The Drum Beat That's Suddenly Everywhere

First things first. Download your free transcription here.

There's a drum beat that's suddenly everywhere.

And maybe you're "get off my lawn" type. In which case you might not care.

But think you should, and here's why:

There's no "classic" beat or drumming style that wasn't at one point "the kids" or "the new thing". I'm sure I can find headlines about how ragtime is corrupting our kids and destroying the family.

The it was jazz. Then bebop. Then rock and roll. There was always something "the kids were doing" that was scandalous at the time, which has since become the incumbent music.

Some of you will say "it's all notes" or "it's too busy". Know who else they said that about?

Charlie Parker. Then Coltrane.

Maybe I'm being too defensive. But there's a lot of blanket dismissal of "what the kids are doing" in my YouTube comments these days.

But what are we actually talking about?

It's a style that's suddenly everywhere. Like some of the other styles I've covered, it's a little hard to describe, but you know it where you hear it.

And if you squint, you hear echoes of In A Silent Way and Red Clay - an era when a generation of musicians with a new level of technical facility were stretching musically.

To my mind that's what you hear when Jharis Yokley plays...well, Red Clay...or when some of the latest generation of artists "mess around" with what's essentially a vestige of all the exercises they had to learn to improvise. A sped up version of what I'd call a "switching exercise".

Phew.

Anyway, that's why to make hide or hair of any of this stuff, the key in my opinion is understanding the movement system that underlies all this stuff. And my way into that was the funk clave system.

So in this video, we appy the funk clave system to decode what the kids are doing. Hope you enjoy!

Do You Have to Chop to Be a Great Drummer?

First things first. Download your free transcription here.

Today's video touches on a topic that comes up relatively frequently with my students.

"I'm not trying to be an instagram star or play 25 minute stadium solos. Can't I just focus on groove?"

Well in one very basic sense, yes of course.

We can all think of great drummers for whom solos or "chopping" was and is a very minor part of their lexicon, if it's a part at all.

But the inevitable follow up is "well what's a 'good' drummer anyway?"

Because it's not like fight sports or flying space craft. It all really is subjective to a degree, depending on the audience. So that's why I say the definition of "good" or "great" drumming depends on what you're trying to do. Be an adaptable studio great like Steve gadd? Well that's a different skill set from integrating really well into one band. Which is different from just enjoying yourself whenever you play.

But here's the rub: if we take that third definition, then for Me, chopping is indeed part of being great. Etc etc.

Then there are two other angles: not knowing what you're missing, and "headroom". It's possible that if you haven't experienced chopping, you actually might like it.

It's also possible that many of our favorite players who don't routinely "bust out" solos nonetheless are able to improvise when the moment calls for it, and that extra capacity gives their playing an intangible confidence.

But as usual, I'm out here trying to have a better conversation than just "groove va chops".

See if you agree with my opinions.

The Real Reason You Feel "Stuck" on Drums

First things first - download your free transcription.

The inspiration for this week’s lesson came from my excellent students.

I was musing that once we have a shared understanding of the concept I’m going to share in this video, two things happen. First, their progress accelerates, and they feel like they “unlock” a bunch of potential energy. Second, they acquire the freedom to go in a much more “personal” direction, creating their own vocabularies. The number of “wrong answers” shrinks to near-zero.

And I’m spoiled to have the students I have, because when I look across the drum landscape, I see a lot of drummers who feel “stuck”.

It’s not that they can’t play. On the contrary - they’ve put in a bunch of work, and are often in working bands. It’s just that they’ve lost track of how to achieve their goals. Their forward progress toward playing like the players they look up to has “stalled”. (Or appeared to stall.)

And a big source of inspiration for my videos are things that seem ultra-clear to me, and even to my students, but which, for some of the drumming world, are opaque. The videos practically write themselves.

As subscribers to this list, you might have an inkling what I’m talking about. But when I say it it will be obvious. It’s attention to detail.

In other words, the “how” - rather than just the “what” - you do in the practice room.

If you’re attentive to the most important details, you can work on practically anything, no matter how fundamental, and still get growth.

If you’re oblivious, it will seem like you keep putting in time, but you’re just stagnating.

But the solution is simple! Just start paying attention to these key details I’ll share in this video (but which, if you’ve followed me for some time, won’t be a huge mystery).

Hope you enjoy this one, and see you soon!

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.