Tag: drums Page 4 of 5

Playing quieter

Miles is going to have to askyou to CTFO.  In the past I was regarded as kind of a loud player- I forgot how much, until recently before…

Pad practice survival

When I first started I used to practice the rudiments while watching TV, I found it boring so TV helped distract me. –Jack Dejohnette   One of the…

Why we transcribe

Yes, I look the samewhen I’m transcribing as Duke did when he was copying parts- immaculately-coifed, reclining in my suit surrounded by reams of parchment. I’m a pretty…

Two simple rock applications

You’ve probably noticed by now that I do a lot with Ted Reed’s Syncopation? Here are two more methods which I have developed (along with my Rock beats…

Drum chart: Mamblues by Cal Tjader

Here is a chart of Mamblues, from Cal Tjader’s album Soul Sauce, transcribed by me. It’s a pretty straightforward (but burning!) salsa tune on a blues form, with…

Basic big band set-ups

Another in the recent series of easy stuff, here is a page of basic set-ups for ensemble kicks on the & of 4. You can apply these to…

Todd's Methods, pt. 3: Rock beats with Syncopation

Most drum books present their stuff fully written out verbatim for the drum set, which is fine for learning patterns, but not for thinking like a musician. This…

Basic triplet solo ideas for jazz

I’ve been posting a lot of hard stuff lately, so I thought I should throw a bone to the earlier-stage people. So here is an introduction to soloing…

Todd's Methods, Pt. 2: triplet partials in Syncopation

The second in a series of quick, sketchily-outlined demonstrations of my practice methods. Here I give a couple of my variations on common ways of using Ted Reed’s…

Best books: Like Syncopation

For many years Progressive Steps to Syncopation for the Modern Drummer (better known as just “Syncopation”) by Ted Reed was virtually the only drum book I used. As…