Table of contents for Issue 301 in Rhythm

“There are so many positive elements to drumming – it is a skill, a technique, a challenge to be learned. It uses both sides of the brain and wakes up areas in the mind that promote focus and healing. “The power of music helps your mind and spirit to fly and the discipline of keeping the beat – practising paradiddles and repetitive beats – is a great tonic and drive for keeping the body, mind, and brain healthy.”…

We all know what a dark time the last 18 months have been for the music world with events canned left, right and centre, but finally, shows have begun to return and perhaps none is more welcome than Simon John’s Vintage Drum Show. An always-anticipated date on the drumming calendar, the mega event takes place on October 9-10 at the Standard Triumph Club in Coventry. Doors open at 10am on both days with tickets costing £10. Organiser Simon John gives us the lowdown on what is billed as the UK’s premier vintage drum show: “The show will hold over 30 stalls of drum goodness – accessories, hardware, cymbals and for anyone with deeper pockets, a complete vintage kit,” he explains. “The show has the Vintage Vault, which is one of…

At the age of 11, Joe Wong sat down at a drum kit and knew instantly that he’d found his home. He became a touring musician in his teens, attended Berklee, moved to Los Angeles, and now hosts The Trap Set podcast, talking to drummers about the life experiences that shape them as players and people. He has written music for the Netflix series Russian Doll, Master Of None and The Midnight Gospel, and has just released his debut album, Nite Creatures, which is jammed with psychedelic grooves. What was the impetus behind Nite Creatures? It was the result of asking myself the question, 'Why are you able to write so much music to serve other people’s vision, but you’ve not made a statement of your own, even though that’s…

It’s happening! The world is slowly opening up and that means getting back to live music – and I’m excited. Although I have to admit that riding shotgun to my enthusiasm is the stark realisation that my live chops are definitely not where I left them at the back end of 2019. I’ve been waiting for this moment for so long and I don’t want my rusty wrists to get in the way of enjoying every single second I’m back on stage. So, here’s what I’ll be doing to get back in shape: Getting out of my comfort zone... To get me back up to the level needed for playing live, I will be pushing myself out of my comfort zone with added gusto and really digging in rather than…

My first real introduction to Steve Gadd was at one of the legendary evenings I spent with Gary Wallis, when we were both around 12 years old, at his mum and dad’s flat in London’s East Lane. Armed with a plate of cheese sandwiches and a stereo, we would have these eternal competitions deep into the night, with me playing him Buddy Rich stuff and him playing me Billy Cobham stuff. Then one day Gary put on this album called The Leprechaun by Chick Corea and I can honestly say I was left speechless by the groove, the complexity and the artistry on that record. But it wasn’t Billy Cobham and it wasn’t Buddy Rich – it was Steve Gadd. To this day that record still blows my mind, and…

“When his signature kit was being developed, Steve spent a lot of time with Yamaha’s then chief designer, Takashi Hagiwara, aka Hagi, and they were able to achieve exactly what suited Steve and his ideals. Nothing in his setup has really changed in 30 years, so he is obviously more than happy with it, and his drums work for every occasion. Over the years I have always found that the world’s best players know exactly what they want and why, and they stick with it. They dislike change for change’s sake, which saves me a lot of time and grief constantly testing new things! “When it comes to tuning Steve’s drums, I simply follow his techniques. I can’t give too much away, but so much of the sound actually comes…

PRICE £1,799 Having recently been impressed with the SJC Pathfinder Series, reviewed in Issue 295, it comes as no surprise to us that the Californian drumsmith’s latest offering and collaboration with Slipknot’s Jay Weinberg delivers an impressive punch. Unpacking the drum we are immediately struck by its truly individual appearance. The resin black-and-white art work, designed by Weinberg himself, gives a unique look against the matching flat-black hardware. The aesthetically-pleasing wooden badges adorning the 14"x6½" maple shell bear both the SJC logo and Wire and Nails ‘W’ motif. It becomes apparent just by looking at this drum that it takes no prisoners. We begin by working it through all sorts of tuning ranges and it is immediately evident that the drum sits very comfortably in all extremities. Tuned low, the…

