What I Really Think About Hand Technique

It’s been a few weeks since I waded headlong into a controversy, so I figured “what the hey?”

Maybe even more than foot technique, hand technique is the subject of debate, orthodoxies, and sacred cows. Fingers or wrists? French or German? Bounced or articulated?

At various stages in my life I’ve studied all of those approaches, and the technique I use now differs from all of them in two respects. First, it’s not a fixed approach, but rather an adaptive one. It can look like French grip with a thumb-index-finger fulcrum at times. It can look like German grip with the fulcrum in the back fingers at others. Second, it’s not a left-brain, top-down approach, but rather a backward-justification of what “feels right”.

In this video I cover the primary things a good technique is supposed to do for you and 3-dimensional spectrum of possibilities techniques can fall into. Then I share the one secret that’s responsible for most of my “success” taming the hand-technique beast.

And for the comment thread this week, I’m again inviting drama. Have you had a hand technique issue you’ve solved. How?

JP Bouvet, Purdie Shuffles, and Hertas

Whoever says I only cover famous drummers, and I that should do more lessons about how to play like yourself, is flattering me unnecessarily. I’m waaaaaaay too lazy to transcribe a new drum solo every week. Thus, most of the “non-famous-drummer” lessons have to be about just that.

Besides, I still want the core message of my channel to be “you can sound like a better version of yourself by borrowing/stealing from your heroes, then learning a superior Operating System to get their...vibe...into yours. Quite often, after I study a drummer to make a lesson about him/her, there are a few weeks of extra stuff he/she inspires, and not to make a lesson about that would be selling you guys short.

So, while this lesson isn’t directly transcribed from JP Bouvet, it is inspired by him. Two weeks ago, when I filmed this, I had just learned that indeed I’d have the privilege of performing for a room of enthusiastic drummers in Thailand, and was in a wild-eyed panic now that I had to figure out something to talk about. As such I binge watched a bunch of Real drum clinicians, and, quite frankly, JP stood out because he was the best.

If you’re worried, however, that this week’s lesson will “spoil the surprise”, don’t. After getting inspiration from JP, I took a different direction, exploring two seemingly unrelated subjects (though you’ll see that they’re actually quite closely related;)

And for the comment thread this week, I’m opening a Pandora’s Box, so Be Honest, but Be Nice;) Is there a subject you feel I’ve covered so much it’s like “alRIGHT already with the…”? Is there one that you’re just praying I’ll get to, only to be cruelly disappointed each week? (That Rat Bastard. Never again. NEVER again…”) ;) Let me know!

How to Play Like Tony Royster Part One

It’s about time.

My first memory of Tony Royster was as a youngster, alongside Dennis Chambers.

Then, with the advent of the internet, Gospel Chops, and social media, he started popping up everywhere. Fast-forward to present-day, and Royster, drumist behind Jay Z’s live apparatus and among the most sought-after clinicians on Earth, has come-of-age.

I knew as soon as I saw the deluge of covers of Show Me What You Got that I’d eventually have to do a lesson on Tony, but I wanted to wait. I wasn’t good enough as either a player or teacher to cover Tony in a meaningful way (I tried in the Faster Hands video, a process that took me weeks), and I was building a brand around learning the most important things first, and Homicidal Single Strokes seemed outside the wheelhouse.

But in the last year I’ve come to realize the point is extracting the most useful parts of every player, Bruce Lee style, and that if I could make The Royst accessible, maybe my audience would believe me that all of you, too, have the capacity to steal from the Best.

Anyway, you’re probably here for the transcription.

And for the comment thread this week, was there ever a time you thought you had everything together, then you watched another drummer and he made you feel like a rank amateur? (For me, Eric Harland, Lee Pearson, Nate Wood, Marcus...the list cotinues;) If so, who?

How to (Really) Play The Kick Drum

This week's lesson was supposed to be tony royster. (Don't worry - the tony lesson is coming soon.) Then I got an email from one of my coaching students. I'm paraphrasing, but it was something like "please explain the kick drum in detail."

Which leads me to an obvious point about my tendencies given a choice between another hour of careful transcription, or a swiftly organized presentation on something that's second nature followed by an extended happy hour, and a deeper point about how some of the most valuable insights are lost on the "teacher", who takes them for-granted.

In any case, it turns out I have a story to tell, as a guy who used to play exclusively heel-down, who's recently come over to the Dark Side.

Anyway, you’re probably here for the transcription.

And for the comment thread this week, the obvious question: agree with the lesson or disagree? Are you a died-in-the-wool heel-downer (don't be a Downer;), or do you swear the jojo heel-toe technique is the only game in town? Learn me!

Drum Solo Lick I (Think I) Invented

There’s a strong possibility I stole this from Eric Harland. But what’s really original?

