Dana Hawkins Lick from the Christmas Shed - The 80/20 Drummer

I work best when I absorb new vocabulary in small bits. Think of a house that’s finished, painted, and furnished. You want to build an addition: I prefer a small addition, that I finish before I add anything new on. Reason - you’re using that house for guests constantly, and don’t want six months of “down time” with missing walls and contractors using your bathroom.

It took me about six weeks after NAMM to return to a baseline from which I could improvise again. I’d bitten off a lot of new vocab from folks like Forrest, Chris, and Maison, and was digesting as quickly as I could. Long story (as it usually is) short, I surfaced some time last week, ready to get after it again, and one of the first things that piqued my interest was the floor-tom-hi-hat-lick from Dana Hawkins’ rendition of OC at the Christmas Shed.

He was doing something different. Something I couldn’t recognize right away. In other words, perfect fodder for a Lesson of The Week.

Anyway, here's the transcription:

For the comments, are there any licks stumping you currently? What are they?

N

DRUM Q AND A 2 - NATE ANSWERS VIEWER QUESTIONS

I can't take credit for the idea for this week's lesson.

As you may know I've started sponsoring the Drummers Resource Podcast. It's been fun to hear my ads over interviews with people like Mike Johnston, and it's been a nice kick in the pants to make sure my lessons are on point for a bunch of new eyeballs Nick's sending my way.

Anyway, it's not like I've never answered questions on the 8020 channel. I did a Q and A session last summer. But none since. And this week, with at least 3 collaborations looming and most of my energy spent reshooting some intro videos, I was wondering what I'd talk about on the weekly lesson when I happened to tune into Drummers Resource, and Nick was answering listener questions.

So, idea: stolen. Thanks Nick.

This time I took to Instagram, and folks there gave me plenty to talk about.

Wondering what I discussed?

Get the lesson Here.

For the comments, do you have responses to the viewer questions as well? Let's keep the discush going.
 

Three New Gospel...Licks...for Drums - The 80/20 Drummer

Whatever you call them, the things gospel drummers play are here to stay and we love them.

I recorded this week’s lesson the week after returning from NAMM. Let talk a little more about that experience -

The NAMM show itself, as I remarked to my buddy Mark, is like “The Guitar Center From Hell.”

But it was the group of new friends I made, not the event itself, that made an impression that’s still burned into my memory. The feeling of belonging to the Drum Dojo, even as a white belt. And I’ve been torturing drummers much better than I with iphone videos and “virtual sheds” ever since. (And they - to a one, and to their credit - have been humoring me.)

So this lesson is a direct side effect of that spirit. I would be experimenting with something I was pretty sure I heard Sean Wright do (but which was probably not exactly it, but that’s okay too cause invented something new and individual), then pull out the iphone and shoot it over to one of my new drum buddies. The best few made it into this lesson.

Anyway, here's the transcription:

Also, quick news item: I’ll be in Austin on Memorial Day weekend and would love to do a clinic. I’ll keep you posted.

What should the new name for Gospel @#$% be? Leave a comment below!

N

How To Play Like Nick Smith Featuring Nick Smith - The 80/20 Drummer

Remember that lesson I was super excited to present to you but I couldn’t reveal yet? This is it.

Three years, when I was just starting the channel, I used to drive to Williamsburg every day to practice, and to beat the boredom of sitting in Traffic, I made YouTube playlists. (That’s also when I got heavily into a channel whose name I’m as a rule no longer going to mention;) Of all my favorites, who soon loomed largest on that playlist, inspiring me to Get After It in the shed, even if I wasn’t feeling it that day?

This week’s guest, Nick Smith.

Nick kicked it into high gear when he started doing videos on the Soul Tone channel. I’d never seen anything like it. Super high-level arrangements, that were musical as well as technical, and drumming to match.

Last month in LA, I was at a church in Compton to watch my friend Chris Paprota do a clinic, along with Andre Montgomery and D’Mile. I was out back enjoying a quesadilla with some new friends, and what floated through the door, but the track The Rise, from one of Nick’s Soultone videos. A track I’d transcribed. Sure enough, there was Nick, and just when I thought my night couldn’t get any better, I met him.

So that’s the genesis of this week’s lesson. Nick and I mutually agreed on the track, and Nick, after watching the lesson, elected to bow out of offering any drumming and simply provide commentary and wisdom.
 

Anyway, for the comments, tell me about a time you met someone you’d admired for a long time. 
Was it everything you hoped? Was it more? 
 
See you next week, and get After It!

N