“BEAUTY RADIATES FROM THE 22" FLAT BELL LATHED CYMBAL, BOTH VISUALLY AND SONICALLY. FOR MORE ACOUSTIC-ORIENTATED SONGS, THIS COULD BE A PERFECT FIT.” PRICES 22" Hammer ride, £379 22" Flat Bell Lathed ride, £379 23" Flat Bell Raw ride, £399 We have been served up with a trio platter of Turkish delights from Leon Cymbals. These are completely handmade using age-old methods, including melting the alloy with coal, firing with wood then hammered and lathed by individual cymbalsmiths. Güçlü 'Leon' Arslan is the master cymbalsmith at the helm, with each cymbal clearly sporting his signature on the top surface. This selection has a classy, high-quality look and feel. If you check out their website and associated YouTube channel, you can hear good quality video demos of many of their different…

Hello everyone, welcome back to my drum lesson and to the wacky world of stepped hi-hat notes. I often think that the hi-hat is the most underrated element of the drum set, and the art of playing it with the foot is largely ignored by a lot of drummers. But hopefully this lesson will help you get started on working that hi-hat pedal. First, a quick word about technique; you can play the hi-hat pedal with your foot flat or with your heel slightly raised. The first technique is good for raising the hi-hat for specific musical intervals, while you will find the latter technique will give you a sharper, tighter note. Personally, I always practice both and I advise all my students to do the same and you will…

In Ex 2, we elaborate on this pattern slightly, making it one full bar in length. As before, we work this exercise through two different time levels. Ex 3 brings in our first accent. This should travel at least twice the distance of the non-accent. So, if the non-accent is two inches then the accent should be four inches. The next example extends the pattern slightly and adds a few more accents. This simple pattern is divided 3/3/2. In Ex 5 we take the same basic material as Ex 4 but rearrange it 3/2/3. Finally, to add in something different from patterns created with a single stroke roll, we break up the groove a little bit and see how that works. When you play ‘broken’ patterns like this it gives…

The Tornados Track: ‘Telstar’ Single: ‘Telstar’, 1962 “We were formed, basically, by Joe [Meek, producer] as a session band. The stuff I did with Joe! He recorded the bass drum case, not the bass drum. It was a bit awkward because the pedal used to move around. Joe did lots of different things to get sounds – I was dropping marbles into the toilet bowl and jumping up and down on a tray full of gravel. The bathroom and toilet were his echo chambers.” Johnny Kidd & The Pirates Track: ‘Shakin’ All Over’ Single: ‘Shakin’ All Over’, 1960 “That was done at Abbey Road. It was one mic over the top and one mic on the bass drum – that was it. The drum break in the middle was a…

Steve White A stalwart on the British drumming scene since joining The Style Council in 1983 at the tender age of 17, these days Steve combines his playing and session work with his role as an educator and clinician. Having been the youngest drummer to take the stage at Live Aid, which took place 36 years ago this month, he also performed at Live 8 with The Who in 2005. In this issue he chats to our cover star, Steve Gadd, about all things rudimental. Which band do you wish you’d had the chance to see live? “It would have to be The Beatles.” Rich Chamberlain Raised on his dad’s AC/DC records, Rich has been channelling his inner Phil Rudd since he was a nipper. While there’s little danger of…

“ I want to do everything. I’m quite greedy. I just want to play,” says Simone Odaranile. Turning words into deeds, Odaranile’s career spans being a member of The Go! Team alongside session work including The X Factor and playing with Rina Sawayama on The Tonight Show. It’s a long way from the BIMM graduate who cycled around Brighton putting up flyers saying, ‘Session drummer for hire’. Did you originally want to do sessions or be a band member, or both? I had a really great tutor at BIMM, Vinny Lammy – he plays drums for Mel C and the Spice Girls – and I really related to him. He was like, ‘Look, I’m not a technical drummer, I can’t do crazy rudiments, but I play drums for the biggest…

Why have just one drummer on an album when you can have six? If your answer to that question is, ‘No reason’, then the new album from Redtenbacher’s Funkestra should be right up your street. Big Funk Band features over 50 musicians in total and includes the prodigious talents of Benny Greb, Stanton Moore (above) and Keith Carlock. If that weren’t enough, Francesco Mendolia (Incognito), Josef Hinterhölzl (Backwood 5) and long-standing Funkestra drummer Mike Sturgis are also featured on various tracks. The vision for the Big Funk Band drumming collective comes from bassist, composer and bandleader Stefan Redtenbacher. “25 years after the release of my first album, Boozing Wizards, I wanted to do something special and involve fabulous musicians from three different continents,” he says. “On my album The Time…

