Papa Jo JonesPhoto by Rick Mattingly Item from writer Chip Stern, best known to me for conducting a lot of great interviews in Modern Drummer magazine, including one with Papa Jo Jones. He has a […]
Tempo and practicing
Yes, it is. This always hung me up— the seemingly infinite tempo possibilities for any one thing you practice. It was a constantly lurking thing that I’m not doing this fast enough, and you would […]
Accents in Reed
TOTAL nerd stuff here. I use the accent pages in Progressive Steps to Syncopation (pp. 47-49) with my students for convenience, but I find them be a pain. They’re thorough, but poorly balanced— so if […]
Subtractive method overview
Here’s a broad overview of this subtractive thing I’ve been working with. It’s a new approach, but not unprecedented, and I think it’s worth exploring. The idea starts with a Stone-type 8th note sticking pattern, […]
Practice loop: Port of Entry
Here’s a fun practice loop sampled from Port of Entry, by Weather Report. A great track from Night Passage, one of my favorite records. Tempo is 77 or 154 bpm, depending on how you want […]
Paradiddle inversion with bass drum substitutions
Something I was playing around with yesterday, substituting bass drum for some notes of the extremely useful RLLR-LRRL paradiddle inversion. These are good for playing fast. The last three patterns don’t follow the exact sticking […]
Very occasional quote of the day: Shelly Manne on soloing
“I think you should approach every drum solo the way a good improviser approaches soloing; you shouldn’t know what you’re going to do until the time comes to do it. Miles Davis said that you […]
Page o’ coodination: prep for subtractive method with Mozambique bell
I wrote this for my own use— I was attempting to do that recent subtractive Reed method with the more complex Mozambique bell rhythm, and it will go much faster to see the warm up […]
Top CD rebuys
After my pathetic little beater of a car bit the dust a few weeks ago I replaced it with a dynamite $5500 20 year old Mercedes-Benz E320— the last of the bombproof Benzes— with an […]
A little technique video
Let’s talk more about me. I just posted a little technique video in response to a forum conversation. Someone was confused about the meanings of the stroke types, and wanted evidence of my competency to […]