Coming from a drumming background, it’s fairly easy for me to play with mallets, do the rolls, and coordinate the two hands. However, it needs a bit of learning and training to get used to holding two mallets in each hand. It is of course very important to be able to play each mallet independently [...]
It is very easy to learn the first basic polyrhythms (2:3 and 3:4), you can learn how they sound, and can get the feel for them. What is more important is being able to hear each one separately, and count each separately. A great idea in Peter Magadini’s book “Polyrhythms – The Musician’s Guide“, is [...]
Your elbows… This is definitely not a descriptive post about the details of the Moeller method, but one of the most important things I realized about it, is that (although this is a bit controversial) the elbow movement is what creates the effect. If you move your elbows in the proper way, you can cause [...]
Playing more than one beat at the same time, is one of the richest experiences in drumming, especially when other musicians are playing each to a different beat. It can be very confusing and complicated to learn, especially with more than two beats. Several approaches exist to learn and master polyrhythms, and I’m using three [...]
One of the key skills each drummer must develop and master is the ability to independently play different things with each of his/her limbs at the same time. Ultimately that means playing complex polyrhythms easily and effortlessly. The usual approach when learning a new beat, is to understand what each hand and foot does, master [...]
Achieving speed and a resonant sound are essential aspects of playing good drums. One of the most important skills to help this is being able to bounce the sticks on the head of the drum as much as needed. For a full vibrant sound, you will need maximum bounce, for a restricted sound you might [...]
