Can You Really Master Drums in One Week? (Plus, High-Effort, Low-View Videos)

Here’s the free download for this video - the show notes.

The year was 20…13? 20..14?

Nate was trying to figure out what to do with his life, but suspected there was another way to teach drums.

Then, I saw this video: Optimization Dude using the 80/20 rule to shortcut the drums.

I’d already made stabs in that direction with my fledgling channel.

But this video came out, and I was like “he stole my idea.”

Since then, it’s hard to say how much influence Tim Ferriss and his experiment to play drums in concert with Foreigner in one week had - was I conducting all sorts of “guinea pig” experiments to learn things in compressed amounts of time because of Tim, or was it just “in the air” among YouTubers?

As the years went on, though, that original video was less and less on my conscious mind, as the count of my videos ticked into the hundreds, and I’d run so many experiments and taught so many students I was forming my own relationship with teaching, learning, drums, and 8020.

By the time Tim re-released his original “learn drums fast” video 2 weeks ago, I’d been at it for around a decade.

Which prompted an idea I couldn’t resist: compare Tim’s approach in the original to where my thinking has settled after 10 years. And I discovered something surprising to probably only me: a lot of the ideas in Tim’s original video, while they might have worked for Tim in one extremely specific scenario…

…are probably either next-to-worthless for intermediate drummers who already practice every day, or things we already know.

To examine why, I backtrack and get into super-nerd territory. 8020, and Pareto, its inventor, aren’t just “get more from less”; they refer to a very specific statistical distribution, that’s not true of all things.

So I ask - is it true of drums?

And if it’s not, does that mean there’s no advantage to be gained from better teaching or practice?

Neither extreme passes the sniff test.

Instead of Tim, my recent thinking has settled closer to that of another thinker who influenced me heavily - Anders Ericsson: he of the 10,000-hour rule.

But in the video, I examine what “real life” accelerated-progress looks like.

Know you’ll enjoy.

And in case you missed it, I want to share the video I’m most proud of from 2024, the video I worked hardest on, and also the one that got definitively the fewest views.

Feel guilty enough to watch?

It’s the vlog of my clinic tour this past November.

Enjoy, and see you soon!

Early Access - Arthur Hnatek on Creating Drums for Tigran, Creative "Family Trees"

Whether or not you’ve heard the name Arthur Hnatek, you’ve probably heard the drummer.

If you love Tigran Hamasyan, by definition you love Arthur Hnatek.

Since the Mockroot album, Arthur has been creating unique drum parts for Tigran, and weaving himself deeply into the fabric of the band, and the albums.

As my interests currently sit at the intersection of jazz and prog rock, I was extremely interested in who Arthur’s influences were, and how he’s developed his voice.

We start out having the usual conversation about developing a music voice, but quickly segue into “musical family trees” - i.e. is Keith Carlock the “grandfather”, and Mark G and Nate wood the “fathers” - something I’m gratified that Arthur likewise found fun.

Maybe most fascinating, Arthur didn’t ever consciously play prog rock, but rather absorbed it via osmisis.

Insights like, and something surprising about Tigran’s input into drum parts, abound in this interview. Know you’ll enjoy.

And if you haven’t caught last week’s video about Youtube OG and Drumeo videographer Brandon Scott helping me with my YouTube cinematography, here’s that youtube video…

And here’s the complete interview with Brandon…

I'm opening my Course Called The Groove Course - Here's What It's About

If you like what you see, watch your inbox.

I’ll be opening the brand new Groove Course to the general public Wednesday, November 13th.

And when you join before the end of the day Friday the 15th, you’ll get a free video evaluation from ME on 1-2 videos you send me.

See you there!

Early Access - Ari Hoenig on Being an Original, Dealing With The Inner Voice

One of my proudest “hipster” achievements was being an early adopter on Ari Hoenig. Long story short, I arrived in New York 3 months before the start of my first school year in grad school, and spent the summer checking out live music with other students who’d stayed around the for summer.

One of those things we checked out was Ari. And as such, I was able to share the discovery with my classmates when they arrived in the fall.

Who was this guy who looked like he was outrunning demons when he played, who had a crispness and simplicity to his playing, and yet who was pushing the boundaries on so many things. For those in the know, Ari was already making waves with Kenny Werner by the time I caught him with the Jean Michel Pilc trio.

But as more and more jazz students cottoned to him, he quickly became the unofficial mayor of what I’d call New York Village Jazz. (As distinct from uptown and downtown jazz.) And his own groups birthed at least a few stellar careers, among them that of Gilad Hekselman.

It had been years since Ari and I had spoken - I’d “fanboyed” to him a number of times after gigs - so it was great to revisit one of the most influential drummers when I was in school and the years afterward.

In this interview, Ari and I speak about the origins of his unorthodox style, forging a path as an individual artist, how to deal with the critical voice and self-doubt while developing as an artist, his approach to practicing improvisation and more.

I guarantee you’ll enjoy this one.

And if you haven’t caught this week’s video about a killer Gavin Harrison lick I used as a springboard to workshop some reverse tom sweeps, that’s below.

And here’s the free download to accompany that lesson.

Enjoy!