Today probably more than ever, the division between drum pocket and drum shredding has become quite a point of discussion and display. An entire generation of players have attained a level of technical ability, blazing speed, and consumption of available space in musical time that leaves many drummers from the time before MIDI in the dust. But in 1981, Casey Scheuerell’s drumming on Chaka Kahn’s “And The Melody Still Lingers On (Night In Tunisia)” laid down a pocket that made all the chops in the world irrelevant. If you’ve not heard this song, well, you need to, because the drumming lesson w ..read more

The term “neurodiversity” has been making the rounds for several years now, the newest buzzword that carries interesting associations and implications. Socially, and more specifically medically, when someone says they are “neurodiverse,” the term is often used to express their particular condition, such as autism, Asperger’s, or in my case, Tourette Syndrome. I did not receive a proper and correct diagnosis until I was 20; from age six to then, I had no idea whatsoever what was causing my body to move uncontrollably and make jerky movements whenever they chose to arise. I had virtually no cont ..read more

I was wandering through Instagram the other night and came across a random post that exploded in my face. I thought I was seeing things when this diminutive Japanese drummer was absolutely destroying the drum set with the rawest, focused energy I’ve seen in years. The last time someone blew up a kit with this kind of energy was the drummer for Fishbone back in 1984, when I saw them at the Catalyst in Santa Cruz, California. And then comes Kahokiss, the drummer for Otoboke Beaver. And you ain’t see ANYthing like this! Japanese punk rock is not my thing. I have no clue as to what these energy b ..read more

I was reading a great blog this morning by Cruise Ship Drummer about YouTube drumming videos at an absurd level. By absurd I mean ridiculous content taken to extremes. So much of the Internet bombards us with louder, faster, stronger, that it becomes the norm and the expectation of what we should learn and how we should practice.   We have for at least a decade and will likely continue to be inundated with so much of what we don’t need and precious little of what we really do need. We all want better control, right? This is what I want to address here, but likely not in a way you’re used ..read more

Howdy, folks. It’s 102 degrees in Austin right now, and well, I can’t say it’s delightful. However, there’s still practicing that needs to be done, so here’s a simple hand warmup exercise with a video clip that’ll do the right thing for your chops. It’s a combination of 4 sets of 6-stroke rolls (RLLRRL, RLLRRL, RLLRR, RLLRRL, played like triplets) immediately followed by 4 paradiddles (RLRR LRLL RLRR LRLL). Start slow, then work up to around 130 bpm. The important thing is to: Let the sticks bounce freel Stay as relaxed as possible. You can find more short clips of my drumming at David Aldr ..read more

The world has changed exponentially since I first began work on my binary rhythm pattern theory books, The Elements of Rhythm, Vols. I & II. What started in 1981 with a simple drum lesson with Terry Bozzio at a rehearsal studio in Los Angeles became a three-decades-long journey to figure how to make sense of the origin and evolution of rhythm pattern development. During that time, electronic publishing was born, and the creation of books was forever changed. What was once thought of purely as the realm of science fiction became reality, with the knowledge of the world becoming available ..read more

Here’s a post with three suggested approaches to help you develop and condition your hands to keep them working for many years. With just a few minutes a day of dedicated warm-up practice, you’ll feel results very quickly, and you’ll be quite pleased. The exercise is divided into three parts, Strokes, Weights, and Volumes Part I are the Strokes: Singles, Doubles, Triplets, and 6-Stroke rolls. Part II are the Weights: Very light, light, medium, heavy. For this part, I use Regal Tip 2B’s,  5A’s, and  7A’s. I try this exercise first with Regal Tip brushes (Classic model) and then work m ..read more

I’d like to continue a bit of thinking from the previous post (NAMM 2020 and Sonor Vintage Series California Blue kit) and ask readers how they are feeling now that Covid has been somewhat contained and life has almost returned to normal. The toll it took on live playing was devastating. Clubs closed, gigs dried up, and to some degree, it was replaced a little by more on-line studying, creation of video content, and a whole lot of home practice. But where do we go from here? Are you exhausted from it all? Did you pack things up and move on? Did the prospect of limited live performance change y ..read more

It seems like one hundred years since I set foot in the Anaheim Convention Center in the Before Times. No masks, no hand sanitizers, no fear… and no clue as to what awaited the world just two months later. They say hindsight is 20/20, which makes the year 2020 all the more ironic, doesn’t it? We had no idea… It was at NAMM 2020 that I found what still remains the most stunning, classy, eye-catching and jaw dropping drum set I think I’ve ever seen. I remember coming around the corner and stopping in my tracks. There at the pristine Sonor booth was pure vintage artistry, a double bass kit showca ..read more

Have a seat, kids, I have a story to tell you, about a once young freelance music journalist and drummer who blew the biggest writing assignment of his life and has been plagued by it since 1993… / / On January 20, 1993, I borrowed by roommate’s truck and boom box and headed over the Santa Monica mountains from the San Fernando Valley to the Malibu residence of one Joseph Zawinul. I’d been sent there by Modern Drummer to interview Zawinul for a column called “A Different View,” where non-drummers were interviewed about their take on us and what they like, don’t like, wish we’d do, etc. He gre ..read more