Anika Nilles has been a drumming sensation since the early 2010’s and she has built a solid reputation amongst highly technical drummers over the years. Based on that reputation, I can confidently say that she did not disappointed with her first book “Pad Book” which was released earlier this year. It offers a huge range of warm ups and fundamental workouts based on subdivision studies, mixed meters, polyrhythms and hand independence exercises. Anika is especially famous for her use of quintuplets and septuplets and so, as we would expect, this book offers many exercises based on those more unusual subdivisions which makes this workout bible quite an unique one on the market.
This book features a vast number of exercises designed for the drum pad practice. While especially aiming at improving your confidence using and mixing up subdivisions it also makes you explore new ideas rarely found in any other book. With a very neat and easy to read notation, this book is perfect for beginner readers or drummers who do not necessary enjoy the ready part of this sort of exercises. The layout is extremely clear which makes the complexity of the exercises easier to understand and somehow more accessible.
However, despite this easy-to-read notation, I certainly do not advise this book to beginners or even intermediate players who are not already comfortable with subdivisions. This is why I might find some of the rudimental explanations found throughout the book a bit redundant as this book is clearly aimed at more experienced players. The spaced out layout also resulted in a very thick and heavy book which is one of the rare negative things I have to say about it. When a practice book is heavier than your drum pad, you would think twice before transporting it…
This workout manual doesn’t come with any CD, DVD or any download link of any sort but the beauty is that it doesn’t need it. Instead, this book contains a lifetime worth of insanely technical and inspiring exercises unseen before. I strongly advise this handbook to any advanced players who want to explore brand new ideas and want to expand their subdivision skills and knowledge. I was amazed by how much work this book delivers for a very reasonable price! You will certainly need a few hours/days/months/years to explore the potential of Anika’s latest masterpiece.
Anna Mylee
November 2020
