I was re-listening to the videos in this post, and, in honor of music that makes you feel good— contra music that makes you feel nothing— here’s the beat Coady Willis and Dale Crover are playing […]
Author: Todd Bishop
Comedy break
While I’m embroiled in working on the new rock-and-funk book— which is in the wonderful snowballing-on-me-and-just-about-needing-a-total-reorganization phase— enjoy some classic turn-of-the-90s comedy: Get A Life, starring Chris Elliot. If you haven’t seen it, it is […]
Competition
Intense competition in the stock photography trade leading everyone to do the same damn thing. From Alternet: A very interesting article on competition; specifically, about how it becomes more counter-productive as the stakes increase: LP: […]
New book, and Dunlop and Krupa
While I’m feverishly working on a new rock-and-funk book for the masses (or maybe a rock volume and a funk volume, if the thing grows out of control), visit Scott K. Fish’s blog, where there […]
Barry Altschul on playing melodically
This is an excerpt from a pretty amazing 1981 Modern Drummer article by Barry Altschul, in which he discusses the drummer’s relation to tunes, form, and melody, and playing melodically: It is […] the drummer’s […]
Natural sticking timing exercise
This is something I’m working on with some students: a timing exercise using natural sticking, modified slightly from something we used to play in drum corps. Natural sticking, briefly, is a method of sticking hand-to-hand […]
DBMITW: Ornette Coleman live, 1968
A little change in gears as we near the end of our little fund raising drive. A big thanks to the mighty few who have made donations and purchased books— if any of our other […]
CSD! 2015 fund raiser happening NOW
NOTE: This post will be pinned to the top of the blog until June 1, but I’ll be posting heavily, so be sure to scroll down and hit the older posts link so you don’t […]
What it is: being a professional
Obligatory Venn diagram One area where I see a lot of misconceptions is around the idea of being a professional musician. Usually, people seem to think it means that you make all your money from […]
Partido Alto practice loop and basic grooves
Another practice loop, sampled from the tune Partido Alto, from the Azymuth album Light As A Feather. Ivan Conti is on drums. As I mentioned before, Partido Alto is the name of a Brazilian rhythm, […]