Free Course - How to Improvise

I love this thumbnail. “Wha?”

Anyway grab your free transcription here.

Now, let's talk about how to solo on the drums.

Little topic, right?

Should be easy to cover in...what...8 minutes, 11 seconds? (Less if you consider at least 45 seconds are probably me wasting time.)

But I wanted to make a stab at showing you part of the system I'm using with my coaching students. I've talked to enough teachers and students to know this is a thing: the "gen-1" drum instruction didn't have much to say about how to take vocabulary you'd learned dutifully from all those books or transcriptions, and actually apply it to your playing.

A growing number of teachers is now starting to close this gap, and I'd like to flatter myself and think I'm one of them.

See if you agree.

Anyway, the key distinction, in my opinion, is that between being able to memorize a lick or fill, and improvise it. In one scenario, you have a map to follow, in the other you know how to negotiate the territory without a map.

But how do you get there? Well, that's exactly what I take an 8-minute stab at.

Of course things like my group coaching program go way deeper. But I wanted to "demo" the method in a way you can see clearly, and start getting simple results right now. Oh, and it includes a transcription!

Hope you enjoy!

Early Access - Steve Lyman

I’ve followed Steve Lyman’s journey for at least a decade.

He was a promising young jazz drummer, playing with people like Nir Felder, and appearing several times on Drumeo to talk about jazz drumming.

After a stint teaching college in Utah, Steve is back in New York, and if you haven’t checked him out in a few years, it’s…different. From a promising jazz drummer, Steve’s developed into one of those rare players who also completely changes the idiom.

He calls his new language The Vector System, and if you’re familiar with Ari Hoenig, Dan Weiss, Mark Guiliana, and Marcus Gilmore (all of whom Steve says are huge influences), you’ll recognize elements. But The Vector System is its own new language.

I wanted to speak to Steve about the process of developing your own language, and the courage it takes to be radically individual - as indeed many of the guests on this pod are.

In the process we touch on creativity and inspiration writ-large, teaching, learning and more.

I really enjoyed this conversation with Steve, and hope you do.

Also, in our class Friday “two-fer”, if you haven’t caught my video about JD Beck, another radical innovator, you can watch that below.

And here’s the free transcription for the JD Lesson.

Hope you enjoy!

N

Early Access - Nate Wood

Nate Wood might be the ultimate “drummer’s drummer” of the current age.

Speak to practically any drummer who cut their teeth in the 20-teens, no matter what their genre, and it’s a fair bet you’ll find a Nate Wood fan.

Many innovators end up sounding “mainstream” by virtue of everybody imitating them, but if you can your mind back to 2006, those of us listening to illegal Kneebody bootlegs smuggled at great personal peril on VHS tapes, were like “whaaaaaat’s up with this drummer.”

The sound. The textures. The risks. The aggression. The whimsy.

Fast forward, and now a there are a lot of imitators.

I first sat down with Nate in 2016, and we only had 20 minutes for that convo, so I was excited to “run it back” - this time for a much longer and wider-ranging conversation.

Nate talks about:

• How fatherhood affects creativity

• How he prioritizes his time in his life, and in the shed

• When he realized Kneebody was becoming “a thing”

• Whether the internet is a net positive or net negative for drummers today

• What I’ve been calling “radical creativity”, an approach of complete trust of your musical instincts in the moment

• …and more…

He also critiques my performance of a Kneebody song called Greenblatt, from their record The Line.

If you haven’t seen the video about that process, it’s below.

Hope you enjoy!

N

Early Access - Mike Johnston

Mike Johnston is the godfather of online drum lessons. Back in the early 20-teens, when I was starting the channel, practically everything was Mike’s Lessons.

Fast-forward 10 years, and Mike’s figured out a niche that sees him teaching drum camps, doing clinic tours, working with sponsors to develop new products, and making only the content he wants to make.

In this wide-ranging interview, Mike shares about what’s changed in the drum ecosystem since we were both in college, his favorite gear, and what he’d tell a brand new creator about the bare minimum to get them started. He also dishes about whether there’s room for every drummer to be a personal brand.

I’ve enjoyed speaking to all my guests on the podcast so far, and MJ is no exception.

And if you haven’t caught my latest youtube video, on a new system I’m implementing to “boot-camp” myself to better solo trading in the jazz style, you can watch below.

And here’s the free download from that lesson.

Hope you enjoy!

N