The 8020 Drummer

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Drum Rudiment Rut? Try These 4 Exercises

Nate Smith July 8, 2020

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Rudiment Rut
Rudiment Rut
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4 Tricks to Say Goodbye to Boring Sextuplet Fills

Nate Smith July 1, 2020

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Sextuplets Transcription
Sextuplets Transcription
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Double Your Drum Vocabulary with A Single Trick

Nate Smith May 27, 2020

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Hemiola Exercises
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The Ultimate Left Foot Hi Hat Survival Guide

Nate Smith April 15, 2020

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Left Foot Exercises
Left Foot Exercises
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Drum Warm-Ups Are Probably Overrated (But I Still Do Them)

Nate Smith April 8, 2020

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Warmup Transcription
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3 "Impossible" Instagram Drum Licks You Can Actually Learn

Nate Smith April 1, 2020

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Insta Chops Transcription
Insta Chops Transcription
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3 Ways to Stop Sounding Like a Beginner in Just 90 Days

Nate Smith March 25, 2020

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Beginner Exercises
Beginner Exercises
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Advanced Triplet Fills

Nate Smith March 11, 2020

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Advanced Triplet Fills - Weiss Style
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I HATED Odd Meters - Until I Discovered This

Nate Smith January 23, 2020

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Stop Trying So Hard to Groove - Try This Instead

Nate Smith January 8, 2020

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Time Exercises Transcription
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What The Haters Taught Me About Playing Faster

Nate Smith December 12, 2019

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"Haters" Transcription
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My 3 Best New Flow Exercises

Nate Smith December 5, 2019

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How Eric Moore Plays Fast

Nate Smith November 13, 2019

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The (Second) Coolest Groove on YouTube

Nate Smith October 3, 2019

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Second Coolest Groove
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Tony, Connie, and Mel All Did This - Here's How

Nate Smith September 25, 2019

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Tony/Connie/Mel Exercise
Tony/Connie/Mel Exercise
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The Top 5 Stewart Copeland Beats of All Time

Nate Smith September 3, 2019

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Josh Crawford Transcriptions

Nate Smith August 28, 2019

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Josh Crawford Transcription
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Avoid This "Catch 22" at Your Next Jazz Jam Session

Nate Smith April 18, 2019

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Four Exercises to Improve Your Time on The Drums

Nate Smith April 11, 2019

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Two Straight 8th Jazz Brush Patterns

Nate Smith March 3, 2019

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Why not play brushes on everything?

That’s the question John Riley asked me, many years ago, for which I didn’t have a great answer.

Through the years, I’ve tried to wage a “booster” campaign for the humble brush - to coax others out of the resistance that kept me from getting great at the brushes for so many years.

Eventually, it was my love of the great jazz drummers, from Ed Thigpen, Vernel Fournier, and Roy Haynes to Blade, Bill Stewart, and Hutch.

But I’m painfully aware that my channel attracts both jazz enthusiasts and…not-jazz-enthusiasts alike, and…well…the brushes have an image problem the sticks don’t share.

Sticks, you see, are equally appropriate in any musical genre.

Only play country two-steps? Great. Sticks.

Like zydeco? Fantastic. I’ve got an idea: drumsticks.

You get the idea.

Brushes, however, and with few exceptions, are only associated with jazz.

Which left me in the difficult position of making the case that we should “liberate” the brush from simply a jazz implement…

…without seeming to disparage the great drummers who developed the idiom.

Let me put it this way:

Papa Jo, Connie Kay, Ed, Vernel, Roy, Philly Joe, Art Taylor, Paul Motian, and everybody else took the brush tradition so deep that, for aficionados, their music needs no qualification.

But, for people not familiar with these greats, are we going to say brushes are “off limits” for them?

Nope.

Play brushes along with Jack White.

Play brushes with Cardi B. With Rihanna. With Hova. With Soundgarden.

They’re just another texture - and a great one.

Play Brushes On Everything.

And this lesson humbly submits two way you might start.

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