Early Access - 5 Reasons You’re Still an Intermediate Drummer

Here’s the free download to accompany this lesson.

Tolstoy’s Anna Karinena begins with the line “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”

I feel that applies to drummers, only in reverse.

Every developed drummer is unique in their own way, and there are infinite ways to be good.

But practically every drummer on their way to being good passes through the same bottleneck.

This has been front-and-center in my mind this month as I’ve been watching a lot of footage from drummers doing one of my interactive courses. So many drummers work very hard to build up a bunch of “potential energy”, then end up getting blocked behind the same few things.

The good news is, once they break through, they often grow prodigiously for a few months, and it’s not because “shortcuts exist”', but rather because resolving these bottlenecks releases them to reap the benefits of all the work they’ve put in, but which they weren’t able to access.

And as I say in the video, there is zero shade for anybody who currently feels “stuck”. Everybody who ever became good was once at this same stage, and it’s not your fault - the quick wins and low hanging fruit to get to this stage stop working as quickly, and it can feel like progress just stalls.

That’s why I decided to make a video about the 5 most common blockers I see for drummers at this stage, and what to do about them.

While I can’t promise this will produce an immediate breakthrough, beginning to focus on these details can spell the beginning of a course change.

Finally, a program note - the “show notes” will be available later in the day, and I’ll post them here when they are.

Enjoy!

Early Access - TaRon Lockett on Humility, Erykah Badu, and Hard-Won Lessons

TaRon Lockett, who was Prince’ last drummer, who cut his teeth with Erykah Badu, and who was a key member of a scene that spawned Robert “Sput” Searight, Cleon Edwards and Mike Mitchell among others…

…showed up to our interview in character as his own life coach.

And from that point I knew this wasn’t going to be an “average” podcast episode.

It’s perfectly in-keeping with TaRon’s entire approach to music and creativity, though. There’s the dedication to “the bit”, evidenced by TaRon’s philosophy to dedicate himself 100% to assuming the character necessary to perform at his best for any gig he’s agreed to.

There’s the fearlessness that helped TaRon “not look back” when he left a college degree program to pursue music full-time after getting some high-profile gigs.

There’s the respect for age-old wisdom and the hard-won lessons of playing in church and learning by “respectful hard knocks”, and the dead seriousness of one’s dedication to their art.

Then there’s the duality itself, between irreverence, rebelliousness, and independence on one hand, and respect for the tradition and the aforementioned willingness to conform to perform his best on the gig.

In any case, if you’re patient, there are lessons, both humorous and serious to be gleaned both from TaRon-as-his-life-coach, and Taron-as-himself.

I hope you enjoy this fascinating the surprising conversation with one of the most underrated drummers around.

(And if you want to check out TaRon more, I recommend his instagram, starting with this clip.)

Early Access - Is Talent on Drums a Lie?

3 years ago, El Estepario Siberiano fired a shot across the bow of “conventional wisdom” in drums, with his video and tweet saying “talent is a lie”.

And if we’re talking about the caricature of talent - that certain people just emerge from the womb with abilities more-or-less fully intact, or maybe like an internet mattress that just needs to unfurl, and others are doomed to “grind” for all eternity - I agree.

I get braindead youtube comments all the time that basically amount to “why bother practicing anything; it’s all talent at the end of the day.”

I’ve spoken about my own journey on this front - in 2008 I was contemplating quitting the drums, then picked up a pop science book that explained The Ten-Thousand-Hour Rule, and had the outlines of a change-in-religion: I hadn’t put in anywhere near 10k hours, and therefore had a lot more work before I complained.

And Siberiano, by showcasing his own development from the stage where a lot of my viewers currently are, to the player he’s evolved into, does a good job at debunking the weak form of the talent argument.

But what about the stronger forms?

Deeper dives into the 10k-hour rule have found a number of misunderstandings, and some subsequent studies seem to “debunk” it. What are we to make of those?

And what if there is a “talent cliff”, but it just happens after Siberiano’s former level, if most of us are just doomed to stay where he was 10 years ago. (That would be a pretty wild coincidence, but work with me here.)

For anyone interested in a truly-nerdy deep-dive, this video is for you.

And I bet if you watch the whole thing, you’ll come away more optimistic than you were.

Enjoy!

Early Access - This Should NOT Work To Improve Your Time, But Somehow It Does

Download the free transcription here.

Everyone has heard me sing the praises of the metronome.

But there’s another “cheat” I use to play in time. And it’s analogous to something MMA fighters and boxers do.

But let’s back up. It’s rare that I share “here’s a lick I’ve been working on” lessons these days, because…who cares about me? I’d far rather share an interview with somebody great, or a video about them.

But occasionally people will ask me a question so frequently I decide it should be its own lesson. Such was the case with this week’s topic: time playing.

Sure - practice with the metronome, and use all the crazy tricks we’ve discussed over the years…

…but I’d lying if I said there weren’t certain “copes” that help me stay in time during a performance. And one of the biggest is simply subdividing with my body.

And it just so happens I took notice of a simple “lick” I play quite frequently. It’s analogous to how boxers put a hand out to gauge distance. With this series of 3 “taps” on the snare, I’m both orienting my hand in space so I have a better idea where the drum is when I “wind up” for a rimshot…

…and also orienting my ear in time, so I can “lock up” with the pulse more easily. Particularly when I’m coming out of another subdivision.

It’s a “cope” and a “cheat”, for sure. But I think it’s funky.

See what you think!