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.
Make A Statement!
Concepts for Drumset Improvisation Improvisation is at the core of every great jazz performance, and as we mature as musicians we become more confident in expressing ourselves on our instrument. The rhythmic or melodic concepts that we play illustrate a…
Snare Drum Studies
Lessons In Counting and Stretching Rhythm For drummers, the rudiments are often likened to scales for other instrumentalists, but we have scales too. These “rhythm scales” give us access to new percussive “notes” like the quintuplet. The results we get…
Popular Play-Alongs
Part 3: Synth Medal In the last two play-along articles, we worked on the proper performance technique, groove vocabulary, and sounds of contemporary pop/R&B and punk-pop— two styles of music that you’ll likely be asked to play as a working…
Inner Drumming
Listening With All Four Limbs, Part 4 If this is the first time you’re reading about Inner Drumming, the diagrams in this article may seem unusual. But rest assured that if you spend a few minutes with them, you’ll begin…
Eli Keszler
The multidisciplinary artist has dedicated much of his career to exploring the solo drumset’s expressionistic capabilities. That pursuit has led him to the fringes of the visual art and music scenes. But it’s also helped him discover venues where he…
Dennis Bryon
You’ve listened to his grooves a thousand times—perhaps even more than those of some of the drummers on your own personal top-ten list. But you might not have known his name, or his backstory, before now. Drummer, educator, and writer…
John Blackwell Jr.
A tribute to the longtime Prince drummer, who left us far too early. TO READ THE FULL STORY: SUBSCRIBE TO ACCESS LOG IN
12 Heartland Prog Albums
Once the original progressive British bands, like Jethro Tull, ELP, and Genesis, blew open the gates of rhythmic delirium, a crop of wild-eyed Americans charged through with some daring ideas of their own. TO READ THE FULL STORY: SUBSCRIBE TO…
Flowing Diddles, Triple Strokes, and Paradiddles
Essential Motions for Smoother Transitions
Rhythmic Conversions - Part 5: Brazilian Grooves and the Half-Note Triplet
In this lesson we’ll superimpose a new tempo over an existing pulse using a half-note-triplet subdivision. We’ll then manipulate the subdivision to create Brazilian grooves in the new tempo. I recommend that you practice these patterns with a metronome and…
The Circuit - An Ambidextrous Routine for Ultimate Control
This month we’ll check out a challenging coordination study. The goal of this routine is to become comfortable playing any pattern leading with either side of the body. TO READ THE FULL STORY: SUBSCRIBE TO ACCESS LOG IN
Drum Design Knowledge, Part 2: Shell Types and Thicknesses
Last month we discussed hoops. This time we’re discussing the thickness of the shell and what you can expect sonically from the various designs. Drum shells have been made in different thicknesses over the years, from a single half-inch piece…
