Here’s my latest video. It’s an introduction to playing the train beat. Making videos is quite challenging and I intend to keep them coming as much as a way to learn the skill as to offer my take on whatever areas of drumming I think I can do justice to. Hope you enjoy this. Check out the post I did that has a bunch of exercises to expand and embellish your vocabulary with the train beat – http://joethedrummer.com/the-train-beat-sheet-1/
I grew up listening to olden days blues, rock ‘n’ roll and R&B, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters. My dad’s record collection included LPs and singles from the late fifties and early sixties and that was my food and drink for most of my childhood. I must have listened to After School Session a thousand times. Chuck Berry died and here’s After School Session. Everything swings!
The amazing Mark Guiliana is doing a clinic at Bell Percussion on the 31st of May. Go get a ticket, there’s not that many of them and I’ve got mine. Can’t imagine anything better you could do with a tenner. www.bellperc.com/products/mark-guiliana-clinic-tickets-31-05-17
I’ve been listening to Steely Dan’s Album Can’t Buy A Thrill a lot lately and two songs really stand out. One is Dirty Work, a very laid back, greasy and dark tune with a funky groove. The other is Reelin’ In The Years which bounces along beautifully, driven by Jim Hodder’s light and fluffy shuffle with ghost notes. It’s so good I’ve listened to the song about fifty times since Sunday. Shuffles are interesting. Despite being a very common feel,… Read More »Playing Ghost Notes In A Shuffle Groove Like Reelin’ In The Years
Here’s my latest YouTube video demonstrating the way I play the swing pattern on the ride cymbal. I learned this approach from the great Ralph Salmins and find it’s a great way to play an even, relaxed and swinging jazz ride. The key thing is to spend plenty of time working on the two-for-one rebound stroke so that you produce the “ga-dang” part of the the rhythm with only one movement of the hand. You then get three sounds with… Read More »How To Play The Jazz Ride (Swing) Pattern
I must have listened to this twenty times today. Delicious and nutritious!
Having watched the whole Tony Allen Masterclass wot I posted about here yesterday, there are two beats drummers need to know and you’re OK with Afrobeat. The first one I wrote about in this post – joethedrummer.com/this-is-the-first-afrobeat-drum-groove-according-to-tony-allen/ So I’ll call this the second groove of Afrobeat. Play until you make them smooth with a crispy hi hat just like Tony does it. On the masterclass video you can watch it demonstrated here – https://youtu.be/zNru-AhcBwo?t=11m10s
Wow, this is brilliant, an hour long masterclass with Tony Allen giving loads of detail about his playing style and approach to music. Wonderful, wonderful. What a treat.
Mark Guiliana’s new book, Exploring Your Creativity On The Drumset is the second drum education publication I paid for via crowdfunding. Before that was Benny Greb’s The Art & Science Of Groove. It’s rather fun to be involved in funding a new project. From Mark Guiliana I got the ebook first and a week or so later the physical book with DVD with a signature. You can download the video content using a code that comes with the book. The… Read More »Mark Guiliana’s Exploring Your Creativity On The Drumset
I will be playing at Clery’s Clock Bar in Colindale with the Groove Crew, a new piano based soul/funk/pop/jazz trio featuring Norman on piano and vocals and with Rodrigo on bass. Admission is free and we should kick off around 21.30. We’ve had great fun playing at Clery’s Clock and this should be a great night out. Date: 5th of November Time: 21.30 Venue: Clery’s Clock Bar Address: 225-227 Edgware Road, London, London, United Kingdom