johnxdrumsblog

Drums, drumming and drummers

About johnxdrums

San Francisco Bay Area Drummer, Teacher and Author, http://www.JOHNXDRUMS.com/

My First DW Drum Set – Interesting Story

Posted on May 21, 2020 by johnxdrums

WARNING! This post contains explicit descriptions of drum sizes, shells and hardware. It may not be suitable for all audiences. Viewer discretion is advised.

I bought my first DW drum set in December of 1994. It was white Marine Pearl and included: 8 x 10 tom, 9 x 12 tom, 13 x 15 tom, 16 x 22 bass drum, and a 5.5 x 14 Craviotto/DW snare. From the first day I played this set, I fell in love with the sound, look and feel of it.

These drums were used exclusively with my band, The Fundamentals over a 20- year period. The group performed close to 1500 shows ranging from club dates and concerts to private parties and special events. The set was safely stored in road cases inside of the band truck, which was parked outside of a storage unit. Unfortunately, the truck was exposed to temperatures ranging from freezing to extreme heat, and over time due to the extreme temperatures, the shell coverings started to crack. I was immensely bummed out.

So, in March of 2014, my good friend, Garrison at DW, told me to send the drums down to the factory in Oxnard, CA, and he would have them refurbished for me. Well, to my great surprise, the good folks at DW not only recovered the shells, but they also replaced all of the lugs, hoops and mounting hardware. The only things that remained from the original drums were the shells and badges. And, as it turns out, those were original 5+3 shells from Keller. Today, I am very pleased to say, these drums sound, look and play better than ever. I am grateful and blessed to still own this beautiful set and to be a part of the DW family.

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Remembering My Friend, Neil Peart

Posted on April 22, 2020 by johnxdrums

I just came across this photo of Neil Peart. It was taken at his Toronto studio in 1994 when I interviewed him for my second “Lessons With The Greats” book. At that time I had found him to be very pleasant, extremely well spoken and generous with his time.

From that point on he would always be sure to comp me tickets for my friends and family to the local Rush shows. The seats were always the best in the house, and backstage passes were also included with most of the shows.

When he was studying with Freddie Gruber, Neil would send me a note telling me about his progress and discoveries. Considered by many to be one of the worlds greatest drummers, I was amazed on how humble he was through his learning process.

Neil was not only generous with tickets to the Rush shows, he was also very generous in helping out our Soundwall Rock Music Camp. Here is a picture of one of his touring snare drums, and an autographed cymbal that he donated to the camp.

Neil has been gone since January 7. I miss my friend. And I’m sure many drummers world wide miss him as well.

The Ideal Drummer

Posted on May 17, 2019 by johnxdrums

Ever since writing my recent blog about “Ghost Notes”, I’ve been thinking about my next topic. Then, as always, the answer miraculously came to me. Out of nowhere, I thought of an article I wrote for Drum World Percussive Times in 1988 on “The Ideal Drummer”. (Drum World was a great drum shop that I frequented for many years until they went out of business.) After re-reading the original article, I soon realized that the vast majority of the article was still relevant for today’s drummer. And of lot of it also applies to any working musician.

So with that said, have you ever wondered how other musicians picture the ideal drummer? As drummers, we have a good idea of what we would like to sound like, but what do bass players, guitar players, singers, producers, engineers, contractors and everyone else in the music business listen for and want from us? A few years back, I conducted a survey of about fifty people in different sectors of the music business and was enlightened to hear what they had to say.

At the top of the list was the fact that the ideal drummer should have a keen sense of time, a solid groove and a great feel. A drummer with a keen sense of time will take the tempo of a tune from the count off and maintain it throughout. Being aware of different soloist’s tendencies, to play behind or ahead of the beat and not slowing down or speeding up during fills, all make for a drummer with good time. The drummer’s groove should be rock solid with a good feel for each style you’re playing. A jazz tune has to swing and an R & B tune has to be right in the pocket. I know players with a fairly limited knowledge of the instrument that have the ability to make anything they play sound and feel great. These people are always working and are constantly in demand. On the other hand, there are players who seem like they know it all, but just haven’t spent the time working on their feel and groove. They’re always complaining that they can’t find a band and have no work.

