I got a call this week to come in and help with a recording. A friend of mine is recording an album and he’s just not been happy with the drum part he’s getting. He started off with a drum machine for the basic feel and recorded some guide guitar and vocal parts. The drum [...]
Way back in October last year I mentioned that I was planning to build a practice studio in my garage so I thought I’d update you on the progress. That won’t take long… there hasn’t been any!
A few things got in the way, the main thing being the budget or lack of budget. When I [...]
Over the next little while I will be doing a series of articles on a topic dear to the hearts of most musicians, the home studio. Whether it’s purely for practice or for recording, we’d all love a place where we can go to make a bit of noise without bothering the neighbours or to [...]
Music is undoubtedly a form of communication and/or expression. Coincidently, the skills of improvisation are certainly related to the dexterity and formalities that are imperative to accomplishing your role as a communicator. Therefore, as you are preparing to become a musician, improvising will firmly assists with your development of the overall perception and understanding of [...]
Did you know that there are many people who can naturally play by ear? Often they sing by ear as well. Sure, they may be able to follow along as the music moves up and down the scale of the page they are looking at while performing. However, in reality, they never learned the difference [...]
Here is a great article I found recently on a subject very dear to my heart. Call it feel, timing, groove, the beat, it doesn’t matter. Whatever you call it, you need to have it. It doesn’t matter what instrument you play, you are probably going to have to play with other muso’s at some [...]
Frank Corniola’s Rhythm Section Drumming is another on my list of must have drum books. Simply seeing the list of testimonials on the inside cover should be enough to convince you of this books credibility. No less than Dom Famularo, Dave Weckl, Virgil Donati, Steve Smith, Chad Wackerman, David Jones, Graham Morgan and Dennis Chambers [...]
This lesson is the third in the series of “Turnarounds”. Just to refresh your memory, a turnaround is a method of sticking that lets you do a roll around the kit from snare to floor tom and back to the snare again. We are using single stroke and double stroke rolls in combinations that make [...]
Now that you’ve decided to have drum lessons, the first question that springs to mind is “What do I need to get started?”
Surprisingly little is the answer. Sure you could lash out and buy yourself an expensive drum kit with all the extra’s. In reality though, no one wants to spend a fortune learning an [...]
I recently found this great article by Kevin Sinclair about effective musical practice. It details some very useful tips for all musicians, no matter what your instrument and ties in nicely with my previous article Practice Makes Perfect, Right? Please enjoy Kevins article and remember to visit his site if you do.
The quality of your [...]