Drummers, have u ever listened to a drummer or tried to study certain solo’s he/she may have done but could never quite understand what they are doing?  Well in today’s Blog I will help u train your ear to be able hear, understand, and play that solo that you are trying to learn.

Step1:  Go back to the basics:

            If u cannot figure out what the drummer is doing, always remember that every solo or chop is always a rudiment.  Drums are always based off your simple rudiments.  Most of your solo’s are built from rudiments such as single strokes, double strokes, paradiddles, flam, flam tap, drags, etc.  If you need help with identifying these rudiments you can go to the website and it will help you. http://www.drumrudiments.com/

Step 2:  If you can say it… you can play it.

            Whether if you are watching a video or listening to a cd, you should rewind that solo over and over again until u can visualize yourself playing that solo.  After u have the visualization in your head its best to say the beat aloud.  (Its best to be by yourself so you don’t sound crazy toward other people lol.)  And you want to repeat this process over and over again.  After you have the visualization and you can say the beat, next step is to attempt it.

Step 3: Take it slow!

            Most drummers immediately try to play the solo right away and then it never sounds they way you intend for it to come out.  The best approach is to take the solo very slow.  In order to develop the solo you must start slow in order to develop your accuracy, and once you are comfortable, then you may speed up gradually.  Here is another site to help you as well with this technique. http://www.rockdrummingsystem.com/underground/drum-lessons/building-a-drum-solo.php

Step 4:  Play the solo in time.

            Once you have developed the speed of the solo and you are comfortable with it; your next step is to make sure you can play it in time.  As a drummer you should have a metronome or any type drum machine that has perfect timing to a click track.  Once you set the time you need to perform the solo with the click track over and over again.

Step 5:  Practice with original cd or video

            The last step is to practice with the cd or video that the original drummer played on to make sure you can play it exactly like he/she has played the solo.

            

     Now that you have learned how to learn solos tell me different techniques and individual drummers that you study in order to build your own solo.  Also here is a video of Dave Weckl in his video back to the basics if you want to check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ogz2TmilOkg

 

Calvin Rodgers

Gospel Drumming at its best!

     In today’s Blog we will be discussing an individual that has taken gospel drumming to another level.  Calvin Rodgers is a musician that has played in the gospel industry for many of years.  Calvin started at an early age but did his first major recording at the age of 15 with the Grammy award winning artist Ricky Dillard, and from there he has revolutionized the way gospel drumming is today.

            Calvin Rodgers was Born and raised on the south side of Chicago where he learned and developed his craft.  After taking on his father’s passion of music who was also a musician and a songwriter, Calvin was influenced to study other musicians such as Ramsey Lewis and Dave Weckel. 

            Throughout his career he has recorded and performed with Donald Lawrence Martha Munizzi, Fred Hammond, Tommy Simms, Marvin Sapp, Israel Houghton, Yolanda Adams, Clark Sisters and many more.  After achieving these accomplishments, in 2010 Calvin was featured in an article as musician of the Month with verity records and was congratulated on his achievements. If you would like to see this article you can see at this link. http://insideverity.verityrecords.com/musician-of-the-month-calvin-rogers/comment-page-1/

            Calvin Rodgers style of playing ranges from being a very musical and articulate style, to a very aggressive but rudimental style of playing.  The song entitled “you can tell the devil I'm back” took gospel improvisation to a totally different level.  Check out this link and let me know what you think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EM373EDZk3g

     Now Calvin Rodgers has not only played for gospel artist but he has played jazz, jazz fusion, R&B, and many other genres of music. He has even had the pleasure of playing for R&B artist such as Dave Hollister and the king of R&B, R. Kelly. Majority of African American drummers that grew up in rural areas has started out in gospel music whether they have branched off into other genres of music such as drummers like: Aaron Spears (Usher), Nissan Stewart (Missy Elliot) “Spanky” (Lady Gaga), and many others. 

            So now that you have read about one of my favorite drummers within the Gospel industry, tell me who is your favorite drummer in the gospel industry and why?  The drummer that you discuss can be of a different genre but I would like it to be individuals that started out in the Gospel music.  

First Step when considering buying a drum set

            Most drummers when picking out a drum set, they always have to consider a lot of things.  First, is the sound of the drums.  When thinking of the sound of the drums you have know what type of wood gives a certain sound.  There are so many to choose from but the few that I am going to be talking about is maple, oak, and birch wood.  Maple wood gives a warm tone, full sustain, and outstanding projection.  Oak wood, gives drums the ability to cut through loud music without sounding brittle. Oak has a low fundamental and lots of warmth, but without losing the high-end frequencies.  Birch quality has the ability to give a sharp, solid response in the upper registers, but mainly for it’s outstanding ability to carry the middle to low tones.

            So now that you know the difference between the three types of wood, the next question that comes to mind is comfort ability.  Now when we think of the comfort and the feel of the drums, the brand name has a lot to do with that.  In this Blog we will briefly discuss only three different brands, which are Yamaha drums, Pearl drums, and DW drums.

            Yamaha drums: The Yamaha original ball mount and clamp offers exceptional flexibility in mounting angles. Using a hard synthetic resin ball and a die-cast serrated joint, this clamp maintains any position with excellent stability and positioning accuracy.

             Pearl Drums: The curved bars allow closer drum component positioning and present a more rounded feel and visual appearance. The DR-503C features flexible height adjustments with 100% slip-proof square tubing.

DW drums Rack System: you can achieve even the most complicated set-ups. Whether you want to suspend a gong drum, or just make your rig easier to take to shows, it has enough clamps and options to make it happen. Heavy-gauge stainless steel tubing means this rack is built for the road and DW clamps and memory locks ensure a repeatable set up every single time.

All of these different type of racks and mounting clamps all make the comfortbility of the drumset.  Wether if your set up is a very standard set up or a complicated personal setup. One of these racks or mounting clamp will fit you depending on your preference.  So if you still are undecided on what type of drumset to get I can give you some reference from a few of my favorite drummers and you can see their set up and hear the type of drums they use.

Teddy Campbell (yamaha)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rDtIp4eHfs

Tony Royster jr (DW)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jcx3BcTyXlc

Melvin Baldwin (Pearl)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ds9GhJwYY4