiful metallic snare drums designed with DW Drums in California. PDP obviously sought to up its game with these metal glories, and, as a result,…
Mapex
Saturn Four-Piece Rock Shell Pack Resonance appears to be an essential element of almost every component of the Saturn SR529XU Rock architecture. With a focus on warm and robust tones, these drums sound explosive and articulate in every application—whether that’s…
NEW GEAR - September 2021
64 Audio U6t Universal In-Ear Monitor Drummers who are done with that wedge blasting away at them a few feet from their drum throne, but don’t want to expend the time and expense to order custom in-ear monitors, should look…
Bernard Purdie
Excerpted from the November 1985 Cover Story Known as the “Father Time” of modern drumming, Bernard “Pretty” Purdie has drummed up an almost unbeatable record of more than 3,000 album credits—many of them smash hits. He has cut across all…
Russ Miller
Building an Empire One Brick at a Time Russ Miller is known throughout the music industry as a go-to session musician, top-level music creator, in-demand educator, and an incredibly successful businessperson. He has spent his nearly 40 years as a…