Item just in from the pet peeve department: there’s an extremely slovenly practice, apparently done by half the drummers in the world: resting the sticks on the drum head before playing. I have students who […]
Three voice / three note patterns
The sort of thing you write when you’re under quarantine— a library item strictly for maniacs, in the same ballpark of extremity/uselessness as Gary Chaffee’s jazz patterns, from Patterns vol. 3. In fact that’s exactly […]
Transcription: Roy Haynes comping
UPDATE: Download link is fixed! Did you ever transcribe 72 bars of Roy Haynes, just to realize that all of the really cool stuff was in the NEXT 36 bars? I wanted to do an […]
Hemiola funk series: S3B
Another variation on the hemiola funk thing, with the main pattern ending with a double on the bass drum— a snare hit + 3 bass hits. I continue to tweak the basic template to cover […]
Four on the floor: Stone meets Ghana
Here’s something very rare, an idea to base your whole life on: Stone-type patterns based on Ghanaian bell patterns. This is from Jon McCaslin over at Four on the Floor, given to him by the […]
Practice loop: Dexterity / Bird’s chorus
UPDATE: If you want the loop archive, you should get it fast— my ISP is complaining about the large files stored on my account, and I’ll probably have to delete it soon. I assume everyone is […]
Double paradiddle inversions for drumset
Following up on my big rudimental tantrum post, here’s a little exploration of double paradiddles— I mentioned that a good friend, and one of the most creative drummers I know, Steve Pancerev, is a fan […]
40 international drum rudiments— a frank appraisal
Here at last is my opinionated commentary on each of the 40 PAS international drum rudiments— the good are praised, the questionable are denigrated and hounded from the public sphere. The abstruse are eschewed. I’ll […]
Daily best music in the world: Pete La Roca with Coltrane
Busy this week finishing an e-book outlining my “harmonic coordination improved” method. I think I’m going to call it Drumset Control. There are at least two other books with that title, by Mitchell Peters and […]
Transcription: Max Roach – Dexterity
Max Roach’s drum breaks on just about the first jazz recording I ever noticed and liked— Dexterity by Charlie Parker. I dug an old LP compilation of Parker 78s out of my dad’s record collection. […]