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 For Subscribers

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!

Play Every Rap Song of The Summer on Drums

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 80/20 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.