The One Kick Drum Technique to Solve (Most of) Your Problems

First things first - download your transcription here.

Today, a meditation on kick drum technique. I’ve been thinking a lot about a Nassim Taleb mental model called “teaching birds to fly”. I recognized what this was immediately, because it’s rampant in drums.

Loosely defined, it means “instruction led by the imperative to have something to talk about, not by the need to solve a real problem”. One imagines teaching a woodpecker the “stem twist technique”, or somebody developing an alternate way to flap wings that works just as well but is harder to learn.

Marketing is rife with teaching birds to fly. If you’ve got a course or software product to sell, it’s important that your prospect believes your solution is the only way he’ll solve his problem; otherwise he’ll ask the question “what do I need you for”?

Such is the ecosystem we have with kick-pedal playing, where people are developing all sorts of crazy and difficult techniques just to do basic things. (Metal drummers, with real problems to solve, appear to be the exception, and their technique has remarkable convergence around a small set of simple best practices.)

So when I surveyed my audience about their biggest issues playing the kick drum, the answers I got were things like “can’t balance on the throne”, “can’t find the right spring tension”, “need a way to carry my kick pedal with me to gigs”, and “can’t play both loud and soft without tension”.

If they’d said “I can’t play double-kick 32nds above a certain tempo and keep them clean”, I would’ve sent them to 66Samus. But 98% of the problems people described were (1) problems I used to have which (2) I solved with one variation to my technique.

As always, if it’s working for you, don’t change it (I’m not trying to teach birds to fly), but if you have any of the above issues, you might want to consider that they have a single source: your kick drum technique. And further, that a simple fix (though there will be a learning/adjustment curve) can do away with most of them.

In this lesson, the simple technique fix that will hopefully solve most of your basic kick drum problems.

Enjoy.

The 3 Most Underrated Vinnie Licks?

First things first: download the transcription here.

Let's end 2020 on a high, and uncontroversial note.

Let's study a drummer universally acknowledged to be one of the greatest of his generation.

I'm speaking, of course, about Vinnie. This month I was thinking about Vinnie after listening to Ron Bruner's solo record, because Ron gives an overdubbed verbal nod to some of his influences, and Vinnie is front-and-center.

I've also long felt Vinnie stood out from his peers as a drummer who continued to "push his prime back", by continuing to shed and get better decade-by-decade, instead of resting on his laurels. (It's inspirational to me, because I sure hope I'm a much better drummer at 70 than I am now, though I'll have to find ways to be more minimalist and efficient.)

Today's lesson is one which, like many that require multiple transcriptions, almost didn't get done in time. We pulled it off, though, and by "we", I mean Chris, who not only helped me transcribe one of the solos but pointed out an error I'd made in the counting, and Srdjan the video editor, who stuck with me gamely across multiple revisions, until we had a coherent video. (Then roasted me with the outtakes, as usual :P)

In this video I cover 3 Vinnie moments that are underrated, but which should immediately ring familiar to any "true fans".

They span multiple eras - 80s, 90s, and 2000s - and there's a good mix of jazz, fusion, and afro-cuban.

Curious yet?

See for yourself - the 3 most underrated Vinnie licks? And see if you agree.

See you in 2021,

N

Are Music School Jazz Drummers Bullies

I have to choose my words carefully, which is why “the plan” is to avoid controversy and lay low for the next several weeks after this.

No more responding to web critiques, no more “running at conventional wisdom”. For a few weeks. And then only when it’s important.

Yet there’s still the issue of this week’s video, which now exists. A bell that can’t be “unrung”. And good thing I stand by every word.

At issue: I’m on the internet taking issue with the canonization of certain drummers while others are excluded. (And if you don’t know I’m talking about, do your own research. I’m not going to “re-cancel” myself.) I’m also out here saying there’s a “high bar” for “legitimate” jazz drumming, and that there’s a difference between good drumming and bad drumming.

But “am I a jerk” is a pretty boring video.

“Are musical school jazz drummers bullies” - more interesting video.

So, if I’m the most-insufferable of music school drummers, I wanted to use my “platform” to dispel a few misunderstandings.

I don’t hate [drummer who will not be named]. Far from it.

I’m not out there looking for examples of bad drumming to police.

And I don’t think abuse is a prerequisite to sounding good on the drums.

But don’t just listen to me - I got in contact with some former classmates and colleagues and asked their opinions as well. To assemble a…focus group…if you will, of music school drummers.

Our message to fledgling jazz hobbyists, in this video.

Hope you enjoy.

Using "Jazz Ruffs" to Add Dimension to Your Drumming

First things first - grab your transcription! 👇👇👇

Jazz Ruffs Transcription

This week's video is all about the ruff.

Maybe you've noticed Marcus Gilmore seem to "suspend time" before hitting a big downbeat...

...or seen JD Beck or Rhagav Mahrotra on Instagram doing "flurries" between notes.

There's an idiom that you know even if you don't think you do, and it's part of the DNA of modern drumming. Once you see it, you can't "unsee" it.

But like many things, once you turn on the lights and demystify it, it's not so mysterious anymore, and you can even start to use it in your playing almost immediately.

Why?

You've likely already 75% of the muscle memory from things you're already doing.

In today's lesson, I'll show you what ruffs are, the 3 major types of "jazz ruffs" I've identified from players like JD, Marcus, and Maison Guidry, and how to implement them in your playing by grafting them onto what you're already doing.

After all, ruffs are embellishment.

Hope you enjoy this week's lesson.