A great interview with Taylor Hawkins on drumming, his musical heroes and his journey with the Foo Fighters.
Inspiring to see such an accomplished musician be so humble about what he can and can't do. Can you believe it... He still gets nervous playing live!
You may have recently seen the 2019 Argos Christmas advert. It’s a fantastic advert — especially for all the drum tutors out there!
However, if you’re thinking about buying a drum kit this Christmas, skip Argos and speak to the wonderful folks at your local music shop or drum shop (if you’re lucky enough to have one).
I bought my first drum kit at Sound Attak in Colchester many, many years ago. They know their stuff and will be able to sell you a far superior drum set (that will last you far longer) than the one featured in the advert.
An additional shout out to Music World, West End Music and The Drumming Shop in Ipswich. All excellent local music shops.
A blast from the past! This morning I found this video from 2009 of me drumming with a blues band in Chicago (taken whilst on tour with Angry Vs The Bear).
If memory serves, it was a very impromptu performance. We'd spent the evening hanging out with the band and towards the end of the night I was invited to join them on stage. Good times! What a voice he has...
I'm a big fan of Jojo Mayer (as I wrote here), so when I stumbled across this documentary on him on YouTube I watched it immediately!
He's a really inspiring guy and musician. If you get a spare 50 minutes and want to learn about one of the greatest drummers to ever live, this would be an excellent place to start.
This guy is a beast! The ideas Matt shares in this short video could fill a lifetime of practice. Although what he's playing sounds pretty complicated, with a little bit of patience, it's something you can easily apply to your own playing.
To start, pick a simple groove (start really simple) and try shifting it either forwards or backwards by half a beat — like in the example below. It'll sound and feel strange to play at first, so it's a good idea to practice it to a click and to count as you play. Once you feel comfortable playing your new displaced groove, try alternating between it and the original version.
As Matt demonstrates in the video, you can have a lot of fun with this idea!
