The Evan Marien Drum Cover Open Call

Hey guys. If you're as big a fan of fusion, electronic, and undeniable drum supremacy as I, you probably already love Evan Marien and Dana Hawkins. And luckily, he's posted all his music on the web without drums. Which means, DRUM COVER RAMPAGE.

We'll do it by private Google Group. Everyone will choose a tune from the record (here), we'll set a deadline, and everyone will keep everybody motivated and honest. This is putting into practice what I preach in the 8020 Drummer videos.

Just send me an email at 8020drummer@gmail.com if you'd like to participate.

Oh, and for Pete's sake, sign up for the mailing list, so I can send you amazing drum videos practically every week.


Fast Hands Money Back Guarantee

Hey guys I want to remove all the risk from this purchase.

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I know - you've probably watched a video or two on youtube, or followed an ad and watched several of the video trailers, so you have a reasonable idea what's in the videos.

Still, I know my audience - motivated musicians with limited time looking for only the things that work - because I'm a member of my audience. That's why I want you to feel confident I'm going to deliver the value you need.

Hence the guarantee - if this series doesn't improve your playing in three months, I'll refund your money.

And here's why I'm confident offering it - there's nothing like this series anywhere. If you take a lesson with Steve Smith or Dana Hawkins, they'll likely touch on some of these concepts. If you shadowed Tim Newton or Tony Royster and observed how they actually practice instead of what they say at clinics (practice your rudiments, practice with the metronome on "one", start every routine with a warmup, etc.), you'd likely observe them using these methods. As I say in the videos, it's not rocket science.

But there were no existing videos delving into practice science and psychology in quite the way I do.

Is it perfect? Of course not. But it represents the distillation of twelve-and-counting years of performing and teaching in New York, and I'm very proud of the end result.

So download and rest easy. If you're not completely satisfied with the education in these videos, you have three months to get your money refunded.

 

Back to Pricing Page

The Trouble with "Faster Hands" in Isolation.

So it's official. The 80/20 Drummer is "selling out". At least a little. I put a contact form on the website asking for feedback, and a comment I get frequently is people want to increase their hand and foot speed. So I'm currently testing a Fast Hands video to see if there's enough interest to go into production. You can be sure that I won't approach it the way others do - I'll try to find a way to make people better players under the auspices of giving them "faster hands" if it kills me.

What's my problem with faster hands?

I found two great video examples.

Here's a guy with faster hands than mine. (Skip to 0:13)

Pretty impressive, right? So, just for fun, I went to his YouTube channel to see how he applies those blazing single strokes to his playing. He should be a beast, right?

Ummmm, not-so-much, it turns out. (Start at 0:37)

 

 

So this is my customer base. People who want faster hands because they think it will make them better, when really what they need to improve is their time and feel, then - and only then - the pipeline between their ideas and limbs: the "upload speed" of their vocabulary - the true secret to "faster hands".

I think most people who Think they want faster hands want to be able to play stuff like this.

Skip to to the 1:15 mark if you're short on time.

Trust me, single strokes are the far and away the least important reason Tony Royster sounds the way he does. In fact, someone with far less technique than tony could transcribe this solo and play it to about 85% proficiency.

Don't believe me? Check this out.

Skip to 1:30

This is a transcription of an Eric Harland solo. Though she does an admirable job and will someday be a great player, it's clear she doesn't have the same technical facility as Eric.

But if you think I'm disparaging her, I'm not. In fact, just the opposite. With her amazing achievement, she proves raw hand speed is the least important part of executing a great drum solo. She did what all good players do - focused on the most important tools to learn that solo, and double paradiddles on pillows wasn't one of them.

Like the spike after the touchdown, faster hands will get you the "ooh aah" factor once you've taken care of business, but it's meaningless without the touchdown.

Stay tuned folks. 80/20 will attempt to deconstruct the real way to play impressive solos.