Dr Hypenstein - Redtenbacher’s Funkestra Funk lovers everywhere may already be acquainted with Stefan Redtenbacher’s ‘Funkestra’, featuring Stefan himself on bass and a host of familiar names on other instruments, including educator extraordinaire, Mike Sturgis. Absolutely rammed with funky bass lines, exciting horn figures and some outstanding drumming, this is a really top funk album.
Every so often, something happens which makes you question your judgement. I thought I knew the Alesis DM10 quite well. I''ve seen it at trade shows over the last 4 years, I''ve played it in stores, and I''ve heard lots of reports from various sources. So when Alesis told me they were going to send
This year, Zildjian has introduced some new effects cymbals to its existing range. Whilst not entirely new in concept, i.e. bells and stackable models, these new introductions are still quite interesting to try out and use. Spiral Stackers These are available in 10 and 12” sizes. Basically, you take the Stacker and place it over
Drummers have been using multipads/samplepads on their kits more and more over the last 10 years or so. From being a strange add-on to a drum kit back in the 90s, they really came into there own in the new century. Both the big brands have their own versions, and they are very different to
Heads with dots on have been around forever. They’ve also been popular forever too. Indeed, some of the first drum heads I both saw and played in the 1980s were Remo Controlled Sound heads (smooth white heads with black dots). The Powerstroke 3 design has been about for a little while now, but these two
The Dube The brainchild of English football-hero-turned-TV-presenter Dion Dublin, the Dube is essentially a wooden cube with multiple playing surfaces. Sizes range from a nice dinky 9” up to a monster 18” and are available as a simple acoustic instrument or fitted with an internal microphone for those who want to simply plug and play.
The Kicker is a bass drum muffling device... and, ummm... that’s about it really. Ok, so it’s a fairly straightforward device in the sense that there isn’t a huge amount to it, there’s not much to set up and it isn’t all that big either. That said, the Kicker definitely works and does exactly what
Dynamic Duets for Snare Drum – Bryan Slawson A simple offering from Alfred’s Percussion Performance Series, Dynamic Duets for Snare Drum is designed to reinforce the recognition and execution of playing with dynamics on the snare drum. Aimed at the lower grades from 1-3, it has very clean layout and each solo has a thoughtful
This is the second of the two kits we were recently given to try out, the first being detailed here - http://www.mikedolbear.co.uk/story.asp?StoryID=4042 The Saturn review kit featured a 22"X18" bass drum with 10"X8", 12"X9" mounted toms and a 16"X16" floor tom, although the 10” drum wasn’t used in the video. The snare drum is a
Benny Greb - The Art and Science of Groove I remember sitting with Benny in Gothenburg at Meinl’s Drum Festival in 2013 and asking him about his plans as far as a follow up to the Language of Drumming went. He said he had some ideas for a new DVD but was still working out
