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Joe The Drummer

Keepers of the Flame – Cuban Drumming Tradition

Drumming legend Chuck Silverman is working on producing a documentary about the old guard of Cuban drummers who “carry the flame of rumba and Cuban folkloric drumming”. It’s being crowdfunded via Rockethub, please consider donating to this worthwhile project: http://www.rkthb.co/12019

Stageworks Rimma and Mat – Sliced Bread Got Nothing

I went to the recent London 2012 Drum Show fully steeled against buying anything. It’s pleasant enough to go and see what’s what in the world of drums, to meet some drumming friends and colleagues and to see my students getting inspired. But the raison d’etre of these events is to sell and it’s my mission to resist. There is a recession on after all. I willed myself not to try any sticks or sample heads or buy books or… Read More »Stageworks Rimma and Mat – Sliced Bread Got Nothing

Speaking of Mike Clark and Paul Jackson…

Speaking of Mike Clark and Paul Jackson, as I was not one blog post ago, check out the greasy funk on the following video. Mental. (The second part of this video is non-embeddable for some reason but it’s here – )

The Wonderful Mike Clark with Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters

Wowie zowie! Check out this wonderful performance from back in the 70’s when music was still good (!) and hair was a serious business. Mike Clark’s drumming is just beautiful. Listen to how he’s locked in with Paul Jackson, the bassist. It’s wild, free and busy as hell yet remains tasteful and economical, no notes out of place and no sense of indulgence about the playing. Awesome.

Fantastic Quick & Easy Guide to Tuning Your Drums

This bloke, Rob Brown has made one of the best drum tuning videos I have seen. His quick & easy method offers a very straightforward formula for getting your drums to sound great without any of the sometimes laborious and borderline esoteric stuff we can get into when talking about tuning. If you feel like you haven’t yet got to grips with what it takes to make your kit sound good, follow Rob’s tips and you are guaranteed to end… Read More »Fantastic Quick & Easy Guide to Tuning Your Drums

Those nice chaps at Hudson

So I managed to lose the insert from my copy of Tommy Igoe’s Great Hands For A Lifetime DVD. I was gutted. Tommy’s video is the absolute best thing I have ever seen for learning good fundamental hand technique for drum kit drummers. I am recommending all my students get a copy so we can work through the exercises together. So I wrote to Hudson to see if I could get a copy. I was expecting maybe a downloadable version… Read More »Those nice chaps at Hudson

Murray Spivack: A Lesson With Louie Bellson

As a teacher I find myself having to deconstruct the familiar techniques used in drumming in order to explain them to my students. I find myself fascinated with the different types of grips and strokes and realise the process of honing one’s knowledge about the subject is never ending. Murray Spivack: A Lesson With Louie Bellson is a DVD I recently stumbled upon which shows drum legend Louis Bellson recieving a lesson from the hugely influential drummer and teacher Murray… Read More »Murray Spivack: A Lesson With Louie Bellson

The Melodic Drummer Blog introducing the Jazz Shuffle

Check out this great post about the Shuffle. I recently discovered the Melodic Drummer blog which is heaving with great lessons and exercises to help us develop our Jazz skills. In today’s post we are going to discuss how to play one of my favorite grooves of all time, the shuffle! The best thing you can do to start learning how to shuffle is to get acquainted with it’s sound. Starting a blog post about the shuffle with anything other… Read More »The Melodic Drummer Blog introducing the Jazz Shuffle

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