Early Access - YouTube Video of The Week - Don't Forget This Crucial Part of Your Drum Beats

Download the free transcription here.

It’s week 2 of “Nate sends you the YouTube video early just for being an awesome subscriber”, and so-far-so-good.

This week I have a video about the most neglected part of the body: the lonely hi hat foot. Hanging out down there all alone, with nobody to appreciate it…

(Sad violin)

In all seriousness, the left foot can be a source of confusion and consternation, especially for drummers who haven’t played much jazz or fusion, but my message to you is twofold:

• First, you should absolutely incorporate the left foot, as many great players of non-jazz genres used it to great effect

• Second, it’s easier than you think, and I’ll give you some basic exercises to get you started

Get ready for a fun tour of drummer you didn’t know were using the hats creatively, plus some you did, plus a catalog of basic and more advanced exercises to sink your teeth into your left foot.

Wait. That didn’t sound very…

You know what I meant.

We’ll even give you a brief crash course on the biggest mistake beginners make with the hats. And if you expected all caps in that clickbait, find another youtuber.

Know you’ll enjoy this one!

Early Access - Andy Prado on The Case for Chops, The "Why" Behind Drumming, and The Importance of Authenticity

Andy Prado is a drummer’s drummer.

Talk to practically anyone you’ve heard of about who their favorite drummers are, and Andy is likely to be in that sentence.

He’s one of a small list of drummers you could call “elite choppers” - a list that includes people like Ron Bruner, Mike Mitchell, and not too many others.

As such he’s in both an enviable, and an unenviable position. And you better believe we dig into the multi-edged sword of “chops”. (It’s way harder than you think to get them, you don’t have anything to “hide behind” like groove drummers, and when you reach the top of your profession everybody either wants to be you, hates you, or both.)

Andy touches a bit on the unhuman work ethic necessary to reach the level he’s reached. We also get into:

• Huey Lewis and The News - based or cringe

• Andy’s weekly routine and current projects

• The importance of being authentic

• Whether drummers’ outward personalities match their music

• How Andy is also an elite groove player

• and much more

I know you’ll enjoy this light-hearted convo with one of the LA OGs, the GOAT, as Forrest Rice calls him.

And if you haven’t caught my weekly video about a lick I adapted from another GOAT, Joel Turcotte, to escape from the bottom side of the kit, you can watch that below.

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

Enjoy!

Early Access - YouTube Video of The Week - Don't Get Stuck on The Low Side of The Kit

Download the free transcription here.

I can’t promise this every week, but in my efforts to reward my email subscribers, and make being on my list inherently valuable - not just “Nate emails me the youtube video I could find on youtube anyway” - I’m going to attempt to add “sending you the youtube video a day early” to the other stuff you get just for being on the list:

• Early access to the podcast episodes (I’ve got Andy Prado coming Friday or Saturday)

• Exclusive access to list-only Q&As

• Occasional free lessons I don’t publish on youtube

In today’s video, I tackle a sticky little issue that doesn’t really have a name, but you kinda know it when you see it: getting stuck on the “bottom” of the kit.

Especially if you arrange your toms in a conventional “high to low” configuration, the lowest tom kind of has a “gravitational pull”. If you don’t want to crash the cymbal, it can feel awkward getting back to the other side of the kit to continue a fill.

That’s why, in today’s lesson, we’re going to explore two strategies:

The first inspired by my friend Joel Turcotte…

…and the second I probably ripped off from players like Dana Hawkins.

Even if you can’t do everything in this lesson on day 1, I think it’s an important conceptual framework.

Enjoy, and I’ll be back soon with the Andy Prado podcast.

Early Access - List Q&A #2, Plus Gavin Harrison and Keith Carlock

People sent me interesting questions! And I got a chance to weigh-in, during perhaps a slightly low-energy time of the afternoon.

In this solo pod, I discuss…

• An old qutation oft attributed to Mozart, and whether I think it applies to drums

• The myths and facts around developing speed

• “Niche” or “under-appreciated” superpowers of gigging drummers (like not dropping the wing nut while one-hand unscrewing it)

• Should we strive for versatility, and if-so, how?

Then, I cap things off with a ten-minute rant on nature/nurture, which still gets me fired up, even though I haven’t made a video on it in a year or three.

Hope you enjoy this slightly-jet-lagged, slightly-mic-thumpy solo pod!

And if you haven’t caught this week’s video about Gavin Harrison and Keith Carlock - separated at birth?…

…here it is.

And here’s the free download for that video.

Enjoy!