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.
Roy Owen Haynes 1925-2024
Roy Haynes was one of the most influential drummers ever. His identifiable sound, vocabulary, sense of swing, musicality, innovation, and unbridled creativity permeated every bandstand and recording that he graced with his magical drumming. To see Roy Haynes was always…
Jeff Kozol's UltramarineMapex Armory Set
This month’s Modern Drummer Kit of the Month comes to us from Jeff Kozol. His drums are made by Mapex, his cymbals are Zildjian, his sticks are Immortal Signature 5B/Ball Tip/17” with Venom Grip made by Scorpion, and he uses…
Brush Playing, Not Air Conditioning
Getting Started Brushes are generally associated with jazz drumming more than they are with other styles of music, but they can be played and used effectively in most any genre or category of rhythm section-based music. While the following column…
NEW PRODUCTS FROM PDP, DRUM WORKSHOP, SONICCOUTURE, AND SABIAN
New PDP MainStage Complete Drum Kit Pacific Drums and Percussion (PDP) is pleased to introduce the new PDP MainStage Complete Drum Kit. The MainStage is a five-piece drum kit with a three pack of Paiste 101 cymbals and a PDP complete…
Baldman Percussion Presents: The Junk Hat 2.0!
New Junk for Sound Junkies! Mike McKee and his partner in comedy (or rather, drumming!), Danny Young, are two bald headed working drummers and percussion builders based in Nashville, TN. They call themselves Baldman Percussion. Through trial and error, these…
Eloy Casagrande: From São Paulo to Slipknot
The Journey of a Drumming Phenomenon Stepping off the plane in Amsterdam, I could feel the excitement building. I was about to meet Eloy Casagrande the drumming powerhouse recently announced as Slipknot’s newest member. Known for his relentless precision, jaw-dropping…
Punk Rock Drumming Roundtable: NOFX’s Erik Sandin, Bad Religion’s Jamie Miller, and Authority Zero’s Chris Dalley
Punk Rock drumming has become an established drumming tradition, and it has deep roots that go way back. The opportunity to sit down with three of today’s most respected and popular punk rock drummers, was an opportunity that Modern Drummer…
The Gumbo Groove Herlin Riley: Playin’ the Street He’s On!
A few months ago, Modern Drummer started a series of feature interviews called the Gumbo Groove with Mark Griffith’s interview with Johnny Vidacovich. For this next part in the series, we feature a conversation between drummer and Professor of Percussion…
Don Grolnick's "Nothing Personal," from Michael Brecker S/T, Jack DeJohnette drums.
The first transcription of 2025 highlights the legendary Jack DeJohnette, taken from Michael Brecker’s debut solo album. The track, “Nothing Personal,” exemplifies DeJohnette’s status as one of the greatest jazz drummers of all time. Jack’s drumming is both innovative and…
Master Studies II: Warm-Up Exercises
As a follow-up to Joe Morello’s legendary Master Studies book, he released Master Studies II in 2006. Joe was a masterful teacher and helped many great drummers with their musicality, technique, and touch. He was also masterful at creating exercises,…
Have Fun Not Knowing…
Not knowing something hurts. Who actually wants to sound bad on the drums? When our identity gets wrapped up in our endeavours, missing the mark makes us feel worthless. This is because when going into new territory, we go through…
Encyclopedia of Double Bass Drumming: Seven Note Linear Cross Rhythms
In the new and revised edition of the Encyclopedia of Double Bass Drumming, Bobby Rondinelli includes nine new double bass drumming chapters. The new and expanded edition covers contemporary techniques such as bass drum double strokes, feet-only exercises, binary and…
Vocabulary Development Essentials Part 5 -Putting it All Together!
Welcome to the final installment of our “Vocabulary Development Essentials” series, where we’ve explored adding embellishments to hand and foot combinations to expand your rhythmic language. In this part, we focus on integrating all the embellishments you’ve learned into a…
Duet 18
Ron Spagnardi wrote a terrific book called Snare Drum Duets: 25 Duets for Two Snare Drummers. It offers a selection of 25 challenging duets that range in difficulty from relatively simple to more complex. A wide assortment of time signatures…
