Playing since the tender age of 8, Ian Bee is now a Faculty Tutor at the renowned Echo Factory Music Academy in Leicester. An endorsee for Evans heads, Impression Cymbals, ProMark sticks, CymboMute & Tunerfish, Ian also has a monthly column in Drumhead magazine, and we are delighted that he's written a blog post for us... As we all know, practice is the key to success (in pretty much all things), but sometimes we hit a rut, or just don't seem to be improving. It happens to the best of us! And that's when the passion for our drumming, the motivation, can sometimes dwindle. Frustration sets ..read more

We are always more than happy to give personalised advice about which heads to choose, either via or over the phone, but here's a handy infographic about Code's snare drum heads that might help you to make your decision... #theheartofthebeat #teamcode #trustyourears ..read more

At One Day Drum Shop on 5th May, we had the pleasure of welcoming Dave Longman, creator of the Skins Drum Performance Method to demonstrate his book & tell us about the reasons behind him writing it. Not only is Dave an all-round good egg, he's come up with something to fill a gap in teaching books, and we think it's great! Have you ever had a pupil who just can't seem to make the leap from the very basics to grade 1? It can be demoralising and frustrating, but Skins DPM helps to fill that gap... The book contains 18 tracks of real music (backing tracks are available for download from his ..read more

How's your drum kit looking? Just like new or in need of some TLC? Here at Dave's Drums, we specialise in selling fully refurbished drum kits - in fact, they're so popular that recently we haven't been able to list many for sale due to them being "pre-ordered". But did you know we also offer drum servicing to players who already have their dream kit? If your drum kit is looking a bit tired, why not treat it to a Dave's Drums Clean & Tune Service, and save yourself the hard work? For only £75 for a 5 piece kit (any drum sizes), our Clean & Tune service will bring your kit back to looki ..read more

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Mike Heaton, drummer with Embrace and director of Code Drum Heads. In an earlier blog, Mike told us about his role in Code, the UK-based drum head and accessory company. He was also kind enough to answer some questions about his drumming. I asked Mike previously which Code heads he uses to achieve his desired sound, and here's what he said... "My live kit at present has clear Generators on the tom batters with DNA clear as the reso heads. Clear Blast on the kick batter with an Enigma on the reso. On my snare I alternate between our TRS, Sterling and ..read more

There may have been many reasons you took up drumming, but was improving your health one of them? Research has shown that there are a multitude of physical and mental benfits to drumming...read on to find out about a few of them! Extra Cardio One of the most obvious health benefits is that drumming is a form of cardio exercise. Actually, you'll burn the same number of calories (roughly 270 for a 70kg person) in an hour of drumming as you would in an hour walking at 3mph - more if you're playing vigorously! The fact that drumming offers a full body workout has resulted in the creation of speci ..read more

Everything you ever wanted to know about UK-based drum head company Code*... Here at Dave's Drums, we've been selling Code drum heads - and using them on our refurbished kits - for almost as long as we've been in business. We love them because of their great quality, diverse range (without being overly complicated) and competitive prices! This week, we've spoken to business partners James Potts (Code founder) and Mike Heaton (drummer from Embrace) about the Code brand, its history and their own drumming... *depending what you wanted to know, of course! I asked founder James Potts what it was ..read more

Devon-based originals rock band The Stone Angels are off on tour in September. I caught up with their drummer, Sam McIver, for a chat about life in an originals band, being on the road and the importance of sticks and coffee! On Starting Drumming... As is the case with many drummers, Sam was inspired at a young age to take up drums by another player's enthusiasm.  He says, "I saw a band in secondary school who were runners-up in a talent show, and I distinctly remember watching the drummer having the best time of his life. - almost like there was nothing else he'd rather be doing, and I ..read more

The second part of my (purely personal) good gigging guide comes under the heading musicality (click here for Part 1 - Preparedness). Some of these things may seem obvious, some may seem like I’m having a dig at people, but I’m not - they are just my take on the matter. Take what serves you, leave what doesn't! I've been gigging for more years than I care to mention (over 20) and it's so easy to forget to serve the music, either through bad choices or the wilful pursuit of other goals. Time to break stuff down into manageable chunks! 1. Tuning! If a guitarist turned up to the gig with their ..read more

This week we're delighted to present a guest blog by Matt Dudley of Matt Dudley Drumming. Matt is from across the Pond - Lake Waccamaw North Carolina to be exact, and has been a drum and percussion teacher since 2003. As well as his website and blog, Matt also has a podcast - Behind the Kit - that you can check out here. Matt's been kind enough to lend us one of his own blog posts on The Purdie Shuffle, but first a bit more about him... Matt, how old were you when you started drumming, and what attracted you to drumming in the first place? "When I was 8 years old, I can remember walking in fr ..read more