One night, while sitting at a club not far from where I lived, one of my favourite local players came off the stage and made his way to my table. He was not his usual smiling self, and as he sat down he said, “Some people just got nothin’ to say.”
All Crotchety
The traditional grip fulcrum will always be in the crotch of the thumb and first finger. Hold out your left hand (unless you're a lefty) as if you were going to shake someone's hand and put your stick firmly in the above-mentioned crotch.
When I was younger, studying full percussion, my piano teacher was always trying to get me to sit up straight. Easier said than done. And while practicing drums and mallets it’s near impossible to not be bending over.
Most of the time I find the writer has not done their homework in researching other books to discover what has been published on the same subject. That research can take a lot of time, but it’s necessary if you don’t want to waste your time submitting material that's already available.
Buddy Rich said it well enough: "Be on time, wear a clean shirt and swing your ass off!” Despite Buddy's penchant for homely sweaters, his advice goes a long way toward spelling out the expectations (the basic requirements of the job) of being a pro, or at least desirable. I used to tell my business students something similar: Show up on time, wear the right clothes, and do what you were hired to do to the best of your ability.
Aside from single and double strokes, paradiddles are the most often used sticking patterns in drumming. In the family of paradiddles there are four standard types—single paradiddles, double paradiddles, triple paradiddles, and paradiddle-diddles. The following highlights each family along with their inversions.
I am a staunch disciple of renowned drum teacher Jim Blackley. His death in 2018 at the tender age of 86 silenced his voice, but it needn’t cut us off from his legacy and extraordinary teaching.
Yes, we've preserved the traditional functions, but nowadays we prefer to do more with our instruments.
Ask a musician what kind of time signature is 9/8 and you’ll no doubt get the answer, it’s compound time.
Faster Still!!!
When a young drummer asks about the best way to develop speed, the usual answer is “practice slowly”. And no, that's not an oxymoron. Your ability to play fast is 100% determined by the amount of control you have over your limbs. And the best way to develop control is through … wait for it … slow, regular, mindful practice.
You may ask, “Ulysses what if I don’t play gigs requiring brushes?”
I believe for any musician who plays the drums, it doesn’t matter. Learning the brushes is part of your due diligence on the drum kit.
Some of you may disagree, but to my mind playing time behind a drum set, whether it be rock, jazz, latin, or any other genre of music has to do mainly with the cymbals and snare.
just how do you decide whether you are going to do a job when there's no money to be had. In short, WIIFMAMB (What's is in it for me and my band)
A few weeks later, as I practiced, I was intrigued with not only how smooth my stroke had become, but also how much speed I'd achieved in a relatively short time. And the key component to this admirable accomplishment? I didn't pay attention.
4-Way Independence Rules
Our limbs typically cannot act independently, and so we must train them to co-ordinate their actions as a team. We call it independence, but what we're really talking about is “co-ordinated interdependence”... the limbs are co-operating and not acting independently.
Of course there are no rules, other than just do it. But there are good ways to practice and not so good ways. My goal for practice time is that it will invariably lead to the development of sound playing and sound playing habits. And it has to be fun.
Recognition vs. Recall
The goal is not to memorize the entire tune and arrangement. We just need to be able to identify and recognize the various sections as they come along. As long as we can follow the tune, the rest is just a case of getting organized. I like to develop a good understanding of the 'landscape' and leave the details until later. If I were to focus on the drum breaks, for example, I’d miss a lot of important information.
The following etude is a primary example of the idea that things sometimes look simpler than they are. It’s comprised of just quarter and eighth notes, but you have to concentrate in order to play from start to finish without stopping and, of course, without making a mistake.
One thing that I always admired about Buddy Rich was the way he set up figures. He had a way of announcing and drawing attention to horn lines that was absolutely beautiful.
We’ve all at one time or another been advised to "just listen” and we would be told the answer to whatever it is that’s is confusing us..
Micro Practice
We do ‘micro practice’ all the time. We work on a single thing: single strokes, double strokes, lines from Stick Control and the like. Why? Because it works. Reducing our focus to a single item reaps big rewards. When learning a new figure, I will often take a 2-beat or even a 1-beat section and work on it exclusively. Then, when I tackle the whole thing, I’ve got a good handle on each part.
My first introduction to Tony Williams was the Miles Davis album 'Miles in Europe.' Inconceivable to me that Tony was keeping time. He was playing his 'parts' (yes, plural) 'within' the time. (And killing it!) Elvin Jones with John Coltrane? More plural 'parts' within the time. (And more killing!) Max Roach played pstterns and melodies. Jimmy Cobb often played straight quarter notes on the cymbal. To me, that was his part in the music. And so on.....
When I was a kid, after hours trying to develop an open double stroke roll, I got a great feeling when suddenly discovering I achieved the ability to play clean, even, and fast double strokes with its resulting machine gun effect. The same holds true for many other aspects of learning to play my instruments.
George Lawrence talking and playing with Chris Pat Brown at Memphis Drum Shop.