Drumming

My latest YouTube video outlines an exercise that can help you develop your improvisational skills using accents. This method is pretty easy to get going whatever your level of ability, you just need to be able to combine softer and louder strokes or taps and accents. The trick is to start with the simplest thing you can do in a relaxed way. In this case we start playing 16ths as taps and then add a few accents, first with the… Read More »How To Improvise On Drums Using Accents

In my latest YouTube video offering I explain the vital drumming components for The Beatles’ Come Together. This is a great song to introduce you to Ringo’s fabulous drumming. The famous riff has a nice triplet run on the toms which you can play right to left or left to right and the rest of the verse and chorus are an exercise in minimalist groove making. In the solo sections and the outro Ringo’s groove is a thumpy-dumpy, sloshy, compressed… Read More »How To Play The Beatles’ Come Together

My latest video is up on the YouTubes. I explain how to count the basic table of time. Download the PDF here.

I’m very proud of my student and very funky drummer, Sam Goldman who recently achieved the 1st runner up position in the Tommy Igoe Groove Essentials 15-year Celebration Competition run by Hudson Music. Sam played this very funky track and impressed the Judges who included Tommy Igoe and drumming legend David Garibaldi. Check it out…

I continue to turn out videos. The latest offering is a step by step explanation of the groove for Harry Styles’ recent hit, Watermelon Sugar. It’s a 16th note groove played with single strokes. It’s a cool song and a good opportunity to work on single stroke grooves.

Here’s video number three about basic drumstick technique for beginners. It’s pretty long. I need to work on shorter videos in future. I’ve done my best to present this material as I do to my students. Once you’ve understood the explanations of the exercises, you can just do the playalongs skipping all the waffling. I think it’s worth trying to understand the concepts I elucidate upon here as you start your journey with drumming. It takes time and attention to… Read More »Drum Stick Technique For Beginners Basic Practice Routine – Playalong

After a long and hard-fought battle with underpowered technology and general video production ignorance, I have prevailed (sort of) and the second episode of Cooking With Rodrigo and Joe is now out on YouTube for your delectation. In this video we’re talking about Ceelo Green’s Forget You, a fun retro soul number that was produced by Bruno Mars and his mates and is fun to play. Check out the video and let us know what you think

Tip top video from Adam Neely here. This list of 25 tips for musicians written by Thelonious Monk for a young saxophonist called Steve lacy did the rounds on the social media outlets. In this entertaining and interesting video, Adam Neely explains point by point.