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.
Stop Skipping Steps!
Many people never realize their life through rhythm by unknowingly skipping steps. I get it, this is how I started too! I was eager to get right to bashing out the joyful roar I was hearing from my drumming heroes.…
Los Cabos 5A Drumsticks Quality Sticks, Different Woods
Amidst the sea of drumstick offerings by brands vying for drummers’ attention, it’s always a treat to come across quality products from a company that deserves their seat at the table. Such is the case with Los Cabos, a Canadian…
The Bass Drum Owners Manual: The Leg Stroke
This month Modern Drummer will continue to include excerpts from Michael Packer’s essential book on bass drum control and technique The Bass Drum Owners Manual: Applying the Moeller Technique to the Bass Drum. As you will see, this is a…
Roland VMH-D1 Headphones Answering The Call For Electronic Drums
In February, Roland introduced the VMH-D1 V-Drums Headphones, developed in collaboration with the popular headphone brand V-MODA. In their press release they describe the product as a complete personal monitoring solution purpose-built for the electronic drumming experience. They mention a…
The Encyclopedia of Double Bass Drumming Feet Only
In the new and revised edition of the Encyclopedia of Double Bass Drumming, Bobby 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 ternary…
Exercises in African-American Funk “Mangambe” Part Two
In Modern Drummer’s ongoing introduction to Jonathan Joseph’s book Exercises in African American Funk: Mangambe, Bikutsi, and the Shuffle; This month we will continue with Jonathan’s explanation of a unique African groove, Mangambe. We will continue to explore some interesting…
Master Studies Eighth Notes with Flams
Last month we learned about an often-ignored sound of drumming called Flat Flams. This month we will continue with a study of playing (the more common) Flams. Both sounds are useful on both the snare drum and drumset and are…
Understanding the Language of Music Key Signatures and Scales
Modern Drummer founder Ron Spagnardi wrote a very educational book called Understanding the Language of Music, a Drummer’s Guide to Theory and Harmony. This book presents the basics of theory and harmony in a very organized and easy to understand…
Christian McBride
We all know the old saying, “Drummers don’t hire drummers, other musicians hire drummers.” So it makes sense to listen to other musician’s opinions of drummers. It doesn’t take much to get bassist Christian McBride to discuss drummers. As a…
Rufus “Speedy” Jones’ Slingerland White Marine Pearl double bass kit
Rufus “Speedy” Jones earned his nickname while playing for the big bands of Count Basie and Duke Ellington. Rufus was never an overly subtle player; he could always be counted on to light a fire under other players. Rufus used…
1930-39 Leedy Butterfly Girl Trap Kit with Rolling Console
The year is 1930, the place is Bridgeport, Conn. Composer and drummer Oscar F. Knablin plays this set of drums at the Fox-Poli Theater. How do we know this? Oscar was kind enough to write this information on the inside…
The Encyclopedia of Double Bass Drumming: Double Strokes
In the new and revised edition of the Encyclopedia Of Double Bass Drumming, Bobby 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 ternary…
Flam Studies
In all of our learning, we (hopefully) concentrate of the creative use (and sound) of flams. However, in our desire to play the “perfect” open and fat flam sound, we often ignore the (also unique) sound of “flat flams.” These…
