When I was growing up, some of the best learning experiences I ever had were going to jazz festivals in Jr. High and High School. In a nutshell, each jazz band performed 3-5 tunes in front of 3 judges at a small theater filled with other bands, parents, teachers and whoever else got roped in ...…
I’ve been playing drums since 1985. When I look back at some of my past experiences, I honestly just have to laugh. One such instance was my very first “gig.” I was in 6th grade and my teacher knew I was learning to play the drums… so she had this idea. She asked me if ...…
When I was 15, my uncle decided for my parents 35th wedding anniversary he was taking all of us to Hawaii (yup, he’s my favorite uncle! J). I was very excited to go and I really wanted to hit the famous waves when we got there. Growing up in California, I would go body boarding ...…
Now that you have read about how drum competitions work, I want to tell you about my favorite competition we would go to every year. It was held at the beautiful Pepperdine University. If you can afford the $40k a year it costs to go there, you will enjoy some of the most beautiful views ...…
In a previous email I told you about the one kid that beat me my freshmen year at my first drum competition. You know “Mr. Happy Feet” double pedal guy! Well, over the next three years we ended up at almost every single competition together. We actually became somewhat friends because we were around each ...…
So what do you do when you have to put together a soundtrack for the great superhero ever created??? Only one thing of course… put 12 of the best drummers in the industry together in one recording studio and let ‘em rip!! Whether or not you’ve seen the recent Superman movie, Man of Steel, you ...…
When I was in Jr. High, I was introduced to drum competitions. At the high school in town (which I attended), the big one was called the California Drum Fest. The way I saw it, a drum competition was basically 3 judges sitting about 15 feet in front my kit, critiquing my drum solo. This ...…
I just saw this killer video on YouTube from a band called Black Country Communion. BCC consists of an all star lineup of musicians including Joe Bonamassa (guitar/vocals), Glenn Hughes (bass guitar), Jason Bonham (drums), and Derek Sherinian (keys). The band has an AWESOME rock sound and a lot of that is thanks to the ...…
There’s a whole world of musicians just under the mainstream music surface that are finding success fusing elements of jazz, rock, hip hop, funk, and soul music into one great groove. One of the groups that have been doing this best is Soulive. After touring separately in different bands for years, brothers Neal and Alan ...…
Ringo Starr, popular drummer for the Beatles, has gotten quite a bit of flak over the years from other drummers about what appears to be his “simple” style. The truth is, he helped define the traditional “Money Beat” by recording it on so many great albums from the Beatles. And if you really start to ...…
