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, you're likely here for the transcriptions -
As usual please enter your best email address on the next page, because that's where I'll send the download links. Also, just for trusting me with your email address, I'm going to send you three of the best videos from the archive, complete with transcriptions, completely free.
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.