I bet I could throw a drumstick over them mountains…
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I’m back in the acoustic game again. It felt weird playing a set of Al Foster Jr. Hip Gig drums for three solid hours tonight, but I finally got into some tasty grooves by the end of the night. This video is actually the first real song that I played on them. The christening so to speak. Enjoy. |
Back to Basics and Soul of the Funky Drummers
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I recently aquired two new drumming DVDs: Dave Weckl’s ‘Back to Basics’, and Jabo Starks and Clyde Stubblefield’s ‘Soul of the Funky Drummers’. While both DVDs are infinitely excellent and highly recommended, I feel that Dave Weckl’s video much more educational. Actually, out of all of my drumming DVDs ever purchased, ‘Back to Basics’ is probably the best one I’ve ever watched. Dave shows how he seats new heads, give tips on posture and how to sit, how to hold the sticks, and even a segment on how to use brushes. The only criticism that I have is that there is no included charts in the video nor captioned in the video itself. Rod Morganstein’s video ‘Putting it all Together’ was great in that respect. Rod slowed down a lot of his complex beats, and transcribed the charts as captions which was very helpful. Despite this oversight, the technique and good drum karma that I gained from playing along with ‘Back to Basics’ was invaluable. |
Problems with LRL
I have been playing a double bass drum pedal since late 1994. I am pretty fast with it, and I can do a lot of things with my hands independent of doing steady 16th-notes on the bass drum. I was reading Rod Morganstien`s article in Modern Drummer this month and I realized that I have a major weakness. While I can play the typical alternating right-left-right-left 16th note with my feet very quickly, I have a very difficult replacing a beat using my right foot with my right hand or with a rest. This exercise also made me painfully aware of my lack of right hand, left foot coordination. I finally could do it, but the beats still lack fluidity and do not appear to be effortless. After I was finished, my left leg felt a little painful because this exercise was essentially one that causes you to keep your left foot going while occasionally stopping your right foot. Which, for right-handed players, is the opposite of the typical scenario.
I started thinking about the whole exercise some more and realized there are likely thousands of exotic coordinations that I have not even happened upon yet. I think this is probably what separates my good drumming from Rod Morganstein`s great drumming. That, and the fact that I spend eleventy hours a day slaving over a hot keyboard.
Dennis Chambers Meltdown
I recently purchased Dennis Chambers “In the Pocket” drumming DVD from Guitar Center in Austin. It is absolutely the most educational piece of drumming media I have ever consumed. Having grokked copious inspiration from this DVD, I had been practicing single-stroke rolls over and over and OVER again for the past four weeks. I am to the point where I can execute them with some fluidity and control doing them down them down or up the toms as 32nd note sextuplets, and slightly less so as pure 32nd notes. I was at it last night for a good hour or so, and I felt my left shoulder muscle slightly tensing up. I thought nothing of it as I am young and invincible. After about ten minutes, the problem exascerbated from tenseness to waves of excruciating pain. It is at this point where my feelings of invincibility vanished. I think I pulled some muscle in my neck or shoulder. I am not really sure though, but it hurts like a humdinger. One thing I am sure of is this: ten hours of practicing single stroke rolls in seven days is a BAD idea if you are nearing the precipice of being 30, and even a worse idea if you spend 10 hours a day slaving over a hot RS/6000 keyboard. As Paul Barrere from Little Feat says, “If your mind makes a promise your body can’t fill, you’re over the hill brother, over the hill.”
