In my younger years Rush’s Neil Peart was my Drum God. I must have spent thousands of hours worshiping his playing. Many of my licks today are direct descendants of Mr. Peart. As I got older my focus shifted toward subtlety and song writing. Jim Keltner became one of my new gods. His colors and grooves are shear genius. From him I have also “borrowed” many great ideas.

Something happened to me, and at first this may sound strange, disrespectful, and even blasphemous, but I heard my Gods suck. “Suck” might be a harsh word, but I saw two performances that were less than godly.

The first fall from grace experience was at a PASIC conference when I met Jim Keltner backstage before his clinic. He was a nervous wreck. So nervous, I was surprised that he even made it on stage. When he finally got up there, I have to be honest and say he stunk the place up. His playing was so off and shaky that he actually apologized. More on this in a moment.

My second unholy moment came after picking up Neil Peart’s instructional DVD Anatomy of a Drum Solo. I haven’t listened to his playing in a while so I thought I would gain some insight that elusive drum solo that I used to fantasize about playing for my high school talent show! There were moments on this DVD that Mr. Peart was…just not great.

How could the God of Prog Rock and the A-list studio drummer “suck”? Then something clicked…and it’s one of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned.

In these situations Keltner and Peart were not in their usual element. In other words they weren’t doing what they are famous for. After checking out the solo material in Peart’s DVD I watched the extras included at the end of the disc which included a live performance of “Tom Sawyer”. It still gave me goose bumps. I realized that when Neil was playing his solo ideas he was exposing his creative inspirations in hopes to spark others imaginations. When I listened to his finished product in “Tom Sawyer” I understood that he is a master of progressive rock drum composition and capable of creating percussive excitement even in the non-drummer. How many people still crank up the stereo for his four giant fills in the middle of that song?

Jim Keltner is a first-call studio drummer who’s played on so many albums I guarantee that even if you haven’t heard of him, you’ve heard his playing. When Keltner apologized for his poor solo at PASIC, he explained that he needs to be playing along with music. He’s an accompanist, not a soloist. Like peeking behind the curtain in the Wizard of Oz, I realized that behind the facade of my drum gods are mere mortals. Average people who have worked very hard to capitalize on their strengths. Kudos to them for going out on a limb and showing a less polished side of themselves.

I’ve been down on myself so many times after watching the speed of Buddy Rich, or feeling the groove of John Bonham and think that I will never be that good. The lesson I’ve learned is that there ARE things that I am good at and are uniquely me. I need to capitalize on these elements when I perform and not think about how someone else would play it better than me. Everyone has their weaknesses, even your heroes, but the best have learned to focus on their strengths.

No matter what level of player you happen to be listening to, if you listen for the unique human element you’ll hear something pleasantly surprising, even with people who have never touched the drums before.

I know this isn’t a unique revelation. Like the song says, you’ve got to accentuate the positive, but I thought I’d just share a moment when this finally clicked for me.

Well, I’ve finally arrived in Chicago, the suburb of Lisle to be exact, and am ready to get things rolling.

The acoustic drums are set up in the “Isolation Booth” (aka the storage room in my basement). Our home is just a little too close to the neighbors so for volume’s sake, I’ve tried to isolate the acoustic drums as much as possible. I was planning to do my video tutorials on my acoustic kit, but for now it looks like it’s going to have to be on my V-Drums.

It seems like all I’ve done this summer is either pack a box, unpack a box, or try to find a box that I’ve packed something in! It’s time to blow the dust of the ol’ chops and get practicing.

Today I’m running through the (Frankified) Rudimental Ritual slowly just to get oriented. I also have an iPod full of classic rock tunes that I will play along with to work on my feel and groove.

My next (and first “real”) video tutorial will be based on the drum set applications I’ve worked out using the Rudimental Ritual. Inspired by Steve Gadd (check out his video “Up Close”) I’ve developed many licks and tricks using literal and loose interpretations of snare drum rudiments. I’ve mutated and twisted many of the rudiments from their original form so they sound much different than the original and are applied at fills, time playing, and double bass drum playing.

It’s time to hit the woodshed and polish this material so I can get it on video!

Brad

Thought I’d share a Facebook chat with a friend from Indonesia. Thanks Gita!

 8:36amGita
hi brad

 8:37amBrad
what’s up?

 8:37amGita
nothing much

how are you

oh yeah

i’ve listened your work “april”

 8:38amBrad
cool, like it?

 8:38amGita
yeah

 8:39amBrad
Thanks!

 8:39amGita
i always love when a drummer can apply chops into instrument

make it unique pattern

 8:40amBrad
Thank you! It’s really just a simple timbale pattern my old teacher showed me years ago. It’s in a book by Humberto Morales

Do you play with a band?

 8:42amGita
yup

 8:42amBrad
do you have a site/myspace?

 8:43amGita
nope

my band is just beginner

the guitarist still learn playing their instrument

 8:44amBrad
how long have you played?

 8:45amGita
well i’ve been drumming for three years

but i don’t know when i try to join a band

they always say that i’m not good enough

until i find my current band

before that the only i do just jamming with friends to improve my playing

 8:48amBrad
I suggest playing a party or something easy. This will force you guys to get prepared. Jamming is fun but if you don’t have an objective you can get lost in the jamming. Performing for even 5 people will improve you immensely

 8:49amGita
thank you for your advice

why is it so hard to apply a pattern in my play?

for example i practice 16th note hi hat pattern

but in band situation

still trap in eighth note pattern

 8:51amBrad
to be honest it is because you don’t know it well enough yet. you have to have patterns down COMPLETELY so you can do it in your sleep.

 8:51amGita
do u have any idea about it?

 8:51amBrad
try playing along to recorded music and apply the pattern you’re working on to different styles and tempos

 8:53amGita
hmm okay

i’ll practice your advice

thx brad

btw

 8:53amBrad
let me know how it goes!

 8:53amGita
what you’re working on now?

 8:55amBrad
ha! unpacking my house! I just moved to Chicago. Actually, I’ve been revisiting some old stuff that I used to practice in high school: rush, led zep, etc. I didn’t always play everything note-for-note so now I’m going back and getting it right!

…and the rudimental ritual as always. My mantra.

 8:57amGita

 8:59amBrad
The best advice I found that works with my students: play along to as much music as possible and get the Alan Dawson book and learn the Rudimental Ritual. I’ve work through a TON of books, etc but these two things (+playing live) will advance you the fastest.

 9:10amGita
wow

tonight is such enligtenment moment for me

 9:10amBrad
Glad to help! Now go practice! : )

 9:11amGita
yeah

hahah

Hello internet,

Just at the tip of the iceberg here, trying to figure things out. I’ve got a full blown website in the works, but for now I thought I’d at least let you all know what’s going on.

I plan to post video tutorials, pictures, music links, and just about anything else I can think of about the world of drumming. To be honest, I’m still working on understanding Wordpress…and may or may not keep it once I have the site going.

Right now I’m just blowing the dust off the ol’ licks and continuing to work on the Rudimental Ritual. More on this Ritual later, but I still have not run out of different interpretations and applications for that thing.

In the meantime, feel free to post a comment or ask questions. I’ll have the full bio, discography, etc, etc coming soon.