Most drum books present their stuff fully written out verbatim for the drum set, which is fine for learning patterns, but not for thinking like a musician. This is something I made up to introduce […]
Category: drums
Todd’s Methods, Pt. 2: triplet partials in Syncopation
The second in a series of quick, sketchily-outlined demonstrations of my practice methods. Here I give a couple of my variations on common ways of using Ted Reed’s Syncopation. If you’ve worked with that book […]
Transcription: Sly Dunbar intros
Here’s a project I had been meaning to tackle for awhile- a compilation of Sly Dunbar lead-ins. These are all taken from Serge Gainsbourg’s album, Aux Armes Et Caetera, which is like a reggae drumming […]
Transcription: Three Intros
Another fast little project- drum intros from three of my favorite players, tracks, and albums: Paul Motian on Resistor, from Bill Frisell’s Rambler, Roy Haynes on H & H, from Pat Metheny’s Question And Answer, […]
Transcription: Frankie Dunlop – Rhythm-a-ning
Finally had time to finish this up- this has been languishing in the archives in dire need of proofing for some time. Here’s the the complete drum part for Rhythm-a-ning, by Frankie Dunlop, from Thelonious […]
1985 Modern Drummer interview: Alan Dawson
Have I mentioned lately what a great resource the Modern Drummer digital archive is? Here are my excerpts from a 1985 Modern Drummer interview with one of the great teachers of the drums, Alan Dawson. […]
Best books: Like Syncopation
For many years Progressive Steps to Syncopation for the Modern Drummer (better known as just “Syncopation”) by Ted Reed was virtually the only drum book I used. As I alluded to in the Joe Cusatis […]
Best books: Rudimental Patterns by Joe Cusatis
Rudimental Patterns Full Drum Set Studies for the Modern Drummer by Joe Cusatis This book contains most of what I always felt was wrong with the traditional approach to learning the drums, and I LIKE […]
Thursday
“Grateful I don’t have to go to work dealin’ with people like you 9 to 5.” – Art Taylor Just finished up and submitted a piece to Drum, and it’s looking good for getting it […]