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July 2017 Issue – Volume 41 • Number 7

By today’s standards, a YouTube Gold Play Button Award is equivalent to a gold record in the recording industry. The plaque recognizes the accomplishment of one million subscribers to a YouTube channel. Twenty-five-year-old Casey Cooper, aka COOP3RDRUMM3R, is the first drummer on YouTube to have earned this prestigious honor.
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Articles in July 2017

The Doors’ John Densmore

Tapping Into Infinity

Story by Adam Budofsky | Photos by Alex Solca
May 31, 2017

Drum Center of Portsmouth

Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Interview by Patrick Berkery
May 31, 2017

On Ringo Starr

The Shock of the New

by Billy Amendola
May 31, 2017

Spaun 20th Anniversary Kit, PDP Daru Jones New Yorker Kit, TRX Cymbals and More!

TRX Special Edition AX Cymbals The new Special Edition AX cymbals feature a bright, powerful sound that is recommended for contemporary rock, pop, Latin, and R&B. Made from handcrafted, hand-hammered B20 bronze, the brighter tone of the new AX models…

Modern Drummer
May 31, 2017
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Vanilla Fudge’s Carmine Appice

If any drummer in the history of classic rock can say he’s seen it all, it’s him. From defining the role of star journeyman player in the ’70s, penning a classic method book, and pioneering the rock-drumming clinic to setting the bar for rock-star excess that’s still referenced today, the drummer known to many simply as “Carmine” has made a career out of standing out from the crowd. It all started fifty years ago, when he powered an explosive young group that grabbed TV audiences by the throat and promptly skyrocketed up the charts….

by Ken Micallef
May 31, 2017

Swing Interpretations - Modern Groove Applications

There’s an interesting relationship between two-note (binary) and three-note (ternary) subdivisions that can help you develop better vocabulary and feel on the drumset. To understand this relationship, play an 8th-note triplet with your right hand while playing a straight 8th-note…

Stephane Chamberland
May 31, 2017

1967 Rock Drumming

The seeds were sown in 1966. While jazz had dom-inated the attention of progressive music fans the previous decade, rock ’n’ roll was now the place where the real avant-garde activity was going down. The Beatles’ Revolver, the Beach Boys’…

by Adam Budofsky
May 31, 2017

A New Perspective - Displacing Three-Over-Four Polyrhythms

https://vimeo.com/219138001 A three-over-four polyrhythm is comprised of sets of three equally spaced notes and four equally spaced notes that occupy the same timeframe. Typically both sides of the polyrhythm start together on the same note and utilize the same subdivision.…

Aaron Edgar
May 31, 2017

The Drum Thing

“The most exciting thing,” photographer Deirdre O’Callaghan says, “is to be around passionate people with a drive to master an instrument. It’s truly magical.” That drive and passion come across crystal-clear in the images and words of the ninety-six drummers…

Text by Armine Iknadossian and Adam Budofsky
May 31, 2017

Swinging London

THE ZOMBIES and THE MOODY BLUES might have originated in St. Albans and Birmingham, respectively, but few groups more fully captured the urbane and artsy edge of the British Invasion’s London HQ—even if one band was on its way up and the other on its way out.

by Ilya Stemkovsky and Adam Budofsky
May 31, 2017

Triplet Fills - Swinging Your Phrases

https://vimeo.com/218509663 Younger drummers sometimes struggle with triplet phrases, as there are few styles of popular music today that employ triplets as a basis for the feel. However, we have to be ready for these musical situations when they arise. Older…

Rich Redmond
May 31, 2017
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Greg Saunier, Anton Hochheim, Christian Paschall, Shannon Forrest and more!

Out Now Greg Saunier on Big Walnuts Yonder’s Big Walnuts Yonder On its self-titled debut, released this past May 5, the indie-rock collective Big Walnuts Yonder fuses wild time shifts, explosive punk tones, and unhinged improvisation on ten electrified, cohesive…

Modern Drummer
May 31, 2017

1,000 Ways to Practice a Single Page - Part 5: Challenging Rudimental Approaches

https://vimeo.com/219135230 The longer I play the drums, the more I appreciate and value the time I can spend on only a snare or pad. Let’s dive into a few concepts to improve our overall technique. Here’s the rhythm we’ll be…

Libor Hadrava
May 31, 2017

Steve Smith, Peter Erskine, and Gerry Gibbs take the reins, Def Leppard Live CD/DVD, and more

RECORDINGS Taking the Reins Gerry Gibbs & Thrasher People Weather or Not Whatever the musical source, this drummer unfailingly makes it his own. On his previous disc, Live in Studio, drummer/composer Gerry Gibbs transformed a selection of “elevator music” warhorses…

Modern Drummer
May 31, 2017

RTOM - Black Hole Practice System

Snap-on mesh heads that convert an acoustic kit to a low-volume rehearsal set in seconds.

Michael Dawson
May 31, 2017

1938-41 Slingerland Hollywood Boulevard Outfit

Most of today’s drumkits include at least one rack tom, a floor tom, a hi-hat, and a ride cymbal. But back in 1938, renowned American drum manufacturer Slingerland’s most popular setup, the Hollywood Boulevard Outfit, came only with a bass…

Harry Cangany
May 31, 2017

Favorite 1960s Drum Tracks?

As we were taking a look back at some of the most iconic drummers and performances of 1967 for this month’s cover feature, we wanted to find out which tracks our readers and social media followers felt marked the greatest…

Reader Responses
May 31, 2017

Playing Melodically - Part 2: Freddie Hubbard’s Solo on “Make It Good”

https://vimeo.com/214234350 Last month we took a jazz melody, Charlie Parker’s “Billie’s Bounce,” and implied its melodic rhythm on the snare. This month we’ll phrase trumpet great Freddie Hubbard’s solo on “Make It Good” from the 1967 Duke Pearson album The…

Peter Erskine
May 31, 2017
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Sounds and Setups

1967 was a year when wild was in. And of the rock bands commanding the world’s attention that year, it didn’t get much wilder than the Who, Cream, and the Jimi Hendrix Experience. The same could be said for the drummers who made them go—and the kits on which they did it.

by Adam Budofsky
May 31, 2017

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