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Paradiddle Ghost Notes Exercise

Improving Your Ghost Notes With The Paradiddle

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.

Offbeat 8th Note Groove Snare & Bass 16ths

Here’s an addendum to the recent video about offbeat 8th note grooves. Let’s add some 16ths on the snare and bass. Once you’ve got the hang of all that, try combining snare and bass 16ths. You can have hours of fun with this. The objective is to internalise these patterns and then learn to mix them up. Don’t forget you can vary the snare and bass 8ths too as demonstrated in the previous video. Maybe you can do that in… Read More »Offbeat 8th Note Groove Snare & Bass 16ths

Offbeat 8th Note Groove

Offbeat 8th Note Grooves

Once you’ve got the hang of a reasonable amount of standard 8th note rock vocabulary, it can be fun and useful to learn a whole load of variations for the hahat/ride pattern to allow you to spice up your grooves. One very common and popular option is to play offbeat (or upbeat) 8ths on the hihat or ride which means we’re playing just the &’s. It takes a bit of thought to get the hang of the coordination but if… Read More »Offbeat 8th Note Grooves

Learn to Play Zigaboo Modeliste’s Groove on Sailing Shoes

Zigaboo Modeliste is one of the true forefathers of funk drumming and in this YouTube video I explain the groove he plays on Robert Palmer’s Sailing Shoes. The song was written by the great Lowell George and was on the Little Feat record of the same name. Palmer’s version of Sailing Shoes appears on his 1974 debut album, Sneaking Sally Through The Alley. The song is brought to life here by Palmer’s energy and the Meters’ awesome funky backing as… Read More »Learn to Play Zigaboo Modeliste’s Groove on Sailing Shoes

How to play rudiments with a metronome

How To Play Rudiments to A Click

Many beginner drummers (and not-so-beginer too) find it challenging to play to a click. It’s not a natural skill that you either got or you don’t got. It’s a skill you can learn. In this video I explain a methodical approach to developing the ability to play single strokes, double strokes and paradiddles to a metronome that will help you to understand how to synchronise yourself to the click in a confident and relaxed way.

Cheap Snare Drum

I Bought a Cheap Snare on eBay

I bought a cheap snare on eBay. It cost me £23, brand new! I made a video about it and stuck it up on YouTube. This was a more complicated video than I’ve made before (not that you’d know to look at it) and it was fun to work on. I’m working out how to make videos and there’s a long way to go, I think, before it starts looking good. I say too many ummmmms and uhhhhhhs, I feel… Read More »I Bought a Cheap Snare on eBay

Train Beat Snare Drum variations

Train Beat Lesson – Basic Snare Drum Variations

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