Why Drummers Sound So Different Today

First things first - download your free groove transcription.

This week's video started as a kernel of an idea over two months ago.

It just so happened that one day I was surfing instagram thinking "all modern drummers do certain things." They're the things I teach: kind-of quantization, stick height differentiation, "clean" sounds, etc. Then I happened to be listening to War Pigs by Black Sabbath and something occurred to me: "why don't people play like this anymore?"

Of course that's an oversimplification. You can find great modern drummers from Nate Smith to Matt Garstka manifesting "wabisabi", and intentionally "dirtier" sounds.

But sometime between Bill Ward and Naveen Kopperweis, between Ringo and JD Beck, something changed. And I'm not sure we can go back. I'm not sure we'd want to.

So where and when did the "modern" style develop? I had hunches. Like drum machines, the demands of record producers, commodification of singles, portable music players, etc. But wanted to know with more certainty. So I started asking around. And people told me about a bunch of things I hadn't heard about:

Like the fact that Steely Dan commissioned the first drum machine. Or the fact that the Beatles were among the first bands to get deeply into the potential of multitrack recording. Or something later called the "Josh Freese Effect".

This video was a few months in the oven (complicated by my travel schedule), but now that it's finished I consider it at least a *stab* at a comprehensive look at how the ubiquitous modern drum style evolved. Or, if you prefer your titles in clickbait, why ALL Modern Drummers Sound The Same. (But not really.)

But it was nonetheless rewarding to see the whole sordid tapestry laid out in one overly-lengthy manifesto. And if you're reading this, I hope you too enjoy the journey.

I've also got something else. Meinl just published the drum solo I shot at their studios in November. It's probably the "pro" performance I'm most proud of, to date. If you're interested in checking that out, it's linked below.

Madden Klass - "I Just Wanted to Sound Like a Record"

You either know Boy Genius’ drummer Madden Klass, or you don’t know her yet.

Equally at home playing fusion tracks, creating her own “live” arrangements for hip hop songs, or holding it down behind roots rock groups, Madden has a depth to her playing that belies her 25 years.

She was quick to realize the upsides of digging in when her teacher Peter Greco introduced her to reading and rudiments, and, unlike 9/10 of people in that situation, she gave it 110%.

That attitude carried her through high school, when she redoubled her efforts to expand her repertoire by learning to play big band jazz, and college at Berklee, where at first she dabbled in the “sheds” scene and learned the “live arrangement” style of drumming ubiquitous behind R&B stars and shows like American Idol and Rhythm and Flow. (To this moment I’m still not sure when she worked djent in, but she apparently did.) Finally, the lack of a “quit gene” saw Madden double-down on home recording when the pandemic forced Berklee to send its students home in 2020.

So while it may be surprising to see somebody who plays with a maturity and taste of someone twice-her-age and the technical proficiency of someone exactly-her-age backing Boy Genius at Madison Square Garden and on SNL, it’s not once you understand her back story a bit.

I hope you’ll be as charmed and inspired by Madden as I was.

Mazyck "Zyck" Wyatt - "I Had to Work For It"

If you know this week's podcast guest as "zyck the freak" on instagram or YouTube, you may place him as the instigator behind the latest generation of Berklee shed videos. (Those with "2023" or "2024" in the title.)

If so, you might have clocked him as just another of the groups of elite drummers who go through Berklee's system and dazzle us along the way. But according to Zyck, that's not how it happened. By his own account, Zyck was unprepared for the level of playing he encountered in the first of his "sheds" at Berklee, and had to dig deep to raise his level.

(By the time you see him on video, it's manifest that he's succeeded.)

That's just the first of multiple surprises about Zyck, a drummer unafraid to take a "first principles" approach. Zyck also says he didn't gig at all for the first several years at Berklee; something he now advises young drummers to take seriously.

He's also "self-coached" - if not self-taught, having gone long periods without lessons, and having had to figure out many of his impressive abilities on his own.

But perhaps the most "controversial" of Zyck's take is that that landed him on my radar in the first place: his unapologetic defense of young drummers on the internet.

He's tired of the "old guard" taking pot shots at the way things are now, he says. Things have changed, and to decry it won't change it. (But he gets more descriptive.)

Whatever your opinion, I can guarantee you'll enjoy spending an hour with this thoughtful - and controversial - figure.

Check Out The Brand New Jazz Course - Opens Monday march 3

If you like what you see, watch your inbox.

I’ll be opening the brand new Jazz Course to the general public Monday, March 3.

And when you join before the end of the first day, you’ll get a free custom video from me, reacting to up to 10 minutes of your jazz playing.

See you there!