Drumming books written by Todd Bishop. Click on the cover images to purchase!
view all my e-book titles on Amazon | view all my print titles available on Lulu
100 Grooves – print book, 97 pages
100+ drum grooves, as performed by top drummers, including Elvin Jones, Ed Blackwell, Zigaboo Modeliste, James Gadson, Billy Cobham, Clyde Stubblefield, Mike Clark, Stewart Copeland, and many, many more.
Playing Samba and Bossa Nova – A Field Manual For Drummers
print and e-book, 37 pages
How to play Samba and Bossa Nove in a jazz band/lounge band setting. All the musical essentials you really need in the field, playing professionally. Topics include: your job as drummer when playing this music, how to build your own grooves, how to play with a band, how to play creatively and authentically, more!
E-book transcription collections:
5 Elvin Jones Transcriptions – e-book, 35 pages
Summertime – drum solo, with accompanying figures.
Lonnie’s Lament – piano solo accompaniment
Big Nick – complete tune
Tunji – complete tune
Soul Eyes – brushes, piano and saxophone solo accompaniment
5 Tony Williams transcriptions – e-book, 34 pages
Miles Davis / Fall: entire track
Miles Davis / Seven Steps To Heaven: head and trumpet solo accompaniment
Eric Dolphy / Hat And Beard: head in and out
Stanley Clarke / Lopsy Lu: complete track with drum solo
Don Pullen / Once Upon A Time: drum solo in 3/4
5 Roy Haynes Solos – e-book, 21 pages
In Walked Bud – played by Thelonious Monk
Snap Crackle – played by Roy Haynes
Reflection – played by Roy Haynes
Bad News Blues – played by Roy Haynes
All The Things You Are – played by Pat Metheny
5 Max Roach Solos – e-book, 26 pages
Clifford Brown & Max Roach – Jordu
Thelonious Monk – Brilliant Corners
Sonny Rollins – Blue Seven
Max Roach – Garvey’s Ghost
Max Roach – Nepa
5 Zigaboo Modeliste Transcriptions – e-book, 24 pages
Stay Away: complete tune with drum breaks
Africa: complete tune – New Orleans street beat
Good Old Funky Music – complete tune – Slamming funk!
The Mob: improvised sections
Cabbage Alley: improvised breakdown
All the major drum grooves from the album Look-ka Py Py
5 70s Funk Transcriptions – e-book, 27 pages
Stanley Clarke / School Days – drums by Gerry Brown
Funkadelic / Trash A Go-Go – drums by Tyrone Lampkin
Dirty Harry Theme / Lalo Schifrin – drums by John Guerin
Betty Davis / Anti-Love Song – drums by Greg Errico
Joe Henderson / Earth – drums by Ndugu Leon Chancler
Cruise Ship Drummer! Books of the Blog – print
These books include all of the downloadable drum exercises and transcriptions posted on my Cruise Ship Drummer! drumming blog in the given year. Each book is jam-packed with fun and challenging practice materials for intermediate to very advanced players.
2016 – 120 pages
Contents include: Rock beats: simple displacements / Two beat rock fills / EZ one-handed Reed interpretation / EZ Reed method with flams and 16 th notes / Basic 12-8 grooves / Basic fluency in 12-8 / EZ Reed method: triplet lick / EZ Reed method: another triplet lick / Page o’ coordination: shuffle bass drum variations / Double-bass 5 and 7-stroke singles / odd meters / Snare drum etude in 2-4: 8ths and triplets / Snare drum etude in 5-8 / Three Camps in 5s / Linear patterns in 7-8: four note pattern / Linear patterns in 7-8: one measure / Linear patterns in 7-8: two measures / Page o’ coordination: Elvin Jones – That 5/4 Bag / Reed interpretation: triplets with breaks / EZ Tony Williams-like method / EZ Tony Williams-like method: another setting / Uptempo Stone method / Displacing a jazz groove / Cut time funk method: two-measure grooves / EZ cut time funk method 2-3-4 method / Three street beats by Fred Staehle / New Orleans street beat – Stone method / New Orleans street beat – Reed method / Basic linear phrases in 4-4 / Basic linear phrases in 3-4 / Orchestrations of a figure – Groove Elation / Basic funk with mixed stickings / Basic funk ideas: four iterations / Basic funk ideas: four iterations in 6-8 / Dahlgren & Fine linear funk method / Bossa and Samba bass drum workout / Tom moves for Pages o’ coordination / Page o’ coordination: Afro 6-8 – 6-4 feel / POC: Afro 6-8 – across the barline / POC: “Afro blues” bell pattern / POC: Ventimiglia riff
Plus transcriptions of: Billy Higgins, Joe Chambers, Airto, Connie Kay, Elvin Jones, Omar Hakim, Zigaboo Modeliste, Vinnie Colaiuta, Jeff Porcaro, John Guerin, Gerry Brown, James Black, Ndugu Leon Chancler, more!
