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July 2017 Issue – Volume 41 • Number 7

I was ten years old in 1967. Rolling Stone magazine debuted that year, and I’d just gotten my first “real” drumkit. I started playing when I was seven—like most drummers in my age bracket, after seeing Ringo and the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show. What a year to start playing along to records, which is how we did it back in the day. I had my record player set up on a table right next to my drums so I could work the needle back and forth, over and over, to learn how to play the parts. I was also playing along to so many hit songs that were on the radio. At the time my friends and I didn’t know that session drummer Hal Blaine was twenty of our favorite drummers!
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Articles in July 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

Building Confidence - The Right Kind, the Right Way

I recently performed a gig with the great comedian Bob Newhart where I was sight-reading big band charts with him and his opening act. I’ve done shows with Bob many times over the years. They don’t have a ton of…

Russ Miller
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

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
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Remo - Classic Fit and P3 Felt Tone Drumheads

No more struggling to fit skins on oversized vintage snare and tom shells or wrestling with testy felt strips to achieve a classic fluffy/punchy kick tone.

Michael Dawson
May 31, 2017

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

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

Pride and Joy

This gorgeously kept example of 1970s drum history comes to us from Orange County, California, drummer Thomas Smith, who originally purchased the Rogers Block-finish setup as a nine-piece kit. “I was very busy in cover bands, traveling throughout California,” Smith…

Modern Drummer
May 31, 2017

Yuval Lion

Enjoying a long run at New York’s Public Theater, the rock opera Joan of Arc: Into the Fire features a striking young actress/vocalist adorned in chain mail, sixteen male dancer/singers, and a rock band that pumps out David Byrne’s original…

Story by Ken Micallef | Photos by John Fell
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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Casey Cooper

Dream big. Work hard. Influence many.

Story and photo by Mike Haid
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

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

Deep Purple’s Ian Paice

On More…or Less? You do the job that is necessary for the track in front of you. The more years I have under my belt playing, the more I realize that less is more. If you don’t need to play…

Interview by Mike Haid
May 31, 2017

The Doors’ John Densmore

Tapping Into Infinity

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

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

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
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