I was rooting through some early George Benson the other day, and turned up this smoking number, which I had never heard before: Hallelujah Time, played by Brother Jack McDuff, with his long time drummer […]
Category: fast tempos
Uptempo Stone method — 02
Here’s a little companion to our other uptempo method using Stick Contrtol by George L. Stone. This is more of an open system, and you may do it without even getting that deeply into the book […]
Transcription: Kenny Clarke fours
Here are Kenny Clarke’s fours, played with brushes, on Love Me Or Leave Me, from the album Walkin’, by Miles Davis. I’ve given the drum solo breaks only: The ties are due to some kind […]
Transcription: Ed Blackwell — Happy House
UPDATE: Download link is now working! Here is Ed Blackwell playing the head of a fairly well known Ornette Colman tune, Happy House, with the band Old and New Dreams. The beginning of the tune […]
Stone method for uptempo jazz — 01
Most of the regular drumming literature is poorly adapted to the special conditions of very fast tempos in jazz; the practice materials are either too dense, or are triplet-based, which obviously isn’t going to work. […]
Transcription: Tony Williams — Seven Steps to Heaven, trumpet solo
Continuing with our Seven Steps To Heaven transcription in installments, here is Tony Wiliams’s playing behind Miles Davis’s solo, starting at 0:43, on the version of the tune from the album Four & More: The […]
Transcription: Tony Williams — Seven Steps to Heaven, head in
Man, I am getting tired of writing words. Let’s get back to what you actually come here for: drum shit. In honor of the Superbowl— which they tell me is today— here is something that’s […]
Paradiddle-diddle method for uptempo jazz
This is something I developed for both for getting some relief while playing fast tempos, and for doing a modern feel without getting your cymbal pattern lost in the weeds. The seed of the idea […]
Brushes… fast… hoo…
As I finish up the thing I’m working on, do yourself a favor and visit The Melodic Drummer for an excellent post on playing brushes at really, really fast tempos. You can also brush up […]
Todd’s methods: Son of Daku-daku-paradiddle
Right, I’m starting to regret the name I made up for this thing– until I think of the alternative, long-winded description for this very common pattern. Now if I can just bring myself to call […]