Percussion Deconstruction™

The time to get acquainted with using a click track is not in the recording studio. For many drummers, that's their 1st time having to play along to a click. It's a recipe for disaster, and for an inexperienced drummer, it will be a futile waste of time (and money). I've met way too many drummers who do not practice to a metronome, let alone even own one! This is not good. Whether you play rock, pop, country, classical, hip hop, marching, etc., you need to be able to play in time . Working with a metronome, drum machine, or click track can help you develop a solid sense of time. For the unsure, or uninitiated, let's take a look at how to play along to a click. Ear to Brain to Arm and Foot The most important thing to realize is that most drummers try to follow the click. This just doesn't work, because by the time you hear the click, and react to it, you are already behind. From my experience teaching, I find that most students wait for the click. They w...

Just a thought that came up this week, as I'm busy recording a new album for release in early 2017. Over the years I've used a lot of Velcro™/hook & eye fastener tape. I think it's one of the greatest inventions.  Most of you are probably familiar with using it on the bottoms of your foot pedals so they grab on to carpeting under your drums. A lot of my snares and toms have a strip of Velcro™ on the outside of the top rim, or even on the top drum head itself. This allows me to attach various noise makers, like tambourine jingles, small bells, or bit's & pieces of mostly metal stuff to my drum head to act as an additional noisemaker when I play.  Tambourine jingles attached with Velcro™ I also have strips of Velcro™ across some bass drum heads so I can attach various sound makers. It's easy to attach and remove them in an instant. This is such a great thing for experimental/improv percussionists (and even regular drummers wanting to add sounds t...