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.
Drivers Seat: Tips From Butch Miles
A big band is many things. It can be top-heavy and cumbersome, or to quote a certain well-known world champion, it can float like a butterfly and sting like a bee. TO READ THE FULL STORY: SUBSCRIBE TO ACCESS LOG…
Drum Soloist: Max Roach Transcription And Analysis
Max Roach's artistic development in the late 40's and early 50's made it clear that an evolutionary change had occurred in jazz drumming. TO READ THE FULL STORY: SUBSCRIBE TO ACCESS LOG IN
Hang Chops: The Other Social Media
Your playing skills are the number-one asset in your drumming career. That’s a given. But your ability to “hang” is a not-too-distant number two. Maybe this is a good time to make sure you’re doing it right. TO READ THE…
Up & Coming - Anika Nilles
While some endlessly bemoan “YouTube drum culture,” players like this German upstart pay no mind. They’re just too busy, making the most of the medium and empowering the masses with fresh ideas. TO READ THE FULL STORY: SUBSCRIBE TO ACCESS…
Catching up with Terry Bozzio
Last summer, drumming innovator Terry Bozzio celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of his first drum lesson by performing his unique solo compositions on tour in North America and Japan. The sixty-four-years-young Bozzio, still on top of his game, attributes much of…
South Of The Border Brazilian Drumming: The Samba
The samba is a typical rhythm and dance of Brazil. It gained popularity in this country during the forties initially as a ballroom dance mostly through the famous Brazilian singer actress Carmen Miranda, who may be remembered as having the…
Progressive Independence: Rock Revisited
Fifteen years ago, the founder of Modern Drummer, Ron Spagnardi, published a book devoted to developing independence for rock and funk drumming. This book, Progressive Independence: Rock, has served as a great resource for me over the years, as both…
From The Past: Chick Webb
The story of Chick Webb is more than the story of a dynamic drummer of the swing era. It's the story of a gallant little man who overcame physical deformity, hardship and pain. TO READ THE FULL STORY: SUBSCRIBE TO…
On The Cover King Crimson's Gavin Harrison, Bill Rieflin, and Pat Mastelotto
MD goes deep inside the reinvention of a prog-rock institution, which stormed stages around the country last fall with a raging new three-drummer lineup. Retrofitting four decades of genre-defining music for the seven-piece band took a lot of careful planning,…
Understanding Rhythm: The Tie
The Tie is a curved line that connects two notes together. Only the first note is played, but is held for the duration of the two notes involved. TO READ THE FULL STORY: SUBSCRIBE TO ACCESS LOG IN
Ed Soph
"When I was four or five", remembers 30 year-old drummer Ed Soph, "I started taking piano, but I was also fooling around with the drums. I was lucky to have a supportive family; my father would put on his Dixieland…
Catching up with Trigger Hippy's Steve Gorman
“You can make up a lot of ground when you don’t know what you’re up against,” Steve Gorman says to Modern Drummer over brunch in downtown Nashville. Given the fact that the drummer didn’t start playing until he was twenty-one…
Jazz Drummer's Workshop - What Does An Arranger, Composer Look For In A Drummer?
Jay Corre is an internationally known composer, arranger, and performer. He has performed with Buddy Rich, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Frank Sinatra to name a few. TO READ THE FULL STORY: SUBSCRIBE TO ACCESS LOG IN
Catching Up With... Godsmack's Shannon Larkin
The massive success of Godsmack’s 2010 comeback album, The Oracle, kept the band on the road for nearly two years and produced the tour document Live & Inspired, which includes a four-song bonus disc of classic-rock covers. The band members…