Drag paradiddle #1 The drag paradiddle is a particularly technically challenging rudiment as it features double strokes played at two different rates. The slower rate is the regular diddle at the end of the figure and the faster rate is the drag played after the accent. The basic figure with its regular notation is shown in Ex 1. The essence of the figure is probably most easily mastered if it’s regarded as a double paradiddle (Ex 2, bar 1), with the second note played as a double-stroke and at twice the rate of the other notes (Ex 2, bar 2). Moving between these two bars will really help to hone the accuracy of the two subdivisions. The rudiment can also be played accenting the first two right or left hand…

“WHEN YOU SIT BEHIND THIS KIT, SOMETHING JUST FEELS AMAZING. YOU CAN’T HELP BUSTING OUT ‘WHEN THE LEVEE BREAKS’ OR PRACTISING THOSE BONHAM TRIPLETS.” OWNER, TRISTAN HEAD The 1970s was an era of big changes and experiments in the drum world. Ludwig had great success with its Vistalite acrylic shell drums and followed it up with this striking series in stainless steel. The brand had for long led the pack with its metal shell snare drums, although these were mostly chrome plated brass or aluminium ‘Ludalloy’. Stainless steel was an expensive and heavyweight departure which Ludwig along with other companies – notably the French Asba – experimented with briefly as stadium rock shows grew bigger each year. As a lifelong Ludwig devotee John Bonham was keen to gig with his…

Some 190 drummers were involved in the making of a recent Ladbrokes’ TV campaign celebrating Euro 2020 and the joy of live sport and entertainment. Developed by creative agency Neverland and music supervisors Siren Music, and directed by Sam Brown of Rogue Films, the 60-second commercial evokes the anticipation and tension that football fans feel watching a penalty, set to the thumping soundtrack of ‘Rock & Roll Queen’ by The Subways. As the player backs nervously away from the ball, viewers can hear his heart beating in a metronomic rhythm. The camera then reveals that it isn’t his heartbeat but a crowd of drummers filling the stadium. The film subsequently cuts to drummers in a variety of situations in which fans would typically watch the game, including a family living…

ERIC CLAPTON The blues guitar legend on his first mystical meeting with ‘the brother I never had’ “I had heard of Steve for a long, long time – our careers probably had been running parallel – but I wasn’t familiar with his body of work until I heard some of the Paul Simon stuff and Steely Dan. “I had a long experience of working with incredibly good drummers, but they had all moved in and out of my life – like Ginger [Baker] and Steve Ferrone, Jim Gordon and Jim Keltner to name a few. I think I had just done a blues album with Jim Keltner, but he wasn’t able to go out on the road with it. I had intended to do a whole tour based on this…

Welcome to Beats Working, the part of the magazine aimed at helping drummers of all abilities to develop and progress. Kicking things off in this issue is the familiar trio of Colin Woolway, Erik Stams and myself, and we’re looking at ways of incorporating an often underutilised sound on the kit; the stepped hi-hat. In Getting Started, Creative Concepts and Technical Difficulties you’ll find a progressive approach to building this sound into your grooves to add a new dimension to your time playing. Then in Four-Piece Fills, Jason Bowld presents some intense-sounding fills created from rudiment-based linear ideas, while in Percussion Toolbox, all-round percussion guru Pete Lockett introduces the African Udu and offers some essential techniques and patterns. In So You Want To Play Hybrid, Tom Bradley discusses ways of…

In this issue we will be focusing on playing stepped 8th notes and off-beat 8th notes on the hi-hat to add more momentum, syncopation and colour to our grooves. Stepped hi-hat notes are produced by literally stepping on the hi-hat pedal. This involves the use of four-way coordination between your hands and feet. It is important to get your posture and balance right to make this feel good and to avoid injury. There are a variety of techniques and approaches to playing drum pedals with your feet. Simply put, we can play either ‘heel up’ or’heel down’. There is no right or wrong choice, it is a matter of personal choice. A drummer may choose to use one technique or the other based on how it sounds or feels. For…

I clearly remember the first time I heard this amazing percussion instrument. It was a duo concert by Jan Garbarek and Naná Vasconcelos. At a certain point in the concert Naná came forward and sat on the floor, right at the front of the stage, as Jan Garbarek exited. A spotlight closed in on the small area where Nana sat. The auditorium lights faded to total darkness. What happened next has stayed with me ever since. It was one of the most magic moments of percussion I can remember. A deep and glorious tone came forth, rich in low tones and lush in a strange metallic resonance unlike anything I had ever heard before. All around the hall, people stretched their necks and peered around those in front of them…

