"...these are my 2 favorite books for working on muliti-limbed independence" I'm Ready to Get Started The 2 Best Drum Books for Independence Table of Contents The mother of all drum books on independence is depicted here. It's "Advanced Techniques for the Modern Drummer" by Jim Chapin Just What is Independence Anyway? As most of you probably know, independence is crucial to drum set playing. Since some of you reading this are brand-spanking new to drumming (and I welcome you), here’s what independence means…. It’s the ability to play a repeating, non-varying pattern with one limb ..read more

Moving on too quickly from one thing to another in your practicing will make your practice time worthless. I'm Ready to Get Started Practice Until You Can't Get It Wrong Table of Contents A Common But Crucial Mistake There is a common mistake that beginners make when practicing. It’s very easy to overlook it when you’re a novice, but it really is a devastating error. People often jump from one thing that they’re practicing to another much too quickly. It makes sense that you might do this because there is a psychology of pressure that is created when your drum teacher hands you a ..read more

"If you don't have the right headphones, you're jeopardizing your hearing" let's get started The Best Headphones for Drummers Introduction Here’s a question that comes up a lot: “What are the best headphones for drummers?” I’ve got the answer. I’ve tried a bunch of them. But it always comes back to one thing. And I always come back to one particular set of headphones.  If you read this blog with any regularity, you know that I’m not always interested in analyzing every single endless possibility.  You don’t need to read about ten different headphones I’ve tested a ..read more

"You don't have to be an audio engineer to find a simple microphone set-up for your drums that will get you a great sound." let's get started ! What Drum Mics Should I Get? Table of Contents Earthworks DM-20 Tom Mic On Reddit, They’re Asking About Drum Mics Recently, on Reddit, I noticed that microphones were being asked about. More specifically, the question was posed: “What Drum Mics Should I Use?” Now, I should preface my answer to this question by stating that I am not a true recording gear head. In other words, I don’t understand all the pluses and minuses of different technic ..read more

"Am I Too Old To Learn Drums?" You're Not. Start With This Course. Am I Too Old To Learn The Drums? And More About Success Later In Life. Table of Contents Introduction : Am I Too Old To Learn Drums? I’ve often heard the lament “I’m too old,” as an excuse for not doing something. It could be used as an excuse to not do almost anything. Of course, in my line of work, I’ve heard it as a reason for not beginning to take up the drums. In fact, there was a time that I even asked the question of myself. But, unless you are impaired in a significant way due to your age, it u ..read more

Two Slick--FAST---Time Playing Licks That You Can Use Right Away. I'm Ready to Get Started How To Come Up With Slick Drumming Patterns You Can Actually Use In Your Grooves Table of Contents Introduction: Steve Gadd and “Dirty Old Man” It was somewhere in the mid-eighties when I first heard the type of idea that is the subject of this post. The drummer was Steve Gadd. The album was called NY Connection by Tom Scott, the great saxophonist. The tune was “Dirty Old Man.” On the track, Gadd plays a slick little hi-hat, bass drum and snare drum lick that occupies the ..read more

Elvin Jones: Transcription, Analysis, and New Yorker Interview Check Out Our Courses A Snapshot of One of Drumming's Heaviest Figures Table of Contents Elvin Jones’ Weighty Legacy  Elvin Jones was a trailblazer.  Coming to prominence during his stint with the John Coltrane Quartet, Jones always pursued a singular path of uniqueness as a drummer. His approach has long been viewed as revolutionary and he is one of the most influential drummers to have played the instrument.   Emphasis on Feeling and Phrasing Elvin was known as a player who valued the musical phra ..read more

"Milking Your Licks Dry" is an 8020 concept of manipulating your existing drum vocabulary to create NEW drumming words... Let's Get Started Table of Contents Applying 80/20 to Your Drumming Vocabulary: exercises on PDF What Do You Mean By “Milking Your Licks Dry?” And What’s The First Method of Doing It? One of my favorite drumming ideas is that you should “milk your licks dry.” A lot of great drummers and musicians rely on a limited vocabulary of ideas and patterns, but they play these ideas extremely well and they   use them in many different ways. And by using them in many ..read more

The Drum School has a huge library of drum instruction books. Below are some of my favorites I'm Ready to Get Started 9 AC DC Drum Chart PDFs Recently I was asked to play an AC/DC tribute show. In order to learn the songs quickly, I made drum charts on finale for all the tunes. I road tested the charts in rehearsals and on the gig, and they’re spot on with the original recordings. These are not note-for-note transcriptions, but they’re definitely more than just drum charts. The grooves are written out and the fills are very close to being exact. Want to learn some AC/DC song ..read more

Drumming “open-handed” simply means that the drummer plays the hi-hat with the left hand while the right hand plays the snare drum. I'm Ready to Get Started On Drumming Open Handed Open handed drumming is a method that is debated frequently. I’ve considered it and have applied it to my drumming here and there. In this article, I will weigh in on the pros and cons, my experience with playing this way, and my net-net opinion. For those not familiar with it, let’s define open-handed drumming. Let’s assume a right-handed drum set-up. Most of the time, the right-handed drummer will cross ..read more