Hot Dog

Here are the five things I thought were worth sharing this week: 

1. Brain Pickings is one of my favourite sites on the internet. I could (and regularly do) spend hours getting lost in the endless wisdom contained within it's pages. This post titled 10 Rules for Students, Teachers, and Life by John Cage and Sister Corita Kent is a new favourite. I liked it so much I printed a copy of the rules to put on the wall above my desk.  — “Rule 6: Nothing is a mistake. There’s no win and no fail, there’s only make.”
    
2. Austin Kleon is an author and artist that I've mentioned in several other posts. In this interview, he talks about his artistic process, his books and his thoughts on what it takes to live a fulfilling ‘creative’ life. Definitely worth listen if you are a creative individual or want to be!
    
3. “Labels are releasing cassettes again, but there's a place where they never went out of fashion: prison” From last week's episode of 99% Invisible. Are cassettes making a comeback?
    
4. Hearing Buddy Rich's drumming as a teenager is what inspired me to start practicing and to take my drumming seriously. This video is a fine example of his genius.
    
5. Ólafur Arnalds is a classical and electronic musician from Iceland, and someone I find incredibly inspiring. He has a huge body of work and regularly shares it for free, including this beautiful song “Study for Generative Piano (i)”. You can download sheet music for a lot of his songs on his website.

That's all for this week. If you liked this, check out my previous Five Things posts or sign up to receive future posts straight to your inbox. Enjoy!

I've been teaching drums for around ten years and playing for close to 17. Over that time I've written a lot of lessons for my students and my plan is to (eventually) share it all on the new Drummer Resources page of my website FOR FREE!

Each lesson will feature a PDF download and a brief explanation on how to practice and get the most out of the material. It's going to take me a while to upload everything so please bear with me!

If you have any requests send me an email.

Enjoy!

What did you do?

Here are the five things I thought were worth sharing this week: 

1. Austin Kleon shared this great Louis C.K. quote on having an audience in his weekly newsletter (it's very good, I recommend you subscribe). The quote comes from this conversation on The Bill Simmons Podcast. It's a great insight into Louis C.K.'s creative process and ethos. Just a heads up, it does contain some ‘adult’ language!
    
2. On Monday I finished reading The Icarus Deception by Seth Godin. The message throughout the book is that in this hyper connected world we all have the opportunity to pick ourselves, to leave our comfort zones and to create something meaningful. I loved it and found it really inspiring. If you are unfamiliar with Seth's work, his blog is an excellent place to start.
    
3. Courtney Barnett's ‘Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit’ was one of my favourite albums from last year. I'm not sure what I love more, the catchy choruses or her witty lyrics. Pedestrian At Best is a fine example of both and has fun video too. 
    
4. If you're anything like me and take quite a few photos on your phone, you might like the Pocket Tripod. It's a portable tripod that, as the name suggests, fits in your pocket. I bought one a few weeks ago and it's been really useful.
    
5. Earlier this week I wrote a post on my favourite drum books. If you are a drummer, check it out. I'd love to hear your thoughts and recommendations too.

That's all for this week. If you liked this, check out my previous Five Things posts or sign up to receive future posts straight to your inbox. Enjoy!

A small part of my collection of drum books

I recently bought Jost Nickel's Groove Book. It's a really great drum book that I'd not heard of before. And as I wanted to share this recommendation with you, I decided to compile a list of my other favourite drum books. 

So here are my top five. In no particular order.

1. Jost Nickel's Groove Book — Jost Nickel
   Full of great ideas for developing new grooves. I'll be using this one a lot in my own practice and teaching. I can't recommend it enough.
    
2. Stick Control For The Snare Drummer - George Lawrence Stone
   The classic. It's in pretty much every list of top drum books and for good reason. Useful for beginners through to advanced players, its application on the drum kit is endless.
    
3. The Language Of Drumming Book - Benny Greb
   Benny Greb is one of my favourite drummers and I use his book a lot in my teaching. An excellent book for beginner to intermediate drummers who are trying to up their game.
    
4. Odd Time Sticking - Gary Chaffee
   This book isn't going to be much use to a beginner, but for intermediate and advanced drummers it's a source of great ideas, especially when it comes to soloing. Gary Chaffee has a number of other books which are all equally good.
    
5. Future Sounds - David Garibaldi
   Another recommendation for more advanced players. Full of intricate linear grooves, with a focus on developing dynamics and control in groove playing.

I hope you find the recommendations useful. If you have any recommendations for me, let me know in the comments!

UPDATE: Since writing this post I've bought a lot more drum books so I've written a more comprehensive and updated list here.

Photo from rehearsal with Coco & the Butterfields a few weeks ago

Here are the five things I thought were worth sharing this week: 

1. This article on Soviet-era bootleg music recorded on X-ray plates came across my twitter feed earlier this week and it reminded me of this episode of 99% Invisible on Bone Music. It's a great episode by one of my favourite podcasts. It's also only 14 mins long, so what are you waiting for?
    
2. Do you think you could draw a bicycle from memory? Turns out it's not as easy as you might first think. Designer Gianluca Gimini asked friends and strangers to complete this seemingly simple task and the results are brilliant. As are his 3D renderings of these imagined bicycles.
    
3. This episode of Startup on the rise and fall of Grooveshark is fantastic. “Their mission was a noble one: bring an end to online piracy by offering cheap, convenient, and legal access to music. Their execution, however, was less than thorough.”
    
4. Some great advice from Mark Feldman of Bang! The Drum School on becoming a better drummer and getting the most out of your practice. Aimed at drummers but applies to anyone learning any instrument.
    
5. If you haven't seen it already, check out the animated video for Radiohead's new single Burn The Witch. It is wonderful. Very much looking forward to hearing the whole album!

That's all for this week. Enjoy!