Playing Latin styles, you end up using a lot of sticking combinations of RB and BR— B meaning both hands together— so here’s a basic way of using Ted Reed’s Syncopation to work on that. […]
Author: Todd Bishop
VOQOTD: the drummer’s job
I just try to play the compositions, not so much imposing any particular kind of rhythm on any particular tune or composition—but to try and interpret the composition as if I’m an accompanist, fundamentally. And […]
Do your verry best
From Edward B. Straight’s The Straight System, a drum method from 1922, here is a page of performance tips so you can thrive as a society/theater band drummer in the 1910s and 20s: Some of […]
Groove o’ the day: Lenny White — Red Clay
Here’s a fusion classic, Red Clay, by Freddie Hubbard, as played by Lenny White. For a time this was one of the most-played tunes in the world among college-age jazz musicians: Lenny plays really on […]
CSD! listicle: seven useful rudiments
People always seem to want to know what’s the deal with rudiments, what do you use them for, and which ones are the best, coolest, most valuable. So here I’ll just shotgun some of my […]
Rumba clave basic coordination — hands only
Per the title, here we have some basic coordination with rumba clave, for hands only. The first set are just logical patterns based on clave— notes in unison with it, before it, after it, or […]
Frankie Dunlop plays an intro
Not much to say about this, except that one of my favorite things ever, Thelonious Monk’s Bye-Ya, from the album Monk’s Dream, came on KMHD today, and that Frankie Dunlop’s opening is just a perfect piece […]
Page of ten stroke rolls
Here’s a pretty straightforward page of ten stroke rolls, open, in a variety of rhythms and meters. A ten stroke open roll consists of four doubles and two taps— one at the beginning and one […]
Afro 6/8: a Stone-based method
First, sorry if you want to read about stuff other than this Afro 6/8 thing— you can always do a fresh root-through of our voluminous archives— I happen to be working with this a lot, […]
You know what, I think I’m over this whole gun thing.
George Wasson Non-musical post today, sorry. A cousin of mine, and one of my older living relatives, was murdered with a gun this week in Eugene, Oregon, in the house where he lived since I […]