Live From Japan - Gospel Floor Tom Lick

I know the feeling, when one of my favorite podcasts goes off the air for a few weeks...

Kevin Pereira. Tucker Max. TMBA. David Choe. Rational Funk. (Ok, that's youtube...)

Sure - I went to Asia again. Sure, I was busy. But that's no excuse.

Those guys were like an anchor for my week. Wednesday, there'd be DVDASA. Thursday, TMBA. And I want to be like that for you guys.

Anyway, let me just get this out of the way: unlike Choe (please bro), I'll always make time for you guys. Unless there comes a good reason for me to "hang it up". If that ever happens, I won't just disappear without a word, like Choe did. I'll let you know.

Until then, you can count on the lessons-of-the-week. Weekly, I hope. But I'd rather take a week-or-two off and still be able to shoot lessons than burn out and have none.

Anyway, if you're wondering what I've been up to all this time (and if you follow me on instagram you haven't had to wonder), I've been shedding my tail off. I'm scared. NAMM, and the BDK clinic is just around the corner.

I think I'll be cool...

Track-or-no, just playing, or talking and playing. The looming deadline usually inspires me to get in the game. But I have been shedding.

Oh - this week's lesson: it's a short one I shot in Japan. I've been experimenting a lot lately with the hat/tom crossover stuff, and feel like I'm starting to see the matrix.
 

Not unrelated, one thing I may speak about at DBK is Nick Smith, Justin Tyson, and the evolution of the "meta-phrase". Here's why that's relevant: in today's lesson, I took one basic shape, and orchestrated it.

Then I changed with the phrase length to make both 5-beat, and 6-beat cycles. You can play those with, or against a meter (e.g. the 5-note cycle against 6).

I was thinking I might deconstruct just 1-2 phrases Nick played over The Rise in 2015 at DBK, then show how you can start with a stupid-simple sticking and apply the same concept.

...if I get my act together. Either way, I promise it will be worthwhile!

Who's planning to be in LA for NAMM week in '17? Shout at me!

Back next week. OOH PS - I'm relaunching the course next week!! (no big deal, just your drum future!)

Talk soon, my dudes.

Out

3 Ways To Practice Straight 8ths - The 80/20 Drummer

When I was a wee lad, I used to wonder what to do with straight grooves without backbeats. Swing, I understood. Rock, and halftime work, I had a good grip on. But what about when somebody called Maiden Voyage? Or, later in school, Bright Size Life? I never seemed to have an answer, and it was hard to know what to practice, besides the same "spangalang" as swing, only without the swing.

Sound familiar? Does the time go out the window when you're denied the twin supports of swing and backbeats? Does shit get "floaty".

Then, one day, it kind of clicked. If I had to summarize the revelation, it was that I didn't have to fill up every space. And probably listening to Mark and Keith helped as well.

Now, if I were teaching my younger self, I'd say, much as I did in the Jeff Ballard lesson from last year, "just play backbeats! Just move them around!"

But in this week's lesson I go a little deeper, demonstrating 3 concepts I think will help both open up your straight 8th/16th playing, and make it more solid.

Here's the lesson!

PS anybody in Thailand this week?
 

Six Cross Stick Licks - The 80/20 Drummer

This is the first of several lessons I recorded in advance to air while I’m in Asia.

Last year around this time, I did a lesson on cross-sticks, showing you two of my favorites, from Marcus Gilmore and Kendrick Scott.

But what if you’re playing matched grip with the left stick across the snare, “slow dance” style?

Two of the greatest at this are Antonio Sanchez and Art Blakey. While I don’t claim to come close to capturing the nuance of either, I did challenge myself to come up with six useful licks you can start playing today.

Enjoy this one! Back next week with another.

Peace,

N

How to Prepare for a Drum Shed - The 80/20 Drummer

True, the Drum Off has warped drumming. Can one even prevail without a synth-pad? And there's apparently no room for things like Mark Guiliana's PASIC solo from November 2015, because everybody's playing to tracks. But...two things:

First, the drummers who contort themselves to the shape of the container and prevail - drummers like D Mile - are usually the most creative players in real life. Not even the Octapad can kill true creativity - it usually finds a way through.

Second, the Drum Off is not the last word on sheds. The jam-session-cum-juijitsu-roll of drums would exist and continue to evolve with or without the Drum Off, and that's why even now the Drum Off perches on the razor-edge of relevance, with plenty of the best players just sitting-it-out, and one hardly doubts it would become "over" in a hurry (how many jazz musicians give a shit about New Orleans Jazz Fest?) if it became too ridiculous.

So let's raise a glass to the humble drum shed, which respects both the trap-kit's pugilistic origins (it didn't start in the churches) and its endless capacity to encourage innovation.

In this week's lesson, I detail what I'm doing to improve my own drum shed skills.
 

Quick PS, I'll be in Japan from the 29th to October 10th. Anyone who wants a lesson or a hang, hit me up - nate@8020drummer.com