I recently played a gig in the most “live” room I’ve ever played in. When I say live, I mean that the room is very loud, reverberant, and there’s nothing in it to absorb sound. The opposite of this would be playing in a closet where all the clothes make the room extremely dead. You get the picture.

The problem, though, wasn’t just that this room was very live. It was also very small. While I was setting up I placed my foot on my hihat stand to close the hats, and the hihat chick echoed right back to me off the back wall. I was also set up in a cube-shaped nook in the corner of this venue, so the drums sounded a little like they were in a bathroom. If you know anything about room acoustics, you know that a cube-shaped room is the absolute worst shape a room could be. Weird things happen to the low end, and the high end gets slapped around in annoying ways. Basically this setup was becoming the perfect storm of everything you...

I received this question recently, and I thought it would make for a good “email lesson.” However, you can let me know if you still have questions about anything, and I might make a video going deeper.

Miking the Kick

On just about every gig I play where I bring my full kit, I’m miking my kick drum. Unless I’m in a very small, intimate setting, I always want some extra low end beef from the kick.

I can think of one specific example where I didn’t mic the kick, and that was at a private dinner party event in a small space. We were playing lightly while folks had conversation over dinner, so it was important we stayed very much in the background. I think this is the only scenario where you don’t want that extra low end. Otherwise some extra “foundation” to the sound is nice.

I like to be super simple and place a Shure Beta 52 inside my kick, laying on a towel. This may have started because I was lazy, or maybe it was just years ago when...

In February of 2015 I was wrapping up my college career and enjoying a final semester of smooth sailing to the finish line. I had already performed my senior recital the previous fall, and I was just finishing up a few class credits in the spring. I also had the time and opportunity to take additional lessons outside of school, so I reached out to a respected drummer in town whom my percussion teacher recommended. He solved a big struggle I had at the time by giving me some very counter-intuitive advice.

Now I was playing a bunch in jazz band at this time, and I was really working at being a solid jazz drummer. At the same time, I was also playing at my church every Sunday and playing in a cover band as often as possible. Genre-wise, I was gaining a lot of versatility just from these three groups alone. I had a problem, however, in the jazz realm.

Our jazz band director was constantly hounding me for not having the right feel in my ride pattern. Straight-ahead swing is...

Here’s the big thing I’m alluding to in the title… the one thing you need to possess in order to succeed on the drums…

It’s curiosity.

What do I mean?

Think back to when you were a kid. (This has been a fun daydreaming exercise lately, seeing as how life seemed so much easier back then!) Remember when you had an interest in something. Maybe it was the drums… Maybe it was drawing… Maybe it was rock polishing… Maybe it was digging holes in the back yard. What was the driving force behind all of these activities?

Curiosity.

What does curiosity do? It drives you to try things, to experiment, and to explore. As a kid you were curious about everything. The whole world was new to you, and everything was an exciting adventure.

Think back to the first time you listened to a record you liked. I bet that was a huge adventure of an experience. Remember the first time you listened to music and were emotionally moved by it....

In light of last week’s email about my first week of music school, I thought I’d share the most valuable and practical skill that I took away from 4 years in a university music program.

Here’s the cool thing: You don’t have to go to music school to gain this skill.

The most difficult class I ever took was ear training. In this class we had to “sight sing” melodies (read the notes on the page and sing the melody correctly without accompaniment), listen to and identify chord types, scales, intervals, and more, and listen to melodies and chord progressions and write out the exact notation for what we were hearing. This musical “dictation” was the most difficult and dreaded portion of the class for everyone. The funny thing, too, about this kind of class was that there was no possible way for anyone to cheat. YOU had to be able to sight sing your melodies for the professor. YOU had to properly write out...

I felt the stress completely crushing me, weighing down on my shoulders and paralyzing me. I had no idea what to do or what decision to make, and every option felt equally discouraging. I was at a crossroads, having to decide whether or not to pursue a major life path…. and it was only Wednesday of my first week of school.

I was crazy enough to go to music school in college and major in percussion performance. I had no actual percussion experience, I’d never played in band or orchestra, and I’d never played drumset in jazz band. But I wanted to take on a challenge and do it all for the first time since I knew I wanted to do music for a living after school.

Monday afternoon of that first week of school was wind ensemble rehearsal. I went to a school that had what you could probably call a “regionally renowned” wind ensemble. The group played very well, performed at prestigious events, and put on fantastic concerts every semester. The group’s...

My wife and I were on a trip recently, and we had the pleasure of hanging out with and observing an expert blacksmith.

He was working on crafting these iron rods into a decorative “track” on which you could slide a barn door. He was spending most of his time working on hammering out the end of the rod to create an end piece that looked like a leaf. This required a lot of precise hammering, which meant he was constantly going back and forth between the fire and the anvil. In talking to him we learned all about melting point temperature and the methods of heating up the fire over the years. We learned about anvils and their importance in metal-craft, and we even talked about how an anvil is often used as a percussion instrument in orchestral music from time to time.

But I noticed something in particular that the blacksmith kept doing over and over that fascinated me.

Every time after he struck the iron rod he was crafting, he’d let his mallet bounce off onto the...

We’ve all dealt with nervousness and anxiety at some point in our lives. Thinking back to my childhood, I know I can name a whole bunch of piano recitals, plays, public speaking scenarios, and more when I remember that paralyzing fear. I know you can relate, so I won’t waste time listing off more examples. Whether your most anxious moments in life were music related, school related, or work related, you know what I’m talking about.

Today, however, I’d like to address the fear and anxiety often associated with performing on an instrument. You’re getting ready for the performance, and you know you’ve prepared well. But you can’t get rid of that nervous feeling deep down inside where a little bit of fear dwells. This is the “what if I mess up and can’t recover?” kind of fear. This is the “what if I don’t sound good and nobody likes my playing?” kind of fear. “What if I play the...

I received a video topic request from someone recently, asking “what should a beginner practice…vs an advanced player?” We all know what the grip basics are, what the rudiment basics are, and we know the basic beats beginners can work on. But what exactly should a more advanced player focus his or her attention on in order to grow rapidly? Is there any crossover? What should EVERYONE practice? That’s what we’re breaking down today.

What Should a Beginner Drummer Practice?

A beginner should focus heavily on grip. After all, how you hold your sticks determines nearly everything about your playing. A small mistake here can wreak havoc on more complex skills you begin to work on later. Build a strong foundation by mastering good grip. Check out this video that breaks down exactly how to do this.

A beginner should be listening to a favorite band. Be jamming out to your favorite songs, playing along with your favorite drummer. Enjoy...

On a gig a couple of months ago, I made one of those “drummer mistakes” where the drummer goes one direction in the song and the lead singer goes another. Looking back, it’s pretty hilarious. There are really only two ways you can handle this type of situation, so I’ll share with you my example…

I was playing with three other guys I’ve played with pretty regularly over the last 7 years. We’ve played all sorts of cover gigs together since college, and we’ve learned to play very well together. Most of the time we’re good about catching each other’s signals and knowing where the other is going musically…But I happened to miss one of these signals on this particular night.

We were playing something sort of funky, and we were jamming on it while the electric guitar player soloed. I remembered a few times in the past that we had launched into a double time feel on a jam section like this, so I prepared mentally for our...