In case you were wondering how fast you need to be able to play, here are a bunch of your favorite tracks spanning the break between “medium up”- where it’s still possible to swing- and […]
Ron Carter on drummers
Here’s an excerpt from an old interview with Ron Carter, from Ethan Iverson’s Do The Math, concerning some of the great drummers Carter has worked with. Absolutely go read the whole conversation: EI: In the […]
Very occasional quote of the day: Paul Motian
I had at the time 7A drumsticks. After one set one time, Oscar came over and looked at my drumstick and started bending it. He said, “Man, what the f__ kind of stick is that? […]
Paradiddles with 16th note triplets
Here’s a companion to the other pages of paradiddles I’ve posted, this time using an embellishment used in Wilcoxon occasionally- a 16th note triplet in place of the double. Playing the triplet starting on an […]
Kenny Washington overheard
Or the cyber-equivalent. Mark Feldman at the Bang! the drum school blog features a Facebook post by jazz drummer and scholar Kenny Washington, in response to a question about how to take one’s drumming “to […]
Talent and practice
I guess the “Gen Y Entrepreneur and Investor” author of this piece Why natural talent is overrated knows this stuff from reading a book, but there are some good things in here about practice. Maybe […]
Not so very occasional quote of the day
“Technical knowledge is not enough. One must transcend techniques so that the art becomes an artless art, growing out of the unconscious.” —Daisetsu Suzuki (1870-1966)
Know your tempos: Rolling Stones
I’ve been keeping a little tempos database, containing information on as many very familiar tracks as I can manage- mainly tempo, meter, and style. These are a handy mnemonic device for picking tempos out of […]
Umdaga, part 1
This is a very simple pattern I use a lot- I’d go so far as to say it’s one of the basic DNA instructions of my playing: right/left/bass. I didn’t exactly make it up, but […]
Basic Mambo
I guess I had to eventually post something directly drumming-related on my drumming blog, so here is an older piece I’ll be sharing with a couple of students today- some variations on a generic, very […]