Two Sextuplet Licks - Nate Transcribes Himself

First-things-first: grab your transcription here. (You’ll also get my 3-videos-to-improve-your-playing-in-3-weeks)

Most weeks, I bring you either licks I lift from other drummers, or concepts I’m messing with.

Every once-in-a-while, though, I’ll catch myself playing something repetitively.

If it sucks, I try to “unlearn” it, or choose other ideas.

If it doesn’t - if I’m like “whoa, did I come up with that?”, I share it with you guys.

This one was a bit of a challenge.

I knew what I was playing, but I decided to go “before” and “after” the licks.

In the “before”, I try to show you what I might have been messing with to come up with the lick.

In the “after”, I take it, and apply it to a different rhythmic context.

Hence, two “sextuplet” licks that work both as (1) proper sextuplets, and (2) subdivided triplets, which subdivide the measure differently, but occur at equivalent rate to that of sextuplets.

So it turned my head around a bit. What I’m trying to say is…I’m sacrificing for you guys;)

Anyway, enjoy the lesson, and don’t forget to grab the transcription, and your 3 free videos, here.

Easy Fill That Sounds Hard

First things first: grab your transcription here.

In creating lessons like this week's lesson…

...I've lately been "digging deep" into my own playing.

Yea, it's fun to do Spanky, or Chris Dave, or Marcus...

...but I try to keep a balance.

For one, for every "tribute" video I do, I'll get comments like "why don't you stop featuring others and teach us something original?

For two, I've been going "introspective" for the last few months anyway.

I "came up for air" to check out Andy Prado's playing, and record half of a lesson that I hope will someday see the light-of-day...

...and to check in briefly with Ofri, and see if my left foot had improved relative to last time (it hadn't by much, which cued the self-immolation many of you witnessed on Instgram)...

Besides that, though, it's mostly been getting-out-by-going-through.

So, the reality of this week's lesson:

It's a 9-beat pattern I realized I was playing.

I thought it was cool enough to canonize in lesson form.

It has many applications, in my opinion.

But I took to the internets, to see what the kids were searching for.

After all, if the lesson doesn't get see, what's the point.

It turns out the kids, in large measure, are searching for "easy drum fill that sounds hard."

Press Pause: what does that say about our culture? Could you think of five words that more succinctly sum up the American ethos, in the Kanye era

Be-that-as-it-may, today's like is easy..

...and it does sound hard.

So if you want to use it to fool people into thinking you've put far more years in on the trap kit than you actually have, at least until you play a beat...

...I suppose it would work.

Either way, it sounds good in both sixteenths and sextuplets, and the body choreography opened up my playing quite a bit.

And grab your transcription here.

Test Your Chops and Coordination with This "Backwards" Beat

First things first: Download the transcription here, and get 3 bonus videos to improve your playing in 3 weeks.

The lesson I'm publishing this week is one I recorded just a week after I published the "are rudiments still relevant" lesson.

Since then, YouTube's kind of turned into a "show me your singles" contest.

Let me explain:

Two years ago, I did a lesson called "what I really think about hand technique". I spoke about things like back fulcrum, and the "overlap method" for making anything with doubles clean, slow-fast-slow.

I thought that lesson would start some controversy, but it was pretty well received.

Last month, I decided to circle around again to the issue of rudiments, since some of my YouTube brethren were weighing-in on it.

Now, I've always insisted that much of the way drums are currently taught is wasted time:

Practice pads...

Warm-ups...

Hours spent practicing the same abstract exercises...

But, in the latest rudiments lesson, I took a softer tone. Rudiments are important, I argued, for a number of reasons.

It's just that they've turned into a religion, or an orthodoxy.

Maybe, I hinted, if we spent 10% of the time we spent practicing rudiments on something else, it would be a better use of our time.

I called out my familiar culprits: lack of a clean sound, lack of hands/feet playing together when they're supposed to, and crappy time. And I showcased a couple of exercises to work on that stuff.

Most people were kind.

Some straight insisted on the rudiment orthodoxy without really engaging with the material in the lesson.

But a couple called out my rudiments. Haha.

At the beginning of the lesson, I played through a few standard rudiments, just to put some "skin in the game". If I'm taking a stand on rudies, I should put some of mine up there to judge.

I didn't think they were great - maybe B+.

