September 2016 Issue – Volume 40 • Number 9

Rock Perspectives - Groove Contraction

Rock Perspectives Groove Contraction Creating Tension and Release by Aaron Edgar Groove contraction can create rhythmic tension and release. Similar to how, with implied metric modulation, we can use new subdivisions to trick listeners into feeling like the quarter-note pulse…

Rock 'N' Jazz Clinic - Groove Construction

Rock 'N' Jazz Clinic Groove Construction Part 5: Ghost Notes Using an Ostinato Approach by Jost Nickel Ghost notes are an excellent way to expand your dynamic range. In this lesson, we’ll focus on dynamics and technique while working on…

Product Close-Up - Promark ActiveGrip Forward 5A Drumsticks

Product Close-Up Promark ActiveGrip Forward 5A Drumsticks by Michael Dawson Coated for a touch of tackiness as the intensity level increases. Promark experimented with its ActiveGrip coating on Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche’s signature Active Wave 570 stick, which was released…

In Memoriam: Remo Belli 1927–2016

In Memoriam Remo Belli 1927–2016   Remo Belli started out like most of us: a humble drummer, looking to make a difference on the scene. Even he could not have predicted that, in time, that scene would encompass all of…

Around The World - African Pop Meets American Funk

Around The World African Pop Meets American Funk Exploring the Mangambe Rhythm by Steve Rucker Popular African pop rhythms from the past twenty to thirty years are starting to appear in American funk music. In this article we’ll explore the…

Steven Tyler’s Sarah Tomek

Story by Adam Budofsky Photos by Rick Malkin Greetings from…Nashville? How a girl from Jersey left the nest to realize the drumming dreams of her father and power the solo success of a true rock ’n’ roll icon. Sometimes you…

Product Close-Up - Zildjian S Family Cymbals

Product Close-Up Zildjian S Family Cymbals by Michael Dawson A new B12-bronze lineup with broader musical scope.   After two years of research and development, Zildjian has released a new series of B12 (12% tin and 88% copper) cymbals, the…

Catching Up With…Jason Bittner

Catching Up With… Jason Bittner by David Ciauro As Shadows Fall goes into hibernation, the drummer reconnects— and makes his mark with—an early influence.   In 2007, at the Sounds of the Underground festival in Phoenix, Arizona, where Shadows Fall…

Paal Nilssen-Love

Paal Nilssen-Love by Ken Micallef And his work in a group context can be equally spellbinding. But, he insists, “it’s not being in control of the music—it’s letting the music control you.”   Imagine an organic synthesis of Elvin Jones,…

September 2016 Issue – Volume 40 • Number 9

Up & Coming: Poly-Math’s Chris Woollison

  by Ilya Stemkovsky Drawing from sources ranging from King Crimson and Santana to Thrice and the Mars Volta, this British band and its refreshingly chops-un-obsessed drummer are boldly staking their ground on the new-prog scene. The progressive British trio…

Jazz Drummer's Workshop - Five-Note Patterns

Analyzing and Exploring an Odd Grouping by Greg Sundel We discussed Tony Williams’ use of five-note ride patterns in the February 2015 issue of Modern Drummer. In this lesson we’ll analyze approaches that Max Roach and Bill Stewart have used…

Catching Up With… Good Tiger’s Alex Rüdinger

Catching Up With… Good Tiger’s Alex Rüdinger by Ben Meyer “There might be a misperception online that this is a one-off side project for us,” the tech-metal marvel says of his new all-star project, “but it’s very much our full-time…

Snarky Puppy’s Holy Trinity

Snarky Puppy’s Holy Trinity Robert “Sput” Searight, Jason “JT” Thomas, Larnell Lewis Photos by Stella K. For Culcha Vulcha, Snarky Puppy’s eleventh album and first studio effort in close to a decade, bandleader, bassist, and primary composer Michael League recruited…

Strictly Technique - Hearing The Click On The "E"

Strictly Technique Hearing The Click On The "E" Shifting the Metronome to Improve Time by Powell Randolph In this lesson, we’ll work on shifting our perception of a metronome so that we’re hearing each quarter-note pulse as the second 16th…

Concepts - Playing From The Inside Out

Concepts Playing From The Inside Out Remove the Unintentional by Russ Miller This month I’d like to discuss one of the biggest issues I see with young drummers: the loose and questionable sound of unintentional ideas. This usually happens during…

Product Close-Up - Tama Superstar Classic Drumset

Product Close-Up Tama Superstar Classic Drumset by Dave Ciauro Competitively priced with a nod to the past and tones for the contemporary.   Tama’s all-maple Superstar Classic kits are now available with a striking Jet Blue Burst lacquer finish, which…