My latest YouTube video covers the topic of using paradiddles as grooves between the snare and bass so instead of playing R L R R L R L L you play B L B B L B L L and so on. It’s a great way to develop your ghost notes including balancing the ghosted and accented notes in different ways. It will also improve bass drum coordination and can be used to increase bass drum speed and endurance if… Read More »Playing Paradiddles As Grooves
Here’s an introduction to how we can use paradiddles in a groove context and make patterns with which we can practice and improve our ghost note playing. I demonstrate how to make grooves with the single Paradiddle and its three permutations and use those patterns between the hihat or ride and the snare to create busy grooves with soft and loud notes played on the snare.
Here’s the latest offering to the YouTubeniverse. It’s accented paradiddles. You should watch the accented triplets video first and learn those first.
Here’s my latest video about the train beat. I made on years ago intending to follow up with a series of snare and bass drum variations. I wasn’t very productive YouTubewise though and it’s been waiting for me to get into the process seriously. The Covid thing has been a strong motivator for me to produce regular video content and so the world is about to get more Train Beat related video education content stuff. Here are a couple of… Read More »Train Beat Lesson – Basic Snare Drum Variations
I love this post from Todd Bishop of the Cruise Ship Drummer Blog. Resting the sticks on the drum or pad is a terrible habit. Why are you putting your sticks on the head when you are not playing your instrument? Are the sticks so heavy? Are you sufferening from muscle atrophy? Are you not aware of what your body is doing? Learning an instrument is about awareness of yourself. I am perpetually telling my students off for doing it… Read More »Resting The Sticks On The Drums – Todd Bishop Understands
Quincy Davis’ videos on jazz drumming are simple and easy to follow and tend to focus on a particular idea and how to develop it. This is a great lesson on thestick shot or stick-on-stick sound. I find this pretty challenging and this video has inspired me to work on it.
A million years ago I attended an intensive drumming course that Mike Dolbear put on. It was five days of study with a bunch of big name drummers including Billy Ward, Ash Soan, Thomas Lang and Phil Gould. There were also a swing class with Ralph Salmins that led to an amazing opportunity to study with Ralph one on one. I was not that enthusiastic about the Thomas Lang classes as my perception of him was of one of those… Read More »Thomas Lang On Foot Technique – No Drums Required
I am spending an increasing amount of time on my jazz playing and developing the ability to play softly. My rocknroll side is appalled at this but my inner Brian Blade is egging me on. One approach is learning to play with proper French grip which I just started working on with my teacher. The beginning of the journey is a bunch of odd exercises that came from Freddie Gruber. I’ve also been working on holding my sticks further up… Read More »Some Tips For Playing Drums Softly
Here’s a great way of approaching double strokes. Rob Knopper explains a method to help you develop “machine-gun” doubles. In other words, a very even sounding double stroke roll. You need to figure out for yourself how you’re going to get the second stroke to be louder than the first. My doubles came together when I learned to use my middle finger as a spring. I can also use my fingers to help as well as a little whip of… Read More »Rob Knopper Shows Us 4 Steps To Build Machine-Gun Doubles
I’ve been enjoying getting into Wilcoxon’s Modern Rudimental Swing Solos. This is just the second one, I’ve not learned much stuff like this before. I think my rendition is a bit on the brisk side and I could improve the dynamics especially the last few bars.