I've stood alongside Maison Guidry when he plays singles. I've stood behind Greg Hutchinson as he played a solo on the snare drum. I've watched great classical percussionists play Delecluse. I have a pretty good idea what rudiments should sound like. (Haha look at me getting all defensive;)

Of course I was self-conscious, though. So I'll make another lesson soon devoted to everything that's awesome about rudiments, and will likely shed some material so that my rudiments are at least middle-of-the-road A.

But back to this week's lesson:

This week's beat is a good-natured "challenge" to everybody who thinks their singles are perfect.

First, I want to say, "congrats!" It's not easy, and you should be proud of your accomplishment.

Next, I want to offer this week's beat up, as the next thing to practice.

And let's keep it positive.

All things being equal, someone who practices a lot of rudiments is going to sound better than someone who doesn't.

Also, someone who sheds stuff like this week's lesson, and who can play it cleanly, will sound better than someone who doesn't.

It's not one-or-the-other. It's both.

Alright killers, that's where I'll leave it.

Be sure to grab your transcriptions here.

Slick 5/4 Beat

Ahoy!

Grab the transcription here.

Cool Brush Lick For Swing Beats

First-things-first -

Click here to grab the transcription (and get my 3 free videos in 3 weeks as a bonus gift).

In music, in sports, and in fighting, there are the "highlight reel" skills:

Slam Dunks and Single Strokes

Quarterback Sacks and Double Pedal

Wins By Knockout and Odd Meter Solos

Berimbolo/Inside Heel Hooks and Blast Beats

Then, there are the "adult" skills.

Those unsexy skills that won't get you girls (or guys)...

...but they still take a lot of work.

For that category, I humbly submit brushes and half-guard.

You already know what brushes are.

Somebody on Instagram told me that was a "narrow analogy" because not every drummer knows what half guard is.

I replied, visualizing perturbed-Jimmy-Stewart at his typewriter, that every drummer worth a damn knows what half guard is;)

Well, I'm going to help you be "worth a damn".

Half guard is like the last resort when you're getting smashed by a grappling opponent, but you still have one leg to work with.

Instead of turning upside-down and ensnaring him acrobatically, you're mostly-squashed, and you're fighting for inches.

Half-guarders aren't dashing leading men. They're slightly-unsavory characters who have "made their bones". They're not Neo; they're Cypher.

The same is true of true brush artists.

When the chips-are-down, you can count on them to do-what-they-do, and what they do is live according to a byzantine internal code that eschews flashiness and embraces the Grind.

But here's the thing about half-guarders and brushians: like Bane, they welcome a bad situation. They live for it.

Paul Schreiner likes to let you think you're passing, snare you like an anaconda, then have his way with you.

Ed Thigpen could play ballads all night. He found a million miles of nuance in a few decibels of volume.

So, my drummers, I ask you: do you want to be transparently-glory-seeking? Then crumble at the first sign of trouble?

Or do you want you want to be the drummer from the Rated R movie?

The guy/girl with a few too many tattoos in the wrong places?

A few phone numbers you should probably delete.

If it's the latter, join me on this journey to the dark side.

Click here to grab the transcription (and also get my 3 free videos in 3 weeks as a bonus gift).

Can You Find "One" In This Spanky Lick?

First things first - here's the link to the transcription.

You'll also get my 3 videos in 3 weeks completely free.

I found this week's beat it on Instagram, where you can Get Humble in a hurry if you play the drums, and Spanky's (@yospank) beat was no exception.

It has so many "hooks" to pull attention, it can be hard to tell where "1" is.

I sure couldn't.

I experimented for the better part of a half hour, before I finally picked up something in the beat that anchored me.

(I probably could have just counted the 16ths...)

To find out what it was, how I reverse-engineered the beat, and what Spanky might have been thinking when he invented it, just check out the lesson.

There's an approach to playing licks that's "additive".

You had a certain "bag of tricks" before, and you're adding a sticking or rhythm you've never played.

Then there's an approach that's all about transformation and enhancement.

Both are necessary, neither is wrong, but the "enhancement" approach is the easiest-to-ignore...

...and also the thing most of the greats have in common.

When you listen to a Spanky beat, it's often a variation-on-a-variation-on-a-variation. Which is probably how he arrived at the beat that's the subject of this week's lesson.

Here's the link to the transcription one more time.

"Old School" Funk Beat All The Kids Are Playing

First-things-first: transcription.

I bought it too.

The siren-song of the hipsters.

"Just play linear. It'll all be easier."

Well, not-so-fast, young'un.

Drummers like Nate Smith, Questo, Kariem Riggins, Harvey Mason, Bernard Purdie, Jeff Porcaro, Anderson Paak, and Corey Fonville want you to know they're judging you hard.

Why?

Turns out, linear is out.

The new hotness is the Old Hotness.

The New Hotness is constant, straight-16th, with one hand. (The whoooole gig;)

Thought you were gonna get out of practicing your drop-catch?

Thought you were gonna escape the Pocket Police?

Nope.

Anderson's bringing it back on Come Down...

...Corey's bringing it back on Forest Green...

...and Nate, Questo, and Kariem are playing like it never went away.

Luckily, it's easier than you thought.

Yours Truly has been Eating His Brussels Sprouts, and I've come back from The Edge with a couple of...shortcuts. (Yes, I said it.)

For starters, you can play almost every constant-16th groove under-the-sun by learning 3 simple idioms you can get under your hands in under-an-hour.

(To perfect them, you've got the rest of your life.)

Ready to see what they are?

Just click here to download the transcription (and get 3 bonus videos to Murder Out your drumming in 3 weeks.

Be good, killaz.

N

Slick Linear Hi Hat Lick

First things first - here for the transcription? Get it here!

Play Like (the Other;) Nate Smith

First things first: if you're here for the transcription, grab it here. (You'll also get my 3 videos to double your drumming confidence in 3 weeks completely free.)

It must have been my second or third semester in music school.

I'd long-since been introduced to the Dave Holland Quintet, with Billy Kilson...

...spent almost an entire summer wearing out  Prime Directive whilst sleeping off cannabis hangovers on my buddy Dan's couch...

...transcribed at least one Chris Potter solo to sing along with, then analyze for a term project in Dave Liebman's class.

Not to mention seeing the quintet live.

So when my buddy Scott told me that a guy named Nate Smith was now playing with Dave Holland, I assumed he was fucking with me.

"Nah, buddy. That's the ten-year plan. You're too soon with that."

Nope. Turned out he wasn't. Another, totally different Nate Smith was now playing with Dave.

There went my life's plan. The odds of lightening striking twice, and Dave hiring two guys with the exact same name seemed slim.

To make matters worse, Nate, when I finally listened to the new record, was killing.

Fast forward more years than I care to admit, (skipping past a bunch of years of Chris Potter's dUnderground band) and Nate's sounding better-than-ever, and writing great music.

The song that inspired this week's lesson is Skip Step, from the recent Kinfolk record, in particular the Tiny Desk performance.

Like Butcher Brown, about whom I just shot the lesson you'll see in two weeks, Nate and Kinfolk manage to "smooth the edges" of the previous generation's fusion. It's some part motown, some part Headhunters, many parts Dave Binney/55 Bar, and so on.

Skip Step epitomizes the group, and Nate's playing.

Got the transcription yet? Grab it here.

A Simple Way to Play Quintuplets On Drums

First things first: if you're here for the transcription, get it here.

You'll also get my 3 videos to improve your playing in 3 weeks as a free bonus.

Make Your Drum Solos Seem Faster, With This "Magic Trick"

First things first: If you're here for the transcription, get it here.

A five year old can play "fast".

But the difference between that five-year-old, and the great players, is the subject of this week's lesson.

It's not just speed, but clarity.

Time.

Phrasing.

Texture.

That thing that makes you purse your lips whenever you listen to a Vinnie/Mark/Marcus solo.

Let's call that the "x factor".

But what would happen if you took away the fast, and kept only the x-factor. What would that look like?

It's just that concept I was experimenting with last week. To back-up, I've been spending a lot of time just practicing playing on the drums, with no cymbals.

Why?

I felt I was a little to "hat reliant", and I didn't like that I was facing the hats so much, instead of in the center of the kit.

So I'd work on phrases, of the type in my course (continually sharpening the saw), around the drums, only allowing myself to play the hats with LH and LF.

At the same time, I was checking out Taron Lockett's instagram, (@taroney) digging several clips of Taron playing with his band. There's a tune that sounds like a Scofield record with the Chambers/Beard/Granger band, and I was practicing playing over the top.

140 bpm on the metronome, but I found ideas were really repetitive, and I was "hiccuping" a lot. What to do?

Slow it DOOOOOOWN. 70bpm. "Same" tempo, but half the frequency. Sure enough, my ideas opened up, and I was making better phrases.

Along the way, I invented a couple of slick phrases in 16ths that allowed me to "break up" the time, and create the "illusion" of playing faster than I was.

And it's these licks that are the subject of this week's lesson.

