I wanted to jot a couple of notes from each clinic I attended yesterday while they’re fresh in my mind:

Maria Martinez (Rita Coolidge, Klymaxx, El Chicano, Emmanuel,Trini Lopez,  Barry White, Nel Carter, Johnny Paycheck, et al): Play drum the same way you speak. This can mean using “big” words, or technical licks, versus expressing yourself simply, your body language, facial expression, breathing, and your attitude.

Chris Penine (Coheed and Cambria, Dilinger Escape Plan): Cool lick – accent groups of 3, 5, and 7 within your double strokes to modulate tempos and time signatures within a solo. He obviously spent a lot of time on his technique and independence. He did some pretty cool ostinatos and modulated the time over it. Definitely a lot of time in the woodshed. Lot’s of energy and a very positive and dedicated person. Fond of long black dress socks paired with cargo shorts. New fasion trend?

Sergio Belloti (Mike Stern, Berklee Teacher): Work on your weak hand more than your dominant had. If you work on them equally your dominant had will always be far ahead of your weak hand. Practice your rudiments and licks along with real music, not a metronome. Turn your fundamentals into musical ideas. Don’t practice a paradiddle just to practice a paradiddle.

Zoro (Lenny Kravitz, Bobby Brown, Frankie Valli, New Edition, Jody Watley, Sean Lennon, Philip Bailey, et al) and Daniel Glass (Royal Crown Revue, Gene Simmons, Bette Midler, Freddy Cole, Al Viola, et al): Groove, feeling, and composition are more important than technique (though both are quite technically proficient). Know your roots and musical history. The licks of tomorrow come from the masters from the past.

Lalo Davila (Educator): Connect with your audience and show that you are having fun. Feel the music and be sure that your are expressing these feelings to your audience. Let your inhibitions go.

I’m packing my stuff and heading to Indianapolis in a few short hours. I am very excited to check out the Percussive Arts Society International Convention. The last time I went was back in 2000. When I was there I got to meet Billy Cobham, Omar Hakim, Jim Keltner, Zoro, Ndugu Nhancler, Dave Weckl (and his drum tech), John Riley, Danny Gotltlieb, Gunther Schuller…and many more.

I wonder who I’ll get to meet this time.

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