Effective And Musical Approach To Drumming
339903
"The purpose of this text is to provide the intermediate drummer with a collection of musical studies which will 1. increase his technical ability and 2. develop musicianship.

Musical Studies for the Intermediate Snare Drummer is divided into two sections.
Both sections are saturated with dynamic markings in order to cultivate the student's sense of musical expressiveness.
The first section contains fifteen studies in both simple and compound time.

No rolls or embellishments are used in this section in order to allow the student time to become completely familiar with dynamics and accents.
The second section contains an equal number of studies but makes extensive use of flams, drags and rolls of varying duration.

It is my sincere hope that this book will provide the serious student with an effective and musical approach to drumming."
[from the book of the preface]
2503345
I think this is a first class piece of work.

It is clearly shot in HD, easy to view, the examples are clear, logical and relevant, and will help those who pay attention to understand the why of what we do, and how to better serve the music.  While ostensibly a jazz drum set video, what it has to say about playing the music applies in a broader sense to any idiom.

In my view, this is a new benchmark for drum set instructional video.  Many  videos cover the mechanics of getting around the kit, or nuances of a given style; few treat, as deeply or meaningfully as this, what the music asks us to do.  It's really about using the instrument to make the music come alive.

Aside from being a world class musician who plays the heck out of the drums (and trumpet) Ralph is also a superb communicator and teacher.  This is a rare mix, in my experience.  His examples are consistently articulate, clear, Socratic, and often tinged with a bit of humor.

If you don't have the opportunity to study with him privately, this is a good start.  Warning: it may lead to pilgrimages to Boston, however, from which you will return smarter than  when you left, and more aware of how much more there is yet to do.
4731883
Great book for learning to play with more subtlety, dynamics and creativity on the kit. This was one of the first books my drum teacher had me crack open after a 20 year hiatus from the drums (played a bit in high school, got distracted by guitar and hand percussion for a few decades and then came back to drum kit in my mid thirties once I finally had a basement I could set a set up in.) This isn't an easy book to get through and some of the exercises will have you gnashing your teeth but it's BEAUTIFUL when the lessons finally sink in and you feel that GROOVE flowing through all four of your limbs. I've been grinding my way through this book (among a few others like "Stick Control" and "Syncopation") for the last two months and have seen my playing grow by leaps and bounds. I'd agree with some of the other reviewers that it's not a "beginner" book, and honestly it was probably a bit above my level when I stared digging through it, but it's pure meditation and accomplishment going through this thing and learning how to drum with more funk and musicality.

Plus it makes my brain hurt.

Highly recommend.
4754531
I own many guitar scale and improvisation books. The most challenging part of improvisation for me gets a refreshing and unique approach with this book in the form of rhythmic phrasing. By developing a system of beat counting and analysis, the author is able to facilitate a new way of looking at rhythmic patterns as the foundation for creating dynamic leads. This book looks at how 'syncopation' can make all those learned scales and patterns come alive. Highly recommended.
1487462
It is very useful to a drumer who want to improve his advanced tech or feeling of groove. Trust it. Enjoy it.
2324839
I had absolutely no musical background, but I learned basic rock drumming by watching Drum Basics Step One and Two. Sandy Gennaro's instructions are very easy to understand and follow, and you don't have to know how to read  music to start playing. I would strongly recommend using these videos  together with the book Drum Basics, Steps One and Two Combined (The  Ultimate Beginner Series) by Mike Finkelstein(Editor)and Sandy Gennaro, a  Yamaha DTXpress electronic drum kit, and practice, practice, practice.
4704647
This book is a invaluable material as Gavin explains in a clear concise and simple as running their different rhythms and fills in its two major albums "Drop" and "Circles." Obviously it is a book for more advanced drummers who get the tracks exactly as presented to us by Gavin I think we understand how the arm achieves its themes, such as works and creates a polyrhythm drum fill and odd times signatures. The play alongs are also a great contribution of this book because these can practice everything as studied in this book. The video quality is excellent and it shows in detail how to run their drums fills and rhythmic patterns.
4536490
Great place to start.  I highly recommend it for someone just starting out on the drums.  The craft and it's approach has changed so much.
2522552
David P. Nelson has done us all a huge favor.  Whether you are a seasoned musician, fascinated by the intricacy and aesthetic beauty of South Indian music, a listener who seeks to learn more in order to better appreciate great artists, or a neophyte drummer who is just coming across these concepts for the first time, Solkattu Manual can offer you so much in the way of understanding and performance.

I am a percussionist performing many different styles of music with different groups.  I've studied bebop and traditional jazz drumming, I study North Indian tabla and khayal music, I've played in many groups playing Afro-Cuban and Brasilian rhythms.  In short, I have a strong foundation in rhythm from around the world.  STILL, the rhythmic concepts of the South Indian masters seemed on a completely different level than what I had previously studied.  It's very difficult to find solid information about this, let alone a text of this nature.  Solkattu manual is clear, concise, and contains wonderfully simple and effective notation in 2 forms for all those visual learners.

The DVDs that came with my book initially wouldn't play in my computer, but I simply took a cloth and some windex to them and now they play perfectly!

Solkattu manual will open up your mind, give you strong new concepts with which your drumming can expand in directions you probably hadn't imagined before, and if you practice this stuff your sense of timing will become so strong.  Don't forget, it's so important to keep the time with the hand gestures (kriyas) as you recite.  This is crucial to the development of your rhythmic independence.  As Professor Nelson states in the book, practice everything only as quickly as you can do it perfectly.  Perfect practice makes perfect.  These exercises are invaluable and I would recommend the book to any musician, or avid listener interested in the mathematical precision and imagination of South Indian musicians.

I am applying these concepts to tabla, to cajn, to congas.  Don't think that it's only useful to play Indian Classical music.

In short, if you are thinking about buying this book, DO IT!  You will not be disappointed.  Instead, you'll be waiting for the bus going.. 'Tam - - - ta ka din - din - din - na - ki ta tom ta ka tom ta ka din - tam - tam - di - - -' and growing as a musician.
301780
Syncopation is much more than a nicely graduated reading text. Used skillfully, and with a good teacher, this classic can go a long way towards teaching the elements of limb independance and co-ordination. Superimposing ostinato patterns over the "as written" notation reveals a world of possibilities.
Bass players, as well as others, can derive benefit from the complexities of reading the syncopated figures in this book. Each exercise places  quarter notes in each measure so that the student can always see the relationship of the downbeat to the exercise.
Drummers, get this book, get Stone's Stick Control, get a good teacher, and you will be well on the way to the ranks of the musically monstrous.
4038608
as a struggling midlife crisis drumming student, it has been difficult finding "THE" one book from which to learn and reinforce "the basics" of drumming.  After about a dozen purchases (or two), I found the Alfred Drumset Method Book.

There are a LOT of methods for teaching drumming, and many methods for learning.

I started drumming about 18 mos ago - about a year after my 10 year old son started snare drum classes in school - with a 90 year old semi-retired jazz drummer (father of a friend of mine - he still had 32 students up to July 2005 - retired due to a stroke but he still helps me out occasionally when I visit) and his methods were great, but the books he used were upwards of 60 years old (Roy Burns' Elementary Drum Method, Joel Rothman's Rolls Rolls Rolls, Ted Reed's Progressive Steps to Syncopation, Stone's Stick control), heavy on rudiments, marching rhythms, and he'd play vibes while I and my son took turns playing rock, shuffle and jazz grooves w/ him.  I've heard his students over the years and his methods worked, but as an adult, physician, post-post graduate I was looking for another method outside of the way he was presenting it to me.

What works about the Alfred book for me is this:  simple 4/4 rock grooves, introductions of simple progressive bass,snare, tom changes around the set which reinforces independence and fills, a visual and kinesthetic introduction to fills and 4 bar riffs and a similar treatment of jazz rhythms.  It's done in a way that builds rapidly to a finished product where learning the components separately wasn't giving me the satisfaction I was looking for.  Kind of like learning how to drive by being given a five minute review of the controls and then driving around a parking lot versus taking an auto mechanics course for six months before seeing what a finished car looks and feels like.

Somehow this makes sense to me where "Drumming for the Complete Idiot" and similar books didn't work.  Or maybe it was torturing myself with those other books for so long that now with the Alfred Method, it all comes together.  My son and I are playing together across the basement (he has his set, I have mine) and learning from each other.  When he needs books, I've got them, and he uses the Alfred book too, but it's time to find another teacher for one on one.

The Alfred Drumset Method, a good investment.  But unless you're a real self-starter, find a teacher who will work with you with it.
2264630
I have been involved in both percussion and education for many years. It was with this background that I undertook Jim Donovan's Drum Circle Leadership training and subsequently acquired the supporting book. I have found Jim's training and the text to be extremely enlightening-even transformational. Jim has a unique capacity of rendering his instruction exactly as a drum circle should be: inclusive, informative, enjoyable and nonthreatening.
The text is well organized and easy to understand. It incudes a well conceived combination of philosophical rationale and technical 'how to'. Examples are plentiful, effective and easy to implement for those facilitating their own circles.
Last calendar year I facilitated 134 circles, from pre-schoolers to seniors in assisted living. Even with that frequency and the tendancy to 'fly on automatic pilot', I found myself going to Jim's text every few circles just as a check, and also to glean additional ideas.
For those serious about facilitating successful drum circles this book is an invaluable asset.
3258107
I rented this book from the library and went through it.  The book covers some basic beginner material that if you took a drum lesson or two most teachers would teach you these beats in your first few lessons.  Not to say this is a bad book for beginners I would give it 4 stars for experienced players I would give it 1 star.  It is actually refreshing to say but this book is not geared to experienced drummers but aimed at true beginners happy drumming
2881913
I hadn't played drums for 20 years and after deciding to get back into it seriously I bought a few books that looked cool on Amazon. Greg Sundel's book is the one that got my drumming back to where I was before I quit. Now that I've beefed up my playing, I can go to a teacher I used to think I wasn't ready for. Now I can read and work on all the hard stuff I see in Modern Drummer, or on Youtube. The book has many concepts and examples  and written in a clear easy to read fashion. I am looking forward to Volume II. I recommend this book to be part of every drummers library.
3123364
If you are a drummer and really want to take your playing to a higher level, I recommend buying thus book. For us drummers remembering the rhythm of a song can be challenging, now imagine having to remember 5+.
The book teaches you how to make charts, which makes it easier for drummers to play a song.
2740640
Greg has come up with great workouts for playing blues, jazz, and rock and roll of all kinds. The paradiddle challenge has my students eager to apply it to the drum set in musical ways. The snare studies are excellent  for helping us all to count out loud,  to feel at ease with the subdivisions of beats and to make  our time-keeping solid. Above all, the book inspires us to move beyond the printed page and come up with more methods  for drumming "our way."  Greg also  explains how  drummers like Joe Morello , John Bonham  and others influenced his own development as a musician by generously passing along their insights to us.  This is a rich, fun, challenging,  and friendly book.
2230015
My father used to be a drummer himself in his teens and Baker was his hero; he kept the book as a nice piece of memorabilia and once I got my first kit at 13, it became my first drum method. I gave the book away years later and felt sorry recently, once I found out it's a very difficult one to come by; so I looked for it every day on Amazon until it appeared, in much better condition than mine the last time I saw it, but it took a while.
The first two sections are all about the rudiments and some other hand technique exercises that Phil Seamen taught Ginger, with some innovative variations based on what I believe was out there at the time, like practicing rudiments in all possible permutations or in different time signatures.
For the third section (The Full Kit) one nice thing was the emphasis on MUSICAL exercises; only a few coordination patterns on a variety of different styles (Jazz, Rock, African 6/8, Double Bass, Polyrhythms) are offered, but all of them sound very good once you grasp them and are useful immediately, giving you an inspiring place to start while opening the doors to experiment further. Other cool things are the words; the instructions are straight up and here come the exercises - just get to work, period. Ginger also comments on the drummers who inspired him on different subjects and a few personal anecdotes.
Sincerely, there's nothing really on this book that you wouldn't find on other, either classic or contemporary, common drum books. Definitely for the collector-type drummer or Rock historian. For me, I learned much more than I remembered from this highly unknown book, and was glad to get in touch with it once again, like a great old friend.