New Student - Welcome Ashley!

One of the new students, Ashley, signed up last week, jumped in with both feet, and has already posted a vid of the stuff she's mastering from the live lessons. Watch out fellas, she's a KILLA!!!

Also, wanna welcome Jason to the live lessons as well! Pumped to have ya bro!

#MyStudentsRule

John Bonham Triplets - 30 Second Drum Lesson

We break 'em down...in 30 seconds or less!!!

Drum Solo Help

"Hey CAN YOU HELP!!!

Im going to be in a drum off and have been watchin your videos for help and love them. Got any ideas to make my solo pop and stand out to others? and any ideas on what i should play?

THANKS!"

100jasonallin (YouTube)

Sorry it took me so long to respond...I've been swamped!

And sure...the biggest thing you want to have in your pocket when you go to a drum off or drum competition is a clear idea of what you're going to play. I always come up with a motif...a recurring theme that I will come back to, build upon, revert to if I lose my head and get lost in the solo. It can be a 1 bar phrase, an interesting groove, a 4 bar idea, etc...there are no rules, you simply want to have a reference point that you can come back to, one that links the whole solo together for the listener and judges. After you figure that out, make 4-5 different sections. Each section should lean heavily on skills and licks that you already have down cold.

The biggest thing you want to do is HAVE FUN! You'll learn so much just by participating in something like a drum competition...the next one you enter will be ten times better than this one, I promise you that.

Hope that helps!

-ST

Snare Strand Size

Hi Stephen,

hope you're good mate. Quick question I'm sure you'll be able to answer..
I need some new snare wires for a couple of 14" snare drums, and i'm looking online for some good ones. When they say
'14" snare wires'
does that mean wires for a 14" snare drum? or the wires themselves are 14" long? because obviously i need the wires to be an inch shorter than the drum. I hope that makes sense.
I was trying to google this but it wasn't working for me so thought i'd ask you.
Thanks buddy

-D

What's up Danny...

I can see how you'd be confused. The 14" means it's for a 14" snare drum. I hope that helps bro!

-ST

how To Drum - Beginner Linear Groove

Sometimes linear patterns can seem overwhelming...at least to me they are. The reality is, they're simply several smaller patterns, or fragments, put together to make a longer pattern. Once you learn the "words" you need to make a "sentence" then you're good to go. Here's a simple linear groove that sounds cool and that you'll be playing in 5 minutes.

Student Video From Belgium

It's amazing to me that I am able to teach students in Belgium...and Finland...and the UK...and Scotland...and Canada...and the list goes on and on. Seriously, it's humbling to teach a linear pattern and then hear from a drummer halfway across the world...to see their progress. That's what drives me these days...seeing drummers from all over the world improve their playing. Here's Tielman from Belgium kicking one of the linear patterns from the live lessons...

On the Pad



On the Kit

Hip-Hop Drum Fills?

Hey Stephen,

First off i like all your clips on youtube. Ive been following techniques and tips from your videos for over a half year now.
I will subscribe to your site later on this week.

I am currently playing in two groups. The second is in the hiphop.soul.rock genre.
For the second group all the songs are already recorded either electronically or by there formular drummers. The presure is a bit bigger for this group, because there is a management and everything...
Because it is hiphop it is much about the beat and i have no problem to play there songs but i want to give them and make it for me a little bit interesting. Most of the songs are around 80-90 bpm and played in 16th notes,2 bar or 4 bar beats. I really have a hard time finding descent fills to make it interesting.

Is this for example also something you help people with?
I am only playing for 3,5 years, started at age 25 :)


What's up Tielman!

Once you gave me your YouTube named I knew exactly who you were...Thanks so much for the email! I'm so glad the lessons on You Tube have been helpful...that's what they're there for.

It's great that you've getting involved in various groups. Hip hop is a different animal. I love playing it because the beauty is in its simplicity. It's all about the groove and making people move to the beat. That's a totally different skill than throwing a bunch of licks in. It's good that you're thinking about how you can enhance the parts that are already there, make it yours, and also make it a bit interesting rhythmically. My biggest piece of advice would be to LISTEN to the style of music...in particular, listen to a band called The Roots. They've been around for a really long time. They're what is called "Organic Hip-Hop". All of them play the instruments live. Their drummer, Questlove, is a BEAST! Just by listening to their albums, you will learn a ton of effective and useful fills. My other piece of advice would be...when in doubt, keep it simple. Hip-hop doesn't need a ton of fills...it's all about the groove. Focus on making your grooves as tight as you can. Use this opportunity to work on that area of your playing.

It's alot of pressure working with a band that has management and a regular schedule of shows. You're on the right track though...you're thinking about the gig and what you can do to enhance the music. That's a sign of a real musician.

I actually do help drummers with this sort of thing. If you subscribe to the live lessons, I'll make it a point to devote a couple of lessons in the next few weeks to this particular topic and style. I love coming up with lesson topics around issues that my students are having trouble with. It's what drives me as a teacher.

I'd love to have you join the online lessons. Today is Funky Drummer Day...we do it once a month and we pick apart a couple of funk grooves. We're looking at some grooves from a band called The Funky Meters with Zigaboo Modeliste on drums. Gonna be a blast!


-ST