Paste nate's prepared text
Louis Styx Newsom Beat for Subscribers
So begins a few weeks of lessons that depart from my usual "play like this or that drummer" pattern, in order to delve more deeply into the process of Learning to Play. It just so happens that this week's source material comes from gospel drummer Louis "Styx" Newsom, by way of friend-of-the-channel and killer-in-his-own-right Chesley "Cheese" Allen, of whom I've been a fan for almost 2 years.
Drumming, at its core, consists of two elements - a "what" and a "how", and the further we get along our journey, the more we start to sound like ourselves. Everything we take in/borrow/steal from our heroes goes through the filter of "us", and comes out sounding "Chesleyfied" or "Guilianized" or, in the case of these lessons "Nateified". It just so happened that Louis Newsom supplied the "what" - a sextuplet lick not unlike one Jojo or Spanky might play, and I attempt to supply the "how" - to take you through my process of discovering a new influence, stealing his best licks (thanks Louis;), and bending/shaping them until I can connect them with the growing jigsaw puzzle of my own "voice" (still fledgling, at this point, compared to my heroes).
Anyway, let me hook you up with the transcriptions...
IN THE SPIRIT OF THIS LESSON, I WANT TO ISSUE A FRIENDLY CHALLENGE...
As another gospel great, Tim "Fig" Newton is fond of saying, "don't let it end here." Take the licks, mess with them, and make them yours. So I invite you to show me what you can do with Louis' source material. Take one of these licks, and invent something else with it, then post the video in the comments.
Hard Drum Beat for Subscribers
I have to shout out Drumeo, my behemoth compatriot in the drum lesson space (I don't consider this Zero Sum competition, so I don't use the word "competitor") for the idea for this week's lesson. In truth, though, the idea has been marinating for a few months - ever since I read Josh Waitzkin's book The Art of Learning, and listened to Mark Guiliana, Oli Bernatchez, and Ofri Nehemya.
Josh, chess-champion-cum-Taiqi/Juijitsu-phenom, speaks about a concept called "making smaler circles" to refer to gradual refinement of a skill. You start out with all the steps explicit, giving everything equal weight. Over time, you gain a feel for the "80/20" of the movement, and learn to perform it with fewer-and-fewer explicit steps. The end result is a Taiqi master who can throw an opponent out of the ring with zero movement visible to an inexperienced onlooker, because the movements are so deep and subtle.
I immediately thought of Mark, Oli, and Ofri. What makes these drummers (and Marcus Gilmore and Ari Hoenig) so great is it often feels like you're only seeing the outward manifestation of about 20% of what they've got happening inside.
Like a reduced balsamic vinegar or high quality whiskey, TONS of source material has gone into producing something very minimal, but it's not a 1:1 tradeoff: you still see evidence that there's more-than-meets-the-eye when you watch Mark, Oli, and Ofri. They've made smaller circles.
Anyway, I was at-a-loss as to how to communicate this to you good folks until my buddies over at Drumeo produced One Easy Drum Beat That Sounds Hard, and, jokester-that-I-am, I knew I'd have to produce a lesson on precisely the opposite, I realized - "OH. This is Making Smaller Circles Redux."
Finally, Easter Egg - I'll be in Hong Kong October 12-16 and Taipei the following week, and planning to do drum clinics. More info coming soon!
Thomas Pridgen Part 2 Lesson for Subscribers
Ahoy there drum killers! Last week found me back in the shed continuing to check out and refine Thomas Pridgen's drum vocabulary. For this lesson, I focussed on the Drum Channel solo, which provided me two great things: a jumping off point for muscular linear playing, and some great new fills. As your faithful trailblazer, I experimented around until I got 3 key takeaways to share with you guys-
- A cool way to practice linear vocab, and the "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee" approach that will add power to your playing without costing you more energy.
- A bunch of jaw-dropping fills that will get the audience on their feet.
- All this stuff works even if you wear a shirt. (Sorry, Thomas, I had to:P)
Anyway, you're likely here for the transcription!
Do you agree with Thomas that your playing ability increases slightly after the removal of your shirt? Leave a comment below!