"Hard Tunes" Lesson - Subscribers Only

First things first - grab your transcription below:

Hard Tunes Transcription

So there's something that happens when I see a difficult tune I can't play.

It's akin to Biff Tannen calling Marty McFly "chicken".

I'm all set for the day in the shed...

I've got my life in a good balance...

I don't want for anything.

All I have to do is walk away.

Then, I hear the tune calling "what are you...CHICKEN?"

"NOONE CALLS ME CHICKEN"

So it was was the tune that inspired this week's lesson. And, like many of the tunes that "call me chicken" recently, it's by Tigran Hamasyan.

But let's get deeper.

I realized there's something specific that make a lot of Tigran's tunes particularly difficult.

It's not just the shifting meters you have to remember - though some tunes certainly have those.

It's the way you often have to keep two rhythms - of two different phrase lengths - in your head at once. And, I realized, it's not unique to Tigran.

In today's lesson, I'll examine 3 tunes by 3 different composers, all-of-which place a similar demand on our cognition.

Oh - and don’t forget Le Transcripcion:

Hard Tunes Transcription

Traditional vs Matched Lesson - Subscribers Only

First things first! Grab your transcription below:

Grip Lesson Exercises

I thought it was time to wade into the “traditional vs matched” debate.

For how little “dog” I have “in this fight”, it’s astonishing how much the two sides get "dug in”.

I had teachers actively discourage me from learning traditional grip (the same as some now discourage learning leglock entries from reverse delariva guard;).

So what are the sides?

In my experience, it breaks down like this:

On one side, the “traditionalists”. You don’t hear them talking about it much, but they all play it.

(Many in the New York jam session scene are so “traditional-dominant”, their left hand is weak when they try to switch over to matched.)

Spend enough time around Smalls, The Needle, Lincoln Center, etc, and you’ll start to feel some “peer pressure”.

On the other, the much-more-vocal “evolutionists”. These are the folks who will tell you trad grip is a “waste of time”, or it’s “obsolete”.

Well, what do we find when we look at actual jazz drummers? Evidence of both approaches being successful:

Ari Hoenig, Eric Harland, and Bill Stewart on the “mostly matched” side…

…Brian Blade, Hutch, Kendrick Scott, Jochen Rueckert, Tane, and plenty others on the “mostly traditional” side.

But, as I’ll argue in the lesson, at the highest levels, you don’t find many trad players who can’t also play matched. (Think from among the above group.)

What’s more, the newest generation of players like Marcus Gilmore, Justin Brown, Justin Faulkner, etc seem to play both with about equal competence.

So - which way to go?

Check out the lesson.

And don’t forget to grab your transcription below:

Grip Lesson Exercises

Dotted Eighth Lesson - Subscribers Only

First things first - grab your transcription below:

Dotted 8th Transcription

It's been challenging getting fired up to write about some of the topics I've covered in recent weeks...

Sure - I like playing like Tony Williams...

...but others have written so-damn-much, what am I going to add to the conversation.

The last lesson I was this excited to write about was the "live rounds" episode. Even now I'm perking up;)

So - today's lesson is something you might hate me for...

...but which I love. It's that dotted-8th sh$#.

And we go deeeeep. As in, I was listening to the edit, going, "are they gonna turn on me with pitchforks?"

As in, I'm picturing my viewership dropping off at minute 2 of this video.

But think Kevin Smith's Fat Man on Batman. Think Labor of Love from somebody who (have I mentioned this yet?) deeply loves this subject.

Today's lesson is not going to make your fills faster (though it will spark some new ideas).

Today's lesson is not going to make you better looking (though it will put a smile on your face, which, scientists agree, improves attractiveness).

And it won't give you a big, hulking, NFL/PED Muscle Meat frame to showcase on the beach (though it will improve your coordination, and myelinate neural pathways, the same process that allows people to add plates to their deadlift).

So I give you: the Humble Dotted Eighth. If you're one of the few, the proud, the Drum Nerds, this one's for you.

And don’t forget to grab your transcription below:

Dotted 8th Transcription

Tony Revisited - Subscribers Only

First things first grab your transcription below:

Tony Exercises

Of all the lessons I’ve published in the past few years, none has attracted more eyeballs, nor generated more controversy, than my first Tony Williams lesson from 2016.

On its face, it’s not the subject I would’ve predicted would generate so much buzz.

My Chris Dave lessons, or any of the “gospel”-related lessons would’ve been more likely culprits, in my estimation.

But I was wrong.

Thousands of people take to YouTube every month and search stuff about playing the ride cymbal like Tony Williams.

The reason the first Tony lesson generated controversy was that I probably gave short-shrift to a particular aspect of Tony’s technique.

The method I was showing had come from John Riley, who has a different approach to Tony’s famous five-not groups.

All-the-same, I felt it was time to double-back, and both clarify, and give you guys some more resources to play-like-Tony. (Especially since I myself have been revisiting the Lord of Ride.)

Please enjoy this week’s lesson, and make sure you pick up your transcription below:

Tony Exercises