Jost Nickel’s Snare Book If you’re not yet sure of who Jost is, take a few minutes to look up a video or two of him playing both on stage and also for drummers at clinics. His style and approach to the kit is one I find incredibly enjoyable and very musical. I’ve previously reviewed
Trap Style Drumming - Gregory “Torch” Sgrulloni It’s one of those sounds that is now everywhere and a style of drumming that on the surface of it, seems pretty straight forward. As with most things though if you dig a little deeper, it opens a door to a whole bunch of new sounds and ideas.
Beats Exotiques - Gary Leach If you’ve ever sat down and tried to play some latin rhythms, or have worked through books of Afro-Cuban or Brazilian ideas and thought to yourself “this is cool and everything, but when am I really going to use it?”, then perhaps Gary Leach has written the perfect book for
Exploring Jazz Drums - Clark Tracey If you’ve ever studied jazz you’ll know just how many little avenues the genre will take you down. This book from British jazz drummer Clark Tracey aims to open some of these avenues and does so by introducing a certain concept, talking a little bit about where it came
We live in interesting times as musicians and in particular, as drummers. Recently I found myself at a my singers house, mapping drums for a new song using a Digital Audio Workstation, a MIDI enabled keyboard and drum kit VST plugins. Given the cost and time involved in studio recording and the often just-better-than-average results
It’s a wonderful old thing the metronome and we’ve come a long way from the weighted spring loaded metronomes that used to sit a top the piano. In all that time, the concept of a metronome hasn’t really changed. Sure, we now have metronomes that can play polyrhythms, programme playlists and can change time signature
Advanced Groove Concepts - Sam Aliano This is the second book of Sam’s I’ve reviewed, the first being Double Bass Drumming and Power Fills (co written with Matt Sorum) which I thought was a fantastic primer for double bass drumming. This is a very different book, focusing on the concept of using your left hand
The Drummers Lifeline - Peter Erskine and Dave Black This little book is one for the tour bus, or a train journey, or just anywhere you may have a few minutes to kill (you can use your imagination). Absolutely chock full of little tips, this book contains over 80 ideas that will help you address
Sometimes you discover a band that get right under your skin and someone who’s playing speaks to you in a new and exciting way. I couldn’t believe despite being a huge festival band for the best part of 16 years I was unable to find an interview with Will Hull-Brown, so I went and tracked
Concepts: A Guide to Essential Drumset Processes for the Modern Drummer - Nick Schlesinger London based drummer and educator Nick has just published his own concepts book with the theory behind it being rather simple; drum books are great, exercises are good, but having a wider understanding of, and the ability to use, a concept
