This Buddy Rich quote, embedded in a meme, has been kicking around the internet awhile: “You only get better by playing.” Uncontroversial to people who can play, but it has generated a small amount of […]
Category: practicing
Things other people say that I think are stupid
T.H.I.S. S.U.C.K.S. I’m sorry I said stupid. I just wanted you to read this. If you hang out on the internet a little bit, you start noticing patterns in people’s views about drumming, and that […]
Keith Copeland lesson plan
This is the type of thing I like to share on the blog— a little piece of oral history posted someplace obscure, that could easily be lost, or extremely difficult to find again. This was […]
Han Bennink practice tips
Not a lot of action on the other drumming blogs these days, but Ted Warren of Trap’d has this amazing thing for us, courtesy of Jon McCaslin of Four On The Floor, courtesy of some […]
Death march life advice
“I made a decision to set goals for myself. I’ve got to make it to that herd of caribou. When I got to that herd of caribou I would establish another goal for myself. I […]
Dahlgren & Fine practice order
The “harmonic” coordination exercises from Dahlgren & Fine’s 4-Way Coordination is one of the more daunting collections of junk in the drumming literature. For many years I resisted using the book at all, but I finally got […]
Getting your practice pad time in
Just copy every detail of this photograph and you’ll be fine— KIDDING!!! I see this question on line pretty often: “How do I get my snare drum chops together? Which system do I use?” I have a […]
Very occasional quote of the day: practicing eight hours a day
“Do it ’til you get to a certain point technically where you don’t do it.” — Jack Dejohnette, unpublished interview with Scott K. Fish
The elements of playing well
Oh, yes, and typically it’s done in the nude, or loosely swathed in a bolt of lustrous fabric. That’s key, actually— forget the rest of this stuff. If you were wondering what goes into being […]
Very occasional quote of the day: remember this
“The obstacle is the path.” — Zen proverb, via the Zen proverbs Twitter feed The “purpose” of Zen is not to be a performance-enhancer, but this is a good one to remember in the practice […]