A great number of people I talked with seemed to feel that the ideal drummer is one who is sensitive and listens to his or her fellow musicians, then plays what is appropriate without over-playing. In way too many instances, musicians tend to listen to themselves and get too wrapped up in what they’re doing and don’t pay enough attention to the people they are playing with. Use fills to set up sections of a song and figures. Support the soloist without being overbearing. Don’t try to fit every lick you know into one song. The time to work out licks and listen to yourself is when you’re in your own practice room. When you’re on the bandstand, open your ears, listen and think musically.

The ideal drummer must have a GOOD ATTITUDE! I can’t express the importance of this enough. Everyone I talked with mentioned how important this was to them and the people they worked with. Nobody wants to listen to someone else’s complaints, gripes and problems. Nobody wants to be around someone who is a bummer all the time. Be happy that you’re playing and try to look for the positive aspects of each musical situation without dwelling on the negative. If it’s like pulling teeth to get you to rehearsal or have you on a gig, maybe you should be doing something else with your time. I’m sure we all know some great musicians who would be working a lot more if they had better attitudes.

From the business point of view, the ideal drummer should be responsible and well-organized. If you have a rehearsal and are supposed to learn certain tunes, learn them. Nobody wants to waste their time while you learn your parts at the rehearsal. If you have an audition with material to learn, learn it! You would be surprised at how many times I’ve auditioned musicians that have had recordings for weeks and have barely even listened to them. Sooner or later, you’ll be known as a “FLAKE” and that’s bad business!

A well-organized musician is one with a calendar and phone with all of their musical contacts. This musician shows up to gigs, sessions and rehearsals on time, to the right locations, on the right day, with the correct dress and proper equipment. I had a good student who lost a great paying, fun gig because his mother threw away the scrap piece of paper that he had all of the gig information on. Write down all important information in a safe place where you can find it. I personally have had to stop hiring some great musicians just because they couldn’t get it together business wise.

I know a lot of contractors and band-leaders who would rather hire a player with less playing ability who they can count on, rather than a superstar that is flaky. A well-organized, responsible musician who plays great, will always be in demand.

Drum tuning, reading and techniques are all important aspects of drumming, which we cannot neglect. It’s great to practice fast double bass drums licks, tremendous fills around the kit and stick tricks. But once in a while, try to stop for a minute and think about what the people you’re playing with and working for would like from the Ideal Drummer.

All the best,

JohnX
www.johnxdrums.com

What Are Ghost Notes and Why Would You Want to Play Them?

Posted on May 8, 2019 by johnxdrums

What are ghost notes and why would you want to play them?

Before we talk about ghost notes, please let me explain why I am writing this blog. A little over four years ago I was playing a gig and my left arm just stopped working. I didn’t think much of it because I thought I had tendonitis. Unfortunately, a month later the same thing happened. So off to the doctor I went. He took a look at me and said I had some atrophy in my left arm. He referred me to another doctor who said I had a pinched-nerve in my neck. She gave me a cortisone shot and asked me to come back a month later. This cycle continued and after a series of other doctors, I was finally diagnosed with ALS.

For those last four years I’ve been managing my illness, but the whole time drumming still has been on the forefront of my mind. I have always loved drumming as well as teaching drums and writing about drumming. With that said, for the last few weeks I’ve had a burning desire to share some of that knowledge that I’ve accumulated over the years. Then, by divine inspiration, ghost notes came to mind. Now back to the blog…

What are ghost notes and why would you want to play them? A ghost note is defined as a note that is felt more than heard.Ghost notes were brought to my attention by some of the other local drummers when I was 17 years old and playing in my first professional rock band. Why would I want to play notes that people wouldn’t hear? This sounded ridiculous to me.

Then it all changed a year and a half later when David Garibaldi came to sit in with my community college jazz band (Chabot College in Hayward). After he played, he held an impromptu clinic for a few of us jazz band drummers. He started by applying paradiddles to the drum set by playing the right hand notes on a tightly closed hi-hat and the left hand notes on the snare. He played all of the unaccented left hand notes as ghost notes, at about one inch off of the head and he played the accented note of the paradiddle with a solid rim shot. Enter my ah-ha moment…I finally got it. What a beautiful thing it was. I believe he played a simple 2 and 4 rock beat and went into this paradiddle version. It was like magic! The ghost notes changed everything.

I went home and became obsessed with ghost notes. I broke it down to single ghost notes, double ghost notes and every variation of ghost notes I could think of. What I soon came to realize was that the ghost notes added subtleties to the groove that were undeniable.

To hear some great examples of drummers playing ghost notes, listen to Jabo Starks and Clyde Stubblefield from the early James Brown band as well as David Garibaldi from Tower of Power. As a matter of fact, most of today’s great drummers like Steve Gadd, Vinnie Colaiuta, Dave Weckl and Steve Smith all incorporate ghost notes in their playing.

If you like, you can take a look at my ghost note video from 2011 entitled “Ghost Note Drum Lesson – Online Drum Lessons with John X”

All the best,

John X

www.johnxdrums.com

Solidify your groove by developing a fill vocabulary

Posted on December 6, 2014 by johnxdrums

One of the biggest problems I see with many drummers is that their groove is disrupted when they play fills. It is as though they are 100% certain about the groove they are playing but when it comes time to play a fill they simply play the first thing that comes to mind.

Unfortunately, the first thing that comes to mind does not always work with the groove you are playing. If you simply pull a fill out of the air there is a very good chance it will not rhythmically fit with the groove. Therefore, you may speed up, slow down, or even drop a beat from the measure.

If you are going to spend time learning specific grooves, spend and equal amount of time learning specific fills. In fact with my private students, I teach them a new fill with every new groove they learn. Imagine learning just one new groove a week plus one new fill, in a years’ time you will have fifty fills and fifty grooves in your vocabulary.

The good news is that most of the fills will work equally as well with other similar grooves and you do not have to invent a completely new fill for each groove. You can simply change one note of the fill by playing it on another drum or adding a flam to it. This is absolutely the best way to develop a series of fills for a song that will help keep your groove in the pocket. Listen to Steve Gadd, Chad Smith, Kenny Aronoff and other great drummers. This is exactly how they approach playing fills.

I hope this insight will help you become a better drummer. If you are ready to learn some new fills today, take a look at the preview of my Funk/Rock Fill Lesson Series. In this series I will teach you how to play over 50 fills that will work great with a variety of different Funk and Rock grooves.

Gain access to the full 4- Part Lesson Series plus an ever growing library of tutorials by becoming a member of JohnX Online Drum Lessons. JOIN NOW!

All the best,

JohnX
www.johnxdrums.com

Having the ability to add a double kick patterns to your fills is invaluable.

Posted on November 19, 2014 by johnxdrums

Here is a helpful practice tip. Begin by playing two 16th notes on the snare using a right-left sticking, followed by two 16th notes on the bass drum. For this exercise I would suggest using a single pedal and a heel up technique. Start slowly at 50bpm and be sure to keep an even 16th feel throughout.

Once you are comfortable with the pattern gradually increase your speed. I will start with two knee motions at the slower tempos. Then, I will use one large and one small knee motion at medium tempos, approx. 75bpm. And finally, I will end up using one knee motion followed by a sliding motion with my foot at faster tempos, approx. 104bpm.

When the 16th note pattern feels comfortable at a variety of tempos you can start moving it around the kit and use it as a fill from a variety of Funk and Rock grooves.

I recently published the second lesson in my 4-part Funk/Rock Fill lesson series. In this lesson you will learn a variety of ways to move this pattern around the set and use it as great sounding fill. Once you understand this concept it will open up a whole new realm of fill possibilities. In the third part of the series I will teach you 10 different fills using this concept.

You can gain access to the all 4 lessons in the series, plus the transcriptions for each lesson by becoming a member of JohnX Online Drum Lessons. Join Now!

All the best,

JohnX
www.johnxdrums.com