The Magna Cart is THE hand truck for drummers to move their gear. It’s sturdy, lightweight and compact. I have the two and four-wheeled models and they make my drum set transport a breeze. My first hand truck for drumming Let’s talk about drum gear schlepping. It’s no joke. We drummers have to transport heavy … Read more
The Zildjian A Custom Fast Crash is the most versatile crash cymbal I have ever played. In Jazz or Funk drumming, this cymbal is a chameleon of sound. I have an 18″ Zildjian A Custom Fast Crash that I bought about 20 years ago. It has proven time and time again to deliver clean, consistent … Read more
Trading fours and eights in Jazz drumming is a continuation of a musical conversation. Thinking about fours and eights this way will make your playing more creative and more connected to the music. What is Trading fours and eights? In playing Jazz, there is often a time when the drums will trade solos with other … Read more
Jazz drum comping is the one Jazz drumming skill most shrouded in mystery. Drummers everywhere, even as you are reading this blog post, are trying to figure out how to comp on the drums! Comping is usually thought of as a coordination exercise between the snare drum and bass drum. Because of this, many drummers … Read more
Man, I wish I had a dollar for all the Jazz gigs I’ve watched with wild drummers. Where they over-played the songs or launched into arena-style Rock drum solos during the fours and eights. I tell you, I’d have a pretty fat wallet today. Jazz drumming and Jazz drum solos are not opportunities to show … Read more
In the world of Playing Jazz drums, drummers often have a hard time knowing when to keep playing with drum sticks or when they should grab their brushes. In this blog post, I’m going to share 5 things that help me decide which option is better. Playing Jazz drums is different Playing Jazz drums is … Read more
When I started drumming, I had a drive to be a better drummer every day than I was the day before. I was working hard on hand technique, foot technique, patterns, grooves and advanced coordination. I remember, one of the trickiest parts of drumming to learn, was how to play Jazz drums with other musicians. … Read more
When I was young and starting out, I didn’t think at all like a Jazz drummer. I was thinking about beats and drum fills. That’s it. As I matured and learned more about Jazz drumming, I could see that this thinking wouldn’t help me. I needed to really understand what was going on in the … Read more
In Summer of 2019, 3 young Japanese musicians and I recorded some future Jazz tracks. Little did we know what the future would hold.
Want more drumming gigs? I’ll tell you the one thing that will get you more drumming work than anything else. It will probably surprise you.