Quarter Note Lick For Jazz - The 8020 Drummer

You know me: lately, I've been making lessons about pretty practical stuff...

How to take the ho-hum sextuplet and play something more interesting than a six-stroke roll.

Cool ways to take easy-to-play fills and make them sound cooler.

Cool ways to have your hands going a million-miles-an-hour, but your brain at a strolling pace.

So, in my own mind, I've earned some leeway. Just like Stephen Soderberg making the Ocean's Eleven/12/13 movies so he can bankroll The Girlfriend Experience.

Today, we're going to abstract-land. This lick will...

...hands down...

...150%...

Get you fired.

If you play it in the wrong spot that is.

So where did it come from? Marcus Gilmore and Spanky. Where else?

Both Marcus and Spanky take the quarter note triplet to the state-of-the-art. Soon, I'm going to delve more into Spanky.

But this week's lesson lives most comfortably in Marcus-land. He of the using-the-ride-cymbal-instead-of-tom.

Lately I've become fascinated by Marcus' dialogs with Gilad Hekselman, who loves to dish quarter-triplet-based implied metric modulations, and uses the quarter triplet as the basis for many of his phrases. (Check out This Just In to hear what I mean.)

Marcus has a particular way of "commenting", and while this week's lesson isn't directly transcribed from him, it's inspired by years of listening and playing along.

Check it out here.

And, yes - be mindful of pulling this out on gigs. Jazz only, with players who can hang, and make sure you give them a fat "one" if anybody gets confused.

With those cautionary words, go forth!

Sextuplets in Your Face

No, you're not hallucinating.

I'm back.

As summer turns to fall in New York, and as I start to fantasize again about my January pilgrimage to NAMM, I've been thinking about sextuplets. Have you?

You should be.

Here's the problem with sextuplets, though. It's tough to get past six-stroke rolls. Ugggh - PTSD flashback of me in college, stupid grin on my face, demeaning the whole drumkit with six-stroke rolls during a solo.

It's not like we can blame Philly Joe, either. At least he did interesting things with them.

Nope. I blame the hair-metal era. Boogada boogada. China crashes. Low, unmuffled snares. Coke, (the SODA - let's not get crazy), women (in a purely PLATONIC sense - gawd, would you reLAX?), and six-stroke rolls.

As tastes evolved, we weren't trying to sound like Neil or Simon anymore, and the maligned sextuplet got pushed backstage, like an unemployed older brother nobody mentions in polite company.

Until two things changed.

First, was the invention of the second triplet. Chris Dave. A new era. It was like we could breathe again.

Second was Thomas Pridgen's generation, and their recombobulation (spell check tells me that's not even a word - I think I'm gonna double down tho) of so many Wecklisms into something...cool.

(Vinnie's the paradox. Vinnie was never out-of-fashion.)

Oh, and I haven't fully traced the etymology of the hi-hat fanciness that gave rise to young'uns like Joel Tercotte (for me it was probably DeJohnette, then Thomas)...

...but in this lesson I've got a lick that draws from all three.

It's just one sextuplet lick you can probably learn in a few minutes, but maybe it'll open up some idea-flow and lead to other stuff.

Anyway, lesson.

Back sooner-than-you-think.

Till then, be good,

N

How to Tripletize - The 80/20 Drummer

"I'm saying, when you're ready, you  won't need to..."

Aaaaaaah Morpheus analogies.

Is there any complex-learning or flow-state phenomenon we haven't resorted to The Matrix to explain?

Today, I was rolling with a purple belt from Marcelo Garcia's academy. (Can anybody else say "bad idea"? 😉) And suddenly, I was Neo, on the mats with Morpheus.

The dude was countering things I hadn't even thought to do yet.

In the military, they call it the OODA loop. OODA stands for Observe, Orient, Decide, and Act.

Wondering what it feels like when somebody's got a faster OODA loop than you? Try shedding with Dan Weiss. Or Nate Wood. Or Andy Prado. Or Maison Guidry.

Time is clearly not moving at the same rate for these guys as it is for us. (Will it move slower for Conor McGregor or Floyd Mayweather?)

I've long taken the controversial position that the way to stack up better in sheds is not to spend countless hours making your hands faster. It's to make time slower. As Morpheus puts it, "do you believe that my being stronger or faster has anything to do with my muscles? In this place?"

In Juijitsu it's utterly uncontroversial that the way to win is not to increase your brute strength (though, as in drums, that will help), but to shorten your OODA loop. The beer-bellied account black belt who taps a younger, bigger, stronger opponent handily, simply because he knows what the opponent's going to do before the opponent knows is so mundane as to be a day-to-day occurrence.

Soooo, besides just "grinding it out", how do you shorten your OODA loop with the drums? Luckily, an idiosyncrasy of the human brain helps: chunking.

Quick illustration: you used to think of a paradiddle as eight discreet strokes. Now you think of it as a unit.

Now that you've got that unit, you can orchestrate it, vary it, change its rate, etc.

That's chunking.

So, when Devon Taylor seems to reorient gravity to a right-angle in a solo over Knower's What's In Your Heart, he's actually applying a learnable "chunk", albeit at a super high level.

And it's this chunk I'm going to teach you in this week's lesson.

It won't be second-nature until you shed it a while. You'll know you've got it when you start "hearing" ideas without thinking consciously about them.

Check that lesson out. 

Now, if only I could do that with juijitsu...

Check you next weezy,

N8

Fake Mark Guiliana Lick - The 80/20 Drummer

It's been a little over a week since I shot this latest lesson, but I keep returning to the beat, even without consciously trying.

So, first-things-first...

I've been working on inverted ride stuff. As in, instead of "one, and-a two, and-a-three", it's "...and-two-and, ...and-three-and". It makes sense, because it you're doing the Keith Carlock/Jojo/Spaven beats, there are a lot of implied beat shifts.

But instead of keeping a common "one", you can shift the implied ride pattern along with the beat.

None-of-which, it should be noted, is a particularly good way of keeping a gig.

But let's get to the larger point. I'm thinking about the Guitar Center Drumoff for this fall. And it's most inconsequential whether I participate or not, but it's focussed my practice once-again, around a single thought:

I don't want to sound like a second-rate version of somebody else.

What if Spanky had tried to sound exactly like Aaron Spears?

Or Nasheet Waits like Tain?

It's crystal clear in martial arts. If you've got reach, you've got to play a game that plays to your advantages. Ditto if you've got power.

So how come there's not more of this type of thinking with the drums?

What does this all have to do with the drumoff? Everything I'm practicing, I'm thinking "does this sound like me, or a second-rate imitation of somebody else." Gradually, I think I'm starting to become "known for" some things.

Hemiloizing licks.

Everyone Wants To Rule The World - The 80/20 Drummer

I'll come right out and say it...

My hair does not look good in this lesson.

Imagine a muskrat sleeping off a hangover, strapped to my head like a fur helmet. And not at a flattering angle.

Want to hear my excuse? I haven't even gotten to the best part yet...

Between the hair, my sunken-in, bloodshot eyes, and my cancer-survivor wanness, I figured I'd better just lead with it, like the one armed guy who preemptively nicknames himself Tony One-Arm.

The rest of the story later, but first let me at least acknowledge the pretense that I have a drum channel;)

Tears for Fears. Everybody Wants to Rule The World. Right? The classic 80s rock shuffle. The default when the metronome's at circa 120, and you're thinking triplets or 12/8.

[keyboard lick] "Welcome to your life..."

Anyway, if you got that gig, it would be strictly pocket.

For, like, 99% of the tune.

But if you know the tune, you know there's one perfect spot for a Nick Smith fill. One spot to just shellac it, then go back to quietly dealing pocket, with a "who me" look on your face.

And it's for this spot, friend, that I've created a little fill. A little tasty one. But just slightly blistering. Like Jason-Borne-disarming-two-dudes-then-picking-up-his-coffee tasty.

For more, click here.

Vinnie Lick - The 80/20 Drummer

I first heard If I Ever Lose My Faith at the gym.

"Is this the police guy?"

Later, I was at a local drum shop, and a DVD of the Buddy Rich Memorial Concert was playing.

"Soooo many mullets" was my first thought.

"Who's this completely dominant guy who plays traditional grip?" was my second.

"Oh," said my friend. "That's Vinnie. He plays with Sting."

"If I Ever Lose My Faith guy?" I thought?

Sidebar - if we didn't know who those guys were, doesn't that sound like a line out of Westside Story? Or maybe The Untouchables?

Then Vinnie's solo album dropped. Attack of the 10-Pound Pizza. Bruce Lee. Chauncy. John's Blues.

"What the entire fuck just happened?"

But I liked it.

And not until very recently did any of it start making sense. For instance, check the John's Blues solo. Hot. Damn.

Here's the other funny thing about Vinnie...

He's the only drummer from that era who doesn't sound like...that era.

Even the guys who kept shedding - and they're few - sound like a throwback. They'll play on the sides of the snare instead of the center. They'll play a china, when everybody's moved onto the stack. Their backbeats are pre-Chris-Dave.

Not Vinnie. He still sounds scary.

As I believe I said in a Facebook post, he sounds better and fresher than 98% of the young guys coming up.

But goddamn it with that mullet and wifebeater, man. You can get a haircut. It won't hurt your drumming. I promise.

Anyway, today's lesson is a throwback. Back to my slack-jawed afternoon in that drum shop watching Vinnie play with the Buddy Rich band.

Today, I bring you part of that solo...

Super Quick Matt Garstka Lick - The 80/20 Drummer

Good on Matt Garstka.

I first discovered Matt in the Berklee chops video series from a channel whose name I shan't mention;)

It's the lesson everybody talks about. The one where he believes in "concepts" instead of "chops".

Matt earned his bonafides at Berklee, of course, alongside the likes of Darion Ja'von, Sean Wright, and JP Bouvet. (The "murderer's row"? The "usual suspects"?;

Fast forward a few years and he was the kitman (if that isn't a thing I just made it one) for Animals as Leaders, inspiring half-a-decade of metalhead drum covers.

And now he's on the cover of Modern Drummer. So good-on-you, Matt.

I've been told there's no Matt without Vinnie. Which is true. Of course there's no anybody without Vinnie, and there's also no Matt without Aaron Spears and Chris Coleman. But let's give Matt his due. He's proven himself his own player sevenfold (that sounds metal, right?;), equally comfortable behind a metal band or in a gospel/fusion context.

And he doesn't play traditional grip. Which means he's a practical sort. (I'm mentally adding up all the controversy I'm stirring up in this post and smiling to myself.)

Anyway, I wanted to give you something characteristically Matt, but also easy-to-learn, so I chose this "bite-sized" lick from he Meinl festival last year.

I also talk about playing in six.

New Forrest Lick - The 80/20 Drummer

So Forrest's back.

And of course that means it's Jedi-lick time. But first, a story...

It's the last night of my LA trip in January. I'm sitting in a coffee shop somewhere between echo park and south beach (my west coast geography needs some work), having coffee with my business buddy neel, when my phone lights up.

It's Forrest.

Fuuuuuck, I mutter.

Forrest and I had talked a few days ago about shedding this evening, but I haven't heard from him since.

I've been assuming he forgot, or got busy.

Now I'm sitting at a taco restaurant (we got hungry), looking at my phone, and forrest's like "I'm setting it up! When can you get here."

I'm thinking 6am flight, which means I need to wake up at 4, haven't packed, don't have any food for tomorrow, and Whole Foods in downtown la closes at 10. (Cause they're SOFT;) 

But I'm also thinking something else: Fuck It.

So I hop in the rental car and hump toward Rancho Kukamunga (which I'm probably misspelling).

Burn rubber getting there, then guess how long I made Forrest wait?

The answer is negative 50 minutes, because that's how long I waited, in the lobby of a weird practice studio in the middle of nowhere - which somehow mysteriously smelled like skunk - for Forrest to show

But show he did, and we shed...ed(?).

Then he showed me this lick...

Three Hacks to Open Your Drumming - The 80/20 Drummer

So I've got a minor bone to pick when people ask me how to play "open".

I know what they mean:

They're talking about Sput Searight...

...or Dana Hawkins...

But I think they're confusing Left Hand Lead with playing "open".

You can play open-handed, and still play right-hand lead.

There's a whole vocabulary that opens up when you commit to only playing rimshots with the right hand while playing on the hats.

First, there's the disco beat...

...then you start to leave some stuff out...

...then you rephrase some of your linear stuff.

Finally, you realize that, when your right hand isn't committed to the hats all the time, it's pretty to incorporate other surfaces.

Toms, cymbal bells, the ride, etc.

And, to my mind, that's what Sput and Dana are doing.

The Carter Beauford/Ernesto Simpson thing is bad (in the Miles Davis sense), but it's a different thing. That's left hand lead, played by lefties on a right-handed kit. But those guys put the ride cymbal on the left side.

Can you tell I'm fired up about this?

All of which is to say you don't need to uproot your whole routine and practice New Breed entirely left-hand-lead just to incorporate some Dana/Sput "open" playing into your thing.

You just have to watch this lesson. (OOOOOOooooh SNAP see what I did there?)

Enjoy it guys.

Back next week,

N