This is connected with all the fill related jive we’ve been dealing with lately. I share it with you to illustrate a thought process, not a particular set of licks. These are some things I […]
Category: practicing
Snare drum vs. drum set training
The following are some comments I made in a contentious online conversation about snare drum training and drum set training— or playing— and the differences between the two, that I think stand on their own— edited […]
Practicing Chaffee phrases
Some things I do when practicing these recent Chaffee linear phrases, or any of the rest of them, beyond playing them as written. First, at faster tempos, the ones ending with two bass drum notes […]
New Breed tweak – left hand cymbal accents
Getting through a single system from The New Breed takes some time, longer than I want to have one hand be basically idle, playing just the 2 and 4. Let’s give it more to do. […]
How to stop – 01
Kind of a mundane item here— a multi-parter, believe it or not— mainly for teachers, about handling ordinary materials in a more real-life musical way, including how to stop in the conversation. Younger students and […]
Open handed redux
This but just me looking like an A-hole This is a long one. This is what happens every time the subject of “open handed” drumming is raised online— a kind of church revival of drumming […]
On the massive overabundance of things to practice
A nagging question with every single thing I post: Am I putting up too much, am I part of the problem— the problem being: there’s way too much stuff to practice on the drums now, […]
Limitations of loops
There’s a good post about playing along with recordings, that everyone should read, over at Ted Warren’s Trap’d blog. Since he commented about playing with loops vs. whole tunes— and I do a lot with […]
Yolanda Mero on practicing the piano
More from the book Piano Mastery by Harriette Brower, here is Yolanda Mero (1887-1963)— like everybody in this book, the type of language she uses is dated, and a little long winded, but everyone will […]
Practice phrase for Chapin
A very small item here, for making your time practicing single measures of independence patterns a little more productive. Try it when practicing Chapin— that Advanced Techniques for the Modern Drummer— or for any other […]