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.
Three-Against-Four Polyrhythm
These exercises will guide you through a fusion of African and American elements. On the American side, we have shuffle and shuffle-funk. On the African side, we have the rhythms from Cameroon known as mangambe and bikutsi. Playing these exercises…
Balancing Grunt Work and Creativity
This is a follow up to the March 2021 article I did for MD entitled “Practice Like a Pro.” (You can find it at moderndrummer.com.) In that piece, I shared techniques that can be used to effectively learn songs. Muscle…
Six-Way Independence
In my “Six-Way Independence” master class on Drum Channel, I wanted to give my students the opportunity to learn the way I learned, and how I came up with my concepts. I started thinking about all of the combinations I…
Syncopated Fills
This month, we’ll explore another type of drum fill—one that incorporates syncopation. Syncopation is displacing the regular metric accent and emphasizing the weak beat. In this context, that means resting on the downbeat. With one or more of the strong…
ProMark, Low Boy Custom Beaters and Vic Firth
ProMark Carter McLean Signature Drumsticks This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is June2021_Gear_NewGear_ProMark-181x1024.jpg The Carter McLean signature stick is made from hickory with a custom wood tip. It measures .571” in diameter and 16 1/8” in…
Syndrum, January 1978
It started out with baseball bats. Well, actually, the whole thing was inspired by session drummer Joe Pollard’s frustration over hitting his drums with “sticks the size of baseball bats” to combat the colossal volume levels unleashed by amped-up, wattage-crazed…
The Modern Drummer Product Guide
11 Snare Drums You Must Try There are drummers who remain loyal to one brand or configuration of snare drum throughout their careers. But there are also players such as Todd Sucherman, who has walls of shelving packed ever-so-neatly with…
The Frankie Banali Collection
In the early 2000s, I received a call regarding some Elvin Jones items I was selling. It was quickly apparent the person I was speaking to had studied Elvin’s playing intensely and had been deeply influenced by him. Our conversation…
Dream Cymbals – Dark Matter Bliss and Vintage Bliss
Canadian company Dream introduced the drumming world to its dry, raw, twice-torched Dark Matter cymbals in 2010, and they’ve remained top-sellers ever since. Meanwhile, the Bliss series—one of Dream’s original lines—continues to motor on, providing players with warm, dark, and…
Gruv Gear – VELOC Drum Transport
Gruv Gear is a lifestyle-accessories brand that provides musicians with thoughtful and innovative products that help keep things organized, efficient, and stylish. We reviewed the company’s stick and accessory bags in the November 2020 issue, and we were blown away…
Roland – VAD306 Compact Electronic Drumset
This past year, Roland unveiled the new VAD (V-Drums Acoustic Design) series. These innovative drums provide a familiar acoustic drumset look and playing experience, but with all the technological advantages of their electronic mod-ules, mesh pads, and rubber cymbals. We…
Hearts, Minds, and Eyeballs
Three Drummers Reveal Their Paths to Social Stardom It’s no secret that the new normal for developing a music career—or almost any business for that matter—is being discovered via an online video that goes viral. Of course, generating massive audience…
Sandy Ficca
Igniting Firefall for 36 Years It’s a blisterin’, burnin’, and blazin’ hot day in the summer of 1970, and 18-year-old Sandy Ficca is more than a little nervous. In fact, he’s flat-out scared. Running one hand through his shoulder-length hair…
