Antonio Sanchez - Pat Metheny, Birdman, and Everything in Between

Antonio is one of that small category of “drummer’s drummers” who have crossed over into “normies know about them” territory.

“I’m interviewing Pat Metheny’s drummer” will compute to some music hipster friends. “I’m interviewing the drummer guy who did the Birdman soundtrack” will compute for practically anybody.

The crazy thing is the serendipitous way the two are related. After Sanchez got the gig with Metheny, he had just finished playing a show in Los Angeles when a kindly man approached him backstage, mentioning how he loved the performance and he had “done a couple of films”. Thinking this was the average Hollywood person who had “done a couple films”, and tired after the gig, Sanchez politely sought to cut the interaction short - “anything I’d have heard of?”

“Maybe,” replied the man. “I did one called 21 Grams a few years ago, and another called Amores Perros.”

Realizing he was talking to Alejandro Iñaritu, Schanez softened. It was on the basis of this conversation that, several years later, when Iñaritu was at work on Birdman, Antonio Sanchez got the call.

Fast forward a handful of years, and now it’s Sanchez’ music we hear behind the Emmy-winning Seth Rogan show The Studio.

Obviously, there was a lot to cover in just an hour, because we hadn’t even scratched the surface of Antonio’s early development, the Berklee years, The first gigs with David Sanchez and Miguel Zenon (where a young 8020-guy saw him a umber of times at the Jazz Gallery in New York), Pat, Bela Fleck, and the tour life.

Forget about his approach to practice, his attitude about chops vs musicality, etc.

But cover we did. Luckily, Antonio is as good a storyteller away from the drums as he is behind them. The gestalt of this interview is a wise veteran still in his prime, who’s seen a lot of things, played with a lot of greats, and lived a lot of life, and is eager to share.

I’m sure you’ll enjoy this conversation.

The Left Hand Skill Good Drummers Should Have in 2025

First things first - grab your free transcription here.

It was probably always going to end up here.

The Tony Williams ride pattern with both hands.

It sounds like a circus act. Or a party trick. You’re probably wondering how it came to this. So let’s back up.

My left hand always kinda sucked. First, I had some conflicting teachers. (Hindsight 2020, I should have listened to the first, who, despite I’m pretty sure joining a militia shortly after teaching me, had the right idea about hand technique.)

Next, I did the “trad” thing for about 15 years after college. Hard to explain, and it’s not necessary, but trad is kind of a kinesthetic way to get “into the minds” of the jazz greats. If I wanted it to feel to me as much as possible how it felt for Max Roach, there was no choice.

All of that left me in the early 20-teens with kind of a wimpy left hand. I’d “bear claw” stuff, or use back fulcrum, but it had nothing like the dexterity of my right.

Of course I’ve been dabbling with stuff to improve it, but the two things that were game-changing were Gordy Knudtson’s particular encapsulation of the push pull technique many greats have used over the years, and my going “full black pill” this spring on playing the ride cymbal with both hands.

As jazzers the right hand gets so much practice playing the ride, so that any average jazz drummer probably has right hand technique that would considered rather elite in non-jazz circles. (True, the prog guys still have us when it comes to high volume stuff.) “If I could just get my left hand to do what my right does, I’d cover a lot of ground,” I thought.

Roll on 6 months of “rage caving”, and we arrived at this point.

Abi-dexterous Tony. Not that I’m particularly great at it so far. But I can do it at moderate tempos.

So I wanted to make you a video.

And now that I kinda “see the matrix”, I think this is the way. Everybody who’s serious about their weak hand should do this.

Do you agree? Leave a comment below. In any event, hope you enjoy.

The Simple Lick You Didn't Know All The Pros were Using

First things first - grab your free transcription here.

I’m endlessly fascinated by the disparities between what we think is going on when great players play, vs what’s really going on.

Almost a decade ago, I would transcribe stuff from Justin Tyson or Thomas Pridgen, and eventually came up with a rule-of-thumb, kind of like Drum Occam’s Razor: “if you have to do something that feels super physically awkward to play this lick you think is happening, it’s probably something else.”

Not exclusively - certainly sometimes drummers have worked out unique ways of moving around the kit - but usually. If you hear hoofbeats, think horses instead of zebras, and if you hear thunderous Thomas licks, think paradiddle permutations with kicks and cymbals until you learn differently.

It’s just such a lesson that underscores the theme of this week’s youtube entertainment - a simple lick that’s a bit of a “missing link” in the playing of a lot of great “choppers”. The humble RLK.

At the beginning of the video, I show 2 prominent examples of great drummers who, when the lick seems to permutate and “warp”, if you slow it down, the root is this RLK. Simple, but not easy. Because in 16ths or 32nds, introducing a 3-note phrase is introducing chaos. A rotating dynamo that will drag you across barlines whether you’re ready or not. So not easy. But, in theory, simple.

The third musical example I offer in the opening minutes of the video is drummer whose focus is not necessarily RLK. But I show his playing to illustrate that I could drop this RLK in the middle of the street, and unless they had connectors, a conception of improvising, and fundamentals, very few would be able to “pick it up”.

So we use that as a jumping off point to discuss 3 points of the “how” of playing like “the greats”.

Also if you’ve made it to the end, you might be interested in going deeper with these concepts, and it just so happens I may have the thing: enrollment closes soon for one 1:1 coaching slot I came by “accidentally” this month. If you’ve been waiting on the fence to check out the Impossible to Fail program, now might be your chance. More Info here. Because this will go fast, I’ll delete this paragraph in 24 hours.

Do You HAVE To Play Rimshots on Drums?

First things first - grab your free transcription here.

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I love “hidden-in-plain-sight” controversies. A few weeks ago I was contemplating the necessity of teaching rimshots. So I decided to post about it on my Instagram. Little “black tile with white text” thing. Immediately got almost 80 comments and 10x the engagement of, say, me drumming.

“Ok,” I thought. “This is a topic”.

So - if you’re learning to play the drums, do you need to learn rimshots?

They’re prickly things. It’s almost like adding another whole dimension to the things we already worry about. Now it’s not just accents and subdivision and timing and ideas and orchestration, but also nailing this exact angle when you strike the snare, and damn it would nice if you could do it without any tension and with the same sound with both hands at multiple stick heights.

So yea - prickly.

So in this video we look at the use cases. Are 100% of drum beats rimshot beats? Not even close. From classic Ringo tracks of the ‘70s, to Steve Gadd beats of the ‘80s, to songs like John Mayer’s Vultures, to most jazz swing beats…

There’s a lot you can do without rimshots.

And don’t they kind of have a bad brand? We picture Chad Smith or Joey Jordison - the cannon-fire-against-the-temples of the type of music we’d probably scream at our neighbors to “turn it doooown”.

But in this video, I’ll make the case for the humble rimshot. Illustrating, hopefully, that they’re not just for speed metal. (“These aren’t your parents’ rimshots”.)

Drummers from Ziggy to Clyde Stubblefield to Brian Blade have used them tastily. And, with this handy guide, so can you!

At any rate, hope you enjoy this exploration of drums’ most undersold controversy.