People are always asking for an Eric lesson, and sure, I’ll circle around to Eric, but the truth is Eric’s in so much of what I play. (How to play jazz Part 2, for instance.)

But the reason I had Eric on the brain this week is I’ve been buckling down on my drum solos. How do you build a really great solo from scratch? How to you escalate intensity? A good deal of my free material on soloing can be found in my Mark Guiliana Part 2 video, but in this session I’m going to give you something “quick and dirty” you can cop straight from me, that will help add an edge to your next drum solo.

Anyway, you’re probably here for the transcription.

And for the comment thread this week, a little “market research” - have you attended a drum clinic in the last year? If who, who, and what did you feel you getting out of the event that you couldn’t find just by watching the person’s videos. [If you think I’m mining for material for my clinics, your mom didn’t raise any dummies;)]

How to Play Like Chris Dave Pt. 2

Am I as good as my word? Part two of the Chris Dave deep dive is ready.

To reiterate, my goal for you after you’ve studied both these videos is not that you’ll have a verbatim Chris Dave lick to pull out of your toolbox when the moment’s right, but rather that you’ll start to hear “Chris-Dave-esque” things naturally, when it makes musical sense, and be able to play your own phrases in Chris’ style.

Like most of the drummers I cover on the channel, Chris has a repertoire deep enough to render any attempt to wrap your arms around it not only woefully inadequate, but a Quixotic affront to humility writ large. Whiiiich is pretty much the 80/20 Bat Signal. At-the-ready to answer, foolheartedly, the call, I attempt in this week’s lesson to give you some Hot Licks to supplement the beats we learned last week, including the Money Lick from the Kanye Flashing Lights cover. Importantly, though, not just licks - I attempt to get underneath to what Chris may have practiced, so that you can improvise your own.

Anyway, you’re probably here for the transcription.

And for the comment thread this week, a fun one - if you could be stuck by lightening and play exactly like Chris Dave with zero practice, but you could never again know True Love, would you take the Devil’s Bargain? (I feel like I know some Juilliard students who took this bargain - whaaaaaaaaat. JK I love you guys;) Leave a comment below!

How to Play Like Chris Dave Part One

I suspect this one will cause controversy. In fact, it already has.

Any attempt to wade into an area so thoroughly explored by other drummers, let alone try to speak intelligently about somebody who’s inspired so much emotion, is bound to provoke some disagreement. And nobody since maybe Elvin Jones has broken with drum tradition so powerfully as Chris.

So let me be clear - I’m not taking a stand on exactly what Chris plays. In this lesson at least. I’ll leave that to others (one of whom I link to in the lesson). True - in Part 2, which releases this Sunday, I include one exact transcription. In general, though, I’m most concerned with what they practiced to be able to improvise the things they play, and how we can steal the Root and use it to come up with our own licks.

In this lesson, I deal with one facet of Chris’ playing - his feel. In particular, two beats from his now famous drum cover medley.

Anyway, you’re probably here for the transcription.

And for your comments, a less obvious question: if you’re a Chris fan like me, what convention of drumming did Chris give you permission to rethink? Leave a comment below!

How to (Really) Play Up Tempo Brushes

I work on brushes a lot because I suck at them. Seriously. I believe they’re the single most difficult thing in the drummer’s tool kit.

But that’s precisely why I may have some insight. If I can help myself get better at brushes, I can help anyone.

Anyway, I finally felt confident enough to circle back to brushes this week and tackle one of the more popular subjects I get asked about: up-tempo brushes. Since I’m working on specing out a practice regimen for my course, I thought I’d take just a bit of the approach I’m using there and explain it in this lesson.

Bottom line: we’re trying to make your playing cleaner, and bust you out of ostinatos and make you feel freer at up tempos.

Anyway, you’re probably here for the transcription.

Do you have any tricks or hacks that have worked for you to make up-tempos “click” better? I’d love to hear about them below!

How To Play Any Rap Song In 2015

As you might surmise, there’s a story behind this week’s lesson. The track that opens it was beamed into my bedroom window every weekend night for a good six weeks, turned up to “11”, courtesy of my neighbors across the alley. And I have to say, I came to love it a little bit.

Scorched-Earth-Rager-Stockholm-Syndrome? Probably.

Anyway, I already had I’m in Love With The Coco in my head for obvious reasons (because it’s Awesome), I was hearing all the new Drake and Lil Wayne hits, then something hit me: A very particular species of halftime dirge beat hardly anybody had worked with up to this point (contrast it, for instance, with last summer’s hits, Happy by Pharrell, Am I Wrong by Nico and Vinz, and Talk Dirty to Me by Jason Derulo) was suddenly Everywhere.

And good thing, because it’s a great beat to practice drums to! That’s what inspired this week’s lesson. If you can play along with this summer’s hottest rap tracks, you’ve probably worked on your pocket quite a bit, and your microtime is probably piping. For the folks in my course, any track in this video will make a great play-along for modules 5 or 11.

Anyway, you’re probably here for the transcription.

Do you have any silly-but-awesome R&B anthems you’re drumming along with this summer? Leave a comment below!

Nick Smith Chop Gets the 8020 Treatment

As I create the material for modules 11 and 12 of my course, I’m reminded of the reason I named my channel “80/20”. Because sometimes it’s not about Doing Everything or Doing The Most, but about Doing The Best. By definition, there are possibilities you’ll leave out, because they’re not as useful. Too abstract

Take this week’s lesson. After 3-4 months of transcribing gospel chops, I feel I’ve got a pretty streamlined system to assimilate other people’s licks into my own vocabulary. But it’s not what you might think. Nate of a Year Ago would have recommended taking a chop and finding every possible way to orchestrate, permutate, and genarally Mess With it. But I’ve come to realize a lot of those possibilities are a luxurious waste of time. Pretend you’re a special forces squadron, and you’ve got limited time and budget to train. Are you going to practice every possible situation that could arise, or are you going to look at your history books and practice those most likely to come up and most dire?

So, instead of showing you a million-and-one ways to mess with this Nick Smith chop, I’ve narrowed it down to the three Most Cold Blooded.

Anyway, you’re probably here for the transcription.

Four Tricks To Make Your Jazz Drumming Sick(er)

I’ll admit it. I was ¾ into editing a lesson on a totally different subject when I sat back and sighed. “This is all shit they’ve heard before.” Really, though, I just wasn’t cracking. I wasn’t entertaining myself. So I did what I’m going to try to do more often in coming weeks: I started from scratch, and started simple. I remembered an email I’d received from an earnest student.

“What should I work on? I’m practicing 45 minutes of your course, then….” and it was a laundry list.

I remember the response I’d composed in my head. “Maybe you should try to simplify, and stick to just a couple of things.” The funny part is, that’s what my course is designed to do, and he was taking it! Then it occurred to me - why not make my response to him into a lesson, so that everybody can see it?

So that was the genesis - instead of working your way through 10 books every day, here are some methods I’ve worked out (that I’ve heard some of my drum heroes talk about too) for taking one lick and spending an entire practice session on it.

Anyway, you’re probably here for the transcription.

Louis Newsom Gospel Lick - Lesson of The Week

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.

One Hard Drum Beat That Sounds Easy - Lesson of The Week

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! 

Play Like Thomas Pridgen Part 2 - Lesson of The Week

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-

1. 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.
2. A bunch of jaw-dropping fills that will get the audience on their feet.
3. All this stuff works even if you wear a shirt. (Sorry, Thomas, I had to:P)

Anyway, you're likely here for the transcription!

Make sure you enter your best email address on the next page so I know where to send the transcription! As a Thankyou, I'll also send you 3 of my most popular videos from the archive, complete with their own transcriptions.

Do you agree with Thomas that your playing ability increases slightly after the removal of your shirt? Leave a comment below!

The Thomas Pridgen Lick - Lesson of The Week

This week's lesson found me at "80/20 Studios West", filming a quick video while bunking/hanging with my parents in Montana. (Yes, "white trash surfing", or riding the inner tube of a big rig tire down the river, is the truth. No, don't carry your car keys with you.)

Anyway, in search of something "quick and dirty" I could make for you guys, I remembered a Thomas Pridgen lick from one of the first Gospel Chops videos ever made, and luckily it dovetailed with something I'd been messing about...sorry - messing around...with (hanging out with too many Brits lately;) since shooting the Nick Smith Lesson two weeks ago.

"People have been playing that same lick since the '90s! I played that lick on the Jimmy Kimmel show with Keyshia Cole!" Thomas says, apparently urging viewers to move onto something else. As novice Gospel Chops aficionado, I had different things in mind.

If this lick's a cliche, I probably need to learn it.

Anyway, you're likely here for the transcriptions.

Make sure you enter your best email address on the next page, because that's where I'll email the transcription. (It's free, btw.) And as a "thankyou", I'll also send you three my most popular videos from the archive. If they don't help you, just unsubscribe! If they do, I'd love to hear about it!

Anyway, enjoy the lesson, and if you have any favorite Thomas Pridgen licks you'd like me to transcribe and/or break down, just leave a comment below!

Play Odd Meters Like Nate Wood - Lesson of The Week

For months I've been looking for an excuse to do a lesson on Nate Wood. Medium-term fans of the channel will remember Nate was my interview guest last fall - another drummer who atomized me in a "shed" by appearing to think and play in four dimensions and making me feel repetitive and dynamically limited by comparison. But it was difficult to find a subject on which to base a Nate lesson - do I cover a demanding Tigran Hamasyan tune like Serpentine? Or do I break down his solo from Kneebody's Trite, which requires probably six months of training in cross-handed break-beat hi hat technique out-of-the-gate. The problem with Nate's playing is the "difficulty level" is so high, and it's so whimsical. There aren't really any "licks" to latch onto.

But I found something - Nate's penchant for expanding the barline on odd meters, and Ben Wendel's tune Backbou from his excellent record Frame seemed like the perfect canvas upon which to demonstrate.

First things first - you're probably here for the transcriptions. Get them by clicking on the button below.

Make sure you enter your best email address on the next page because that's where I'll send the download links. In exchange for your email address, I want to send you 3 of the most popular lessons from the archive, that I have it on good authority will make you better!

Have a nominee for the next Nate Wood lesson? Leave a comment below!

Play The Big Beat Like Jeff Ballard - The 80/20 Drummer

Jeff is the first of a few weeks of lessons on things I wouldn't have been able to do a year ago. People have been asking for a breakdown of the Knives Out beat from the Brad Mehldau Trio for ages, but I wasn't good enough to make it happen.

Luckily the collective pressure pushed me to get my act together, and in the process I figured out a few shortcuts to playing half-swing-half-breakbeat stuff as Jeff does on that tune.

First things first - the transcription...

Make sure you enter your best email address on the next page, so I know where to send the files! Just for giving me your email address, I'll send you 3 or my most popular videos from the archive, complete with transcriptions, completely free.

Have a favorite Jeff Ballard track? (The list is deep - mine might be The Next Step with Kurt Rosenwinkel.) Leave a comment below!

Play Gospel Chops Like Nick Smith - Lesson of The Week

Ahoy folks this week's "guest" needs no introduction. Famous not only as one of the best drummers of his generation, but also - and in my opinion more importantly - for bucking the "conventional" path to success: playing in church, going to Berklee, then getting huge on the internet, largely on the back of bootleg church clinic videos and the insurgent Soultone Cymbals YouTube channel, is Mr. Nick Smith.

That's why the track that's the subject of this week's video hits so close to home. "Comin from low, still on the rise - Look at Me."

Anyway, you're likely here for the Transcription, so let's get to it!

Make sure to enter your best email address on the next page, because that's where I'll send the transcription. You'll also get 3 of my most popular videos from the archive, complete with transcriptions, for free, just for giving me your email address. It goes without saying that I hate spam and I won't abuse your email address!

Have a favorite Nick Smith track? Let me know in the comments below!

Virtual Drum Clinic - Nate Answers Viewer Questions, Part One

It began as an exercise to save time. "Just ask my viewers what they want to hear about, then I won't have to invent a lesson," I thought. Ha!

The good news is, like most self-challenges I accidentally get myself into because I think they'll be "easy", recording this one both pushed me to consider a lot of what I do more deeply, and gave me a (virtual) ream of good ideas for lessons. Anyway, in this lesson I discuss...

1:26 - how to practice playing over a tune form, how to practice drum solos

6:33 - can you learn drums or are you either born with it or not, and what to do when the band has crappy time

10:01 - respecting the tradition, and choosing a grip

13:21 - how to play the bass drum faster, play off the head

(14:50 - roadmap;)

17:08 - what's my background, and what advice would I give a young jazz drummer looking for career success.

Resources mentioned in this episode - 

• How to play like Mark, Part 2 (advanced soloing)
• Stablemates, by Benny Golson
• The 8020 Roadmap
• The Tropical MBA Podcast - Make money without working for the Man.

Guys, if you want to continue the discussion about any of the issues I'll be in the comments of this post. Love your feedback!

Play Like Stewart Copeland Part One

It's hard to quantify fully the influence Stewart Copeland has had on drums writ large, and on me personally. The first album I was allowed to call my own when I was a kid was a copy of Regatta de Blanc, which I nearly wore out playing Message in a Bottle and Walking on The Moon. Fast forward 13 years and I went off to college and discovered jazz - first drummers like Philly Joe Jones and Art Blakey, then modern drummers like Eric Harland and Kendrick Scott. Long-story-short, it had been a minute since I gave Stewart a concerted listen. Then a few months ago I discovered some clinic videos on YouTube, and before I knew it I was down a rabbit-hole, rediscovering songs I hadn't thought about in ages.

Here's the thing - Stewart still sounds like he was recording those songs in 2008. Put the police back together, get Eric Harland to sub for Stewart and my guess is he'd sound an awful lot like...Stewart. That's how deep the influence runs, and that's how ahead-of-his-time Stewart was.

Anyway, you're probably here for the transcription!

If you're new to the channel, make sure to enter your best email address on the next page, because that's where I'll send you the transcription. You'll also get 3 of the most popular videos from the archive, as a "thanks" from me.

Have a favorite Police song? Tell me what it is in the comments below!