DRUM! - Lessons

Lesson of the Week Practice Pad Metal

Matt Byrne’s Metal Secrets: Double Trouble

This lesson is going to focus on the rudiment that we metal heads tend to overlook — the double stroke.

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Practice Pad Fusion

Schnalle Method: Paradiddle Tap Orchestrations

In this lesson I continue my exploration of “odd-adiddles,” I put the paradiddle tap in a jazz context. ... MORE »

Cover Story

15 Classic Beats From The British Invasion

The influx of English bands in the early to mid-1960s was more than just a new style of music; it was also a cultural revolution that ultimately would influence fashion, sexuality, and politics. Think Austin Powers, and you’ll get the idea, baby. Bands like the Rolling Stones, The Beatles, and The Who made great music during the period that has passed the test of time and continues to have a profound effect on the music we listen to today. Lots of the drummers of the era had backgrounds in jazz, and some had trouble adapting to the straight eighth feel of rock, which is why much of the music has a subtle swing.

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Practice Pad World

Jim Donovan: Mastering 6 Over 4

At the foundation of many West African rhythmic structures is the polyrhythm 6 over 4.... MORE »

Artist Analysis

Steve Ferrone’s “First Flash Of Freedom”

Our buddy, Nate Brown from onlinedrummer.com, demonstrates Steve Ferrone’s spacious drum part on the song “First Flash Of Freedon” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers latest release, Mojo. You can find a transcription of these patterns on page 56 of the August 2010 issue of DRUM! Magazine.

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Practice Pad Metal

Matt Byrne: Experiments With Inverted Beats

In this lesson Matt Byrne messes around with some inverted beats between the kick, snare, and hi-hats, as well as with some beats that incorporate left foot-patterns on the hi-hat.

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Practice Pad Jazz

Peter Erskine: Indian & Brazilian Rhythm Trick

Tricky! Famed Indian musician, composer, and sitar master Ravi Shankar showed this to jazz musician and bandleader Don Ellis in the 1960s. This is a fascinating rhythmic study.

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Practice Pad Jazz

Schnalle Method: Expanding The Paradiddle-Tap

In previous columns, we’ve played with the pardiddle-tap sticking in jazz and paradiddle modulation exercises. Here we use the pardiddle-tap sticking to create “lick” vocabulary.... MORE »

Practice Pad Rock

Mike Cosgrove: Playing Around With Paradiddles

One of the best ways to challenge your technique is to play paradiddles in as many ways possible. Here's a lesson that shows how.

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Practice Pad Play Along

Rich Redmond’s Groove Builder Video Exercises

Do you want to make every beat count? Using simple exercises, Nashville studio and touring hotshot Rich Redmond demonstrates how to make your grooves dynamically fatter by combining accented strokes and ghosted taps. His secret combines drumming mechanics and basic musicianship to add more muscle to your groove.

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Cover Story

Workshop: 10 Ways To Sound Like Bill Bruford

To examine Bruford’s contribution to drumming by simply compiling a list of “Brufordisms” is to diminish his legacy. Like the greatest of composers, the merits of this legacy are most apparent when his work is viewed holistically, rather than as separate achievements. After all, these techniques and innovations were not consciously devised independently of one another. They evolved as a style over time, forging one of rock’s truly unmistakable musical voices, which has modeled artistic integrity of the highest degree for the past 40 years and reflects the true personality of its owner. His prose, in fact, reads much like his drumming: meticulously crafted, yet never sounding belabored; complex, yet totally reasonable. To state it plainly, Bruford has been very successful in striking the perfect balance between brainy and badass.

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Practice Pad Metal

Matt Byrne: Double Bass Stamina And Independence

In this lesson we’re going to go over some double bass basics. First off, balance and posture are very important, so your setup is key, with the throne being your anchor point. Sitting too close or too far from the kick drums will throw your balance off, causing you to lean in and hunch over or lean back and push off your pedals. Sit at a distance that feels naturally comfortable, with your feet relatively shoulder length apart.

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