2015 – 102 pages
Contents include: Natural-sticking timing exercise / Paradiddle inversion exercise / Stick Control in 3-4 – flamacues / Snare drum workout in 6-8 – flamacues / Survival Chops – triplets in 5-4 / Snare drum workout in 5-4 – 8th notes / Quarternoteism / Basic half time feel funk grooves / Half time feel funk – basic method, intermediate, advanced methods / Rock beats displaced / Page o’ coordination – funk / Rock beats in 5-4 / Brazilian 3, 5, and 7 / Maiden Voyage figure – Reed method / Cantaloupe Island – figure and fills / Your own “glitch” beat / Getting around the drums / Jazz method with varying cymbal rhythm / Assembling a basic Elvin waltz / Chaffee patterns in 3-4 / Page o’ coordination: overlapping hands / Mozambique variations / POC: anticipations / POC: Ahmad’s vamp / POC: Latin 3 / POC: Afro 6 – Guiro / POC: Igbo grooves for drumset / Chaffee linear patterns in 5-4, mixed rhythm / Basic syncopation rhythms in 7-4 / Page o’ coordination: 7-4 / Chaffee linear patterns in 7-4, mixed rhythm / Stick Control in 7-8 / Basic 7-8 rhythms / Page o’ coordination: Zorn 7-8 / Zorn 7-8 – Stone method / RLF in 7-8 / Dahlgren & Fine in 7-8 / 7-8 paradiddles / Flam accents in 7-8
Plus transcriptions of: Billy Higgins, Frankie Dunlop, Elvin Jones, Ed Blackwell, Roy Haynes, Joey Baron, Tony Williams, Airto, Kenny Clarke, Al Foster, Famoudou Don Moye, more!
2014 – 84 pages
Contents include:
Brazilian rhythms / Partido Alto variations / Syncopation patterns in 3/4 time / 10-stroke rolls / Three Camps in first inversion paradiddles / Philly Joe three-beat lick / Survival chops: 16ths and triplets in 3/4 time / Snare drum workout in 6/8 time / Snare drum workout in 2/4 time / Stick Control on the drums / Reed interpretation: fast within slow / Page o’ coordination: hihat splash / POC: syncopated ride / POC: Out Of This World / Jazz coordination / POC: Elvin waltz inverted feet / POC: Elvin waltz with 16th notes / POC: metric modulation / POC: Elvin waltz, in 4/4 / POC: 5/4 with tie / Generic Latin method using Reed / Clave lock — exercises for soloing over clave / Son Clave basic coordination / Rumba Clave basic coordination / POC: Afro 6/8 with feet in 3/4 / POC: Afro 6/8 — middle of the triplet / POC: 6/8 Rumba Clave — hard feet / Straight 8th notes within Afro 6/8 / Todd’s “African” lick / POC: Afro 9/8 / Todd’s tom tom thing
Plus transcriptions of: Tony Williams, Ed Blackwell, Jeff ‘Tain’ Watts, Ringo Starr, Dannie Richmond, John Guerin, Rick Marotta, more!
2013 – 122 pages
Contents include: Crossing accents / Flam accent/flam drag exercise / Paradiddle-diddles for jazz coordination / Survival chops: right hand lead / Page of six-stroke rolls / Survival chops: cymbal and bass drum patterns / Applying Todd’s 11-note lick / Around the drums with 8th notes / More rock beats using Syncopation / Tiki Fulwood’s 32nds / Key to right hand-accented triplets / Exercises for developing a common Reed application / Exercises for bass drum punctuations in jazz while feathering / Page o’ coordination: an Elvin Jones-like phrase in 4/4 / How to play Pent-Up House by Sonny Rollins / How to play Jordu by Clifford Brown / How to play Stablemates by Benny Golson / A page of polyrhythms / Playing meter-within-meter: introduction / Getting started with meter-within-meter / More meter-within-meter phrases / Page o’ coordination: 2:3 metric modulation, part 1 / Cracking 5/4: ostinatos / Page o’ coordination: basic, fairly hip 5/4 / Page o’ coordination: another 5/4 / Page o’ coordination: phrasing across the barline in 5/4 / Page o’ coordination: Elvin-like 5/4 / Page o’ coordination: 5/8+5/8 / Clave capers – getting the triplet pull / Developing some Afro-Cuban bell patterns / Afro 6/8 basics / Afro 6/8 coordination exercise / Page o’ coordination: Afro 6/8 — funk style / Page o’ coordination: Afro 6/8 — bass drum variation / Page o’ coordination: Afro 6/8 — clave in RH / Page o’ coordination: Afro 6/8 — clave in LH / Page o’ coordination: Songo / Page o’ coordination: Songo with Son Clave in left foot / Page of Mozambique / Page of Guaguanco / A page of Brazilian rhythms / Bass drum variations for Bossa Nova / Another Samba builder / Drum chart: Salve a Mocidade /
Plus transcriptions of: Tony Williams, Elvin Jones, Ed Blackwell, Philly Joe Jones, Frankie Dunlop, Art Blakey, Jon Christensen, Ralph Humphrey, Al Jackson, Greg Errico, Roger Hawkins, Milton Banana, more!
2011 – Transcriptions – 139 pages
Includes transcriptions of Elvin Jones, Tony Williams, Vinnie Colaiuta, Jack Dejohnette, Roy Haynes, Zigaboo Modeliste, Ringo Starr, Frankie Dunlop, James Gadson, Paul Motian, Philly Joe Jones, Pete La Roca, Papa Jo Jones, Andy Newmark, Jim Gordon, and more.