Throughout this introduction to hybrid drumming we’ve worked on assigning samples to external pads and triggers, applying effects, layering samples and much more. By now you’ve likely built several sample banks to cater for different musical styles or projects using your hybrid setup. In this lesson we’ll discuss a few methods of streamlining and controlling these kit patches to ensure that they’re stage-ready. In terms of designing a setlist, often one patch per song will suffice, while sometimes we might need to change our sound from section to section. Some modules allow for copying and pasting of kits, which can be incredibly useful for organising your tracks and samples, although this is often a laborious process that can also be incredibly time-consuming. Thankfully most modules feature a ‘chain’ function for…

Jason Bowld Download Festival Sunday, June 20, 2021 “It was a total out-of-body experience headlining Download. Although it strangely seemed like we had never been away, the show felt unreal – mainly because we thought festivals were dead and buried for this year and we didn’t see the opportunity coming until a few weeks before. My drum solo plan went totally to pot, too, but for once I enjoyed a little bit of freestyling and the freedom of being at peace with wherever my hands and feet took me.” Bullet For My Valentine’s new single, ‘Parasite’, is out now. For more information, visit www.bulletformyvalentine.com…

“I grew up with a really strict Gospel Pentecostal background and even though I heard a lot of music through the church, there was so much stuff that we were not allowed to listen to. It wasn’t until later on that I discovered this whole new world of drummers and music and the funny thing is, the first time I actually heard ‘Funky Drummer’ it was as a drum break sample. “Some of my favourite producers in the hip-hop community – Bomb Squad, Public Enemy, Dr. Dre – were using those sliced up breaks and, of course, ‘Funky Drummer’ is one of the most sampled recordings ever. “When I did finally hear the original I was so impressed by the way Clyde Stubblefield played the track. It’s a long song…

After spending some time in the Big Apple, we now head east to somewhere that I’ve always wanted to visit and has been on my travel list for many years. Where is that? I hear you ask.... Japan! It’s just a shame that these are virtual visits as this would’ve been a great journey for my British Airways Frequent Flyer Account. The Japan Ground Self-Defence Force Central Band (JGSDF) was established in 1951 under the auspices of the National Police Reserve, forerunner of the JGSDF, and has been performing ever since. Throughout the last 70 years it has remained one of Japan’s most illustrious wind ensembles. The band reports directly to the Minister of Defence and has taken part in The Special Guard of Honour to welcome state guests and…

CHICK COREA The late virtuosic jazz keyboardist on his musical partnership with Gadd “The first time I met Steve was when we were both playing with Chuck Mangione at a club in Rochester. Gee, he was playing great, but he was playing kind of an old style. I thought, ‘I wonder if has ever heard Tony Williams play?’ So we got together on the weekend and it was amazing what Steve did, because we listened to some records together – what Tony was doing – and I played him some of the Miles [Davis] record that I had taken this stuff from. Then we had a couple of days off and Steve came back with a completely new kit and a completely new way of playing – his own version…

PRICE £209 This compact amp from Kustom takes up a relatively small footprint at about 40cm2 . Weighing in at just over 14kg, the sturdy carpeted chassis demonstrates build quality rivalling more established brand names. The plastic controls feel less substantial to touch, but there is a satisfying resistance to the two input volume knobs and the three EQ controls. There are two mono-summed inputs for your electric kit (these could be different sources, in fact) and an Aux input that also takes a ¼" jack and has a discrete volume control. Add to that a fixed level 3.5mm mini-jack input for, say, your phone playing songs, and you have up to four inputs, which can all be monitored silently if you plug your headphones into the mini-jack on the…

“TURNER USES VERY HARD, DENSE WOODS AND RIGID CONSTRUCTION, GUARANTEEING A RESONANT, BRIGHT, RESPONSIVE SHELL – ONE THAT IS SURPRISINGLY LOUD FOR A WOODEN SNARE”. PRICES £560/£575 Mike Turner of Bristol Drum Co. has a practical and teaching background in design engineering and started to build drums around six years ago. We’ve featured his snares previously and been greatly impressed. As a craftsman builder, Mike can offer individually tailored instruments with shells built from scratch utilising a wide variety of woods. Mike’s favoured build is horizontal segments, although vertical staves are also incorporated in some deeper drums. Segmented construction results in an exceptionally strong shell. “The construction method gives the most stable and, more importantly, the most rigid shell,” he asserts. I’m sure he’s right; whenever I see a stave…

Here we are going to continue this issue’s theme of stepped hi-hat ideