What I Stole from Richard Spaven

So I'm pretty fired up this week. I get to bring you Richard Spaven, and I ought to be thanking You Guys for bringing him to my attention. Richard's my kind of drummer - somebody who demonstrates what musicality, playing clean, killer time, and upload speed are, all without resorting to "chop outs" except occasionally.

But that's not why I'm fired up. I'm fired up because I just off the phone with my bank. I had the conversation we've all had.

"I can't get this to work."

"Yes, I did go to the website and enter things properly."

"No, my mother does Not have another maiden name."

"Yes. I'll hold."

I'll save you the suspense. The actual problem had nothing to do with my Mom. Luckily it only took me 44 minutes to get to the bottom of it.

Sort of like Richard Spaven gets to the bottom of a groove. Told you I'd bring this home...

Anyway, here's the transcription:

For the comments, tell me what other Richard stuff I should check out! I've barely scratched the surface. Thanks for bring You, killaz.

N

How To Play Like Forrest Rice

Guitar center does something both asinine and hilarious at its yearly competition, the Drum Off: it asks the participants who their influences are. When this week's guest stepped up to the kit, the announcer read his influences: "Admiral Akbar, Obi Wan, and the Dark Side.”

I knew I had to get this guy on my channel.

"This guy" is Forrest Rice, and it didn't hurt that he proceeded to melt face with his drum solo, and win the regional round of the competish.

Continuing my attempts to feature next-level drummers you'll hear about soon if you haven't already after Chris Paprota (another guitar center regional winner), Forrest is barely 20 years old, and plays with a fury that belies his thoroughly laid back "west coast...ness".

In this lesson I'll show you how to play Forrest's guitar center solo, then let Forrest show you a variation on his Own lick.

And for the comments this week, does anyone have any drum-related New Year's resolutions? Finally get through the Rudimental Ritual, or buy that 26” kick? Talk about it!

See you soon killaz,

N

Anika Nilles Drummeo Lick - The 80/20 Drummer

I might have gotten carried away. Fresh off the Chris Paprota collaboration, with plans to make group lessons with a who’s-who of my favorite drummers, many of whom have generously donated their time and ideas, I thought, “why not ask Anika?”

After all, in the recent Drummeo lesson, she did reveal we have a modern hero - Nate Wood - in common. I’d already been a fan of Anika’s, but our mutual esteem for Mr. Wood gave me the foolhardy idea to hit her up.

Not so fast, maybe. In the Drummeo lesson, she revealed it took her a year to find the time to collaborate with Drummeo, one of the biggest drum channels on Earth, but here comes Mr. 80/20, full of youthful bravado, thinking “what can possibly go wrong?”

Well, Anika hasn’t yet gotten back to me. But that doesn’t stop me from bringing her playing to you the same way I’ve done all along, for people like Chris Dave Mr. Guiliana: by Transcription.

In this lesson, I transcribe a fill from the Drummeo lesson that raised my eyebrows - it’s deceptively simple, but played in an unexpected corner of the beat. The, just for fun, I’ll give you a lick of my own. Practice them both, play them both over Anika’s track.

And for those of you still reading, I have four seats left for the LA clinic at the early bird price. If you’re going to be in LA the 20th of January, get them here!

See you soon killaz,

N

Two Licks to Play Over Gilad’s Eye In The Sky

Gilad Hekselman’s music is one of the only things that’s been in steady rotation on my iPhone since around 2010. I listen to One More Song if I want to get fired up in the mornings, or This Just In before I go into the shed. Often, I’ll end a jazz practice session by jamming along to Eye in The Sky. Last month I posted a Facebook video of me playing along, but the quality was low and you couldn’t hear what I was listening to in my headphones.

How do you get better at improvising and start to develop your own voice? In my Asia clinics (sometimes in front of a cadre of 4-5 hard-core fans, lest anybody think I’m bragging;) I spoke about the two “poles” we’re trying to join: at one end, there’s practicing only other people’s vocabulary, from transcriptions or books; at the other, there’s only working on abstractions like Stick Control. How to join the two together?

Listening back to my own playing in the Facebook video, I realized there were several licks I kept coming back to - a few that I was nailing, and a few that needed some work. From my own recording, I picked out several unique things I was doing that needed more work, and I started working on them. In essence, I transcribed Myself.

To bring the two threads together, two of those licks are the subject of this week’s lesson.

And for those of you still reading, I still want to do a small clinic in New York during the first two weeks of January. Interested in attending, and/or know of a venue? Just hit “reply” or comment below the blog post, and let me know!

See you soon killaz,

N