Time is relative.

I was recently playing with a really great bass player. We were tightly grooving together, and everything felt natural and musical. We were playing to a click, but there were certain spots in songs where I felt the groove naturally wanting to push or lay back. I was able to ride just ahead then just behind the click, and he was right with me the whole way. On top of the tightly knit drums-and-bass relationship, the other musicians were super locked in as well. Whether we as a band were leaning forward on the beat - or behind - everything was solid, and everything felt natural. This was all made possible by the fact that EVERYONE was listening and EVERYONE was completely aware of the time feel. This circles us back around to that opening phrase there… Time is relative.

If a band is playing super tight, but their tempo is swaying slightly, the listener won’t notice. If a band is playing to a click, but everyone isn’t...

I was on a gig not too long ago that I was super nervous about. I had reason to be worried, because I hadn’t played this type of gig in over 2 years. I felt like I was stepping into a different world, one where I was sure I’d loose my footing and fall flat on my face. First a little bit of backstory…

I majored in Percussion Performance in college. That degree entails all the usual music classes, with lots of lessons and ensemble performances on top of that. Throughout the 4 years I was in school, I performed on non-drumset percussion instruments who knows how many times. I played percussion with the wind ensemble, orchestra, brass ensemble, choir, musical theater, percussion ensemble, plus additional recitals and random concerts (and I’m probably leaving something out). I was blessed with LOADS of performance time during college, which was great because of the learning environment of a college music school. It’s essentially a “safe...

End of high school / beginning of college was when I first had the opportunity to start playing with professional musicians. This was an exciting leap for me, and I just knew I was going to meet someone who would connect me with such-and-such producer who would hook me up with so-and-so artist’s fall tour and I’d make it big. It’s cool to think back on that time, when it seemed like the future could hold ANYTHING. Well, here I am years later and I’ve never landed a major tour. What I’m doing now wasn’t my dream then, but I am “doing music” for a living now - even though it doesn’t look the way I thought it would.

Most of my work fits the bill for “non glamorous” drumming, which has allowed me to really live out something big that one of those pros told me early on…

We had just finished playing a set on this particular gig, and I was eager to ask the bass player for some advice and hopefully get a feel for...

In case you’re interested, I thought I’d share with you what I’m working on in my playing right now. Btw, let me know if you want to see/hear more on this topic, because I can certainly make a video (or a few videos) for the channel.

As many of you guys know, I lived in an apartment for almost three years. I just moved out when my wife and I bought a house this past April. Prior to the house, practicing was a pretty restricted activity with neighbors below me. I had to really focus my practicing to where I could get a lot done in a very short amount of time. However, I now have a basement space for which I am VERY thankful, where I can make as much noise as I want. This certainly changed my practice strategies, so I started adding some new specific things to my “practice list.”

First, a couple of thoughts to give you some context to my more “specific practicing points:”

1. I do spend a good bit of time practicing the...

In my 12 years of playing the drums, I’ve had to work on a lot of things. Whether it was technique, coordination, timing, or any of those essential basics, I’ve had to do lots of practicing.

But when I started to go beyond those things and ask questions like “what’s the key to recording well?” or “what’s the key to playing the right parts?”, simply practicing was no longer the answer. This is where some additional strategies had to come into play...

The thing that helped me grow the most musically as a drummer was hearing recordings of myself playing with a band. The first time I ever heard such a recording of myself, I instantly knew everything I was doing wrong. I was hearing sections in a song where I knew that groove wasn’t quite right, that fill wasn’t the best fill, and I shouldn’t have gone to open hats at that spot in the song yet. More importantly, I was hearing what I sounded like in...

Man…I don’t think a gear discussion could get any more subjective and controversial as this one, but I’ll throw out some thoughts and ideas that might help to guide your drumhead shopping.

• #1: The first things to be aware of when shopping for the perfect heads is this: You have to find which heads sound the best on YOUR KIT. Just because a certain set of heads sounded great on your friend’s kit doesn’t mean they’ll be the perfect fit for your kit.

• #2: Each of the leading drumhead companies have their strengths and weaknesses. One company might excel at making their heads feel great, while another might excel at durability. Yet another might achieve the best consistency from head to head, and their heads might be the easiest to tune. Don’t get too caught up in what brand you buy. Regardless of whether the head is Remo, Evans, or Aquarian, it’s made by a popular company that thousands of drummers have been happy...

We’ve all had those days where we sit down to play, and nothing feels right. The groove we practiced the other day just won’t come together, and the fills we practiced end up sloppy. Nothing FEELS right, and we’re not comfortable playing for some reason. Something’s clearly wrong…but what is it? Let’s dig into this a little more and see if we can find some possible solutions.

• #1: You may have just set up your kit weird. What I mean by this is that maybe your snare is too low, or your hats are too high. Maybe your kick drum is too close…or too far away. Maybe you’re having to lean in too far because the snare and hihat are too far away. Any number of weird little setup issues can cause enough discomfort to give you a bad day at the drums. Take the time to evaluate your setup, and video yourself playing if possible. Play around with adjusting different elements of your kit, because you might suddenly...

Today I just want to throw out this interesting and kind of controversial drumming question:

Should we actually set speed goals in our practicing and work on getting faster on the drums?

The two main camps in the drumming world offer opposing opinions on this…

There’s the “chops” world - The school of thought that pushes quick hand technique, impressive foot technique, and lightning-fast fills around the kit. Then there’s the “groove” world - The school of thought that puts groove, feel, and vocabulary before speed and technique. For some reason most drummers fall into one of these two camps. Now the “chops” camp was a bigger deal back in the 70s and 80s with the onset of jazz “fusion,” led by drummers like Dave Weckl and Dennis Chambers. That was when every young drummer had the dream of going to music school at Berklee, where one might learn how to attain such drumming...

There are way too many kinds of sticks out there. How in the world are we supposed to know which size is best? Let me offer a few guidelines that might help you out, and I’ll tell you what my favorite sticks are.

Here’s what I have in my stick bag:

• 7A hickory sticks
  
• 5A hickory sticks
  
• 5A maple sticks (lighter weight)
  
• 5B hickory sticks
  
• 5B “barrel tip” hickory sticks

Yeah, I have other stuff besides these exact sticks in my bag, but this list sums up my essentials that I actually use regularly. Let me explain what I use each pair for.

7A

These are my least used pair of sticks, but I’m including them because I used to use them very often. These are great jazz sticks, especially if you’re playing light jazz (jazz combo, jazz trio, etc.). I did a lot of that in college, and this was my stick of choice. I don’t play as much jazz now, but whenever the occasion arises I still reach for these.

5A

These are the quintessential average,...

One of the funnest things to do as a drummer (regardless of what level you’re at) is to play along to a great record. Putting on your favorite song and jamming out is so cool, and that’s how pretty much every drummer gets started learning the drums. This is also a great way to stay musically motivated and inspired as your grow and develop as a player.

But a lot of times there’s a challenge associated with this task: What do you do when it’s hard to hear exactly what the drummer on the recording is playing? It can quickly become frustrating when you’re trying to play along…but you’re realizing your parts are never lining up with his parts. This is where learning a song can suddenly become exasperating. How do we get around this? Here are my “song-learning” steps that I think will help…

1. Before you ever actually play along with the recording, listen to the song a few times. Familiarize...