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.
Hüsker Dü's Grant Hart
In the mid-’80s, Hüsker Dü fused hardcore punk with bittersweet pop, setting the table for an entire generation of angst-ridden alterna-rockers. TO READ THE FULL STORY: SUBSCRIBE TO ACCESS LOG IN
Dennis Chambers: Multidimensional Rhythmic Warrior
By merging elements of funk, fusion, R&B, and jazz into a daunting style that rides magically on a carpet of stunning power and technical exhilaration, Dennis Chambers has become one of the most important and influential drummers of the post-fusion…
Memorizing Tempos
Tips for Finding Your Own Reference Points That seat we sit on is affectionately called a throne. This signifies to me that we are kings—or queens—of our domain. As such, we are in a position of power and honor. This…
A Look at Hybrid Rudiments
The Hairta and Its Application on the Drumset Hybrid rudiments are permutations, mixtures, or combinations of the classic forty rudiments established by the Percussive Arts Society. In this article we’ll take a look at how one of the more widely…
Sticking the Beat
A Four-Step Process to Discovering New Grooves In this article I’ll show you how sticking patterns can be applied to the drumset to create various grooves. Each groove is built from the ground up, progressing through four easy-to-understand steps. The…
Gregg Bissonette
Sure, he can floor you with chops. And his lightning-fast ability to understand and play exactly what the song needs is legendary. TO READ THE FULL STORY: SUBSCRIBE TO ACCESS LOG IN
Dan Weiss
Oh, he knows his jazz history, and his rock as well. But by immersing himself in concepts far afield of traditional Western drumset approaches, TO READ THE FULL STORY: SUBSCRIBE TO ACCESS LOG IN
Omar Tavarez
Miami is the quintessential melting-pot city, where no one blinks when a country-hip-hop ditty like Pitbull’s “Timber” tops the charts. TO READ THE FULL STORY: SUBSCRIBE TO ACCESS LOG IN
Aric Improta
It’s all in the work. When Night Verses’ firebrand isn’t touring the world, he and his bandmates are holed away for hours and hours, refining, improving, TO READ THE FULL STORY: SUBSCRIBE TO ACCESS LOG IN
Consecutive Flams Part 1: Spaced Out
This month we’re going to kick off a challenging three-part series on flams. All of these exercises will consist of single flams followed by sets of two, three, and four flams. Then we’ll reverse the order to end up back…
All Together Now! Focus on Unison Exercises
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.…
The Paradiddle Polyrhythm Pyramid
Sharpen Your Rhythmic Awareness and Control The following exercise was going to be called the Paradiddle Polyrhythm Rudiment, but I felt that it was too long to be just one rudiment. Instead, it makes for a formidable polyrhythm exercise in…
The Journey of Self-Discovery
Thoughts on Developing Your Own Musical Voice One of the things I mentioned in last month’s column was how I feel there are way too many drummers who sound alike in the field today. Of course, this is…
Frankie Dunlop
Francis “Frankie” Dunlop, a great jazz drummer of precision, sensitivity, inventiveness, and deep swing, passed away this past July at age eighty-five, after a long struggle with illness. Born December 6, 1928, into a musical family, Dunlop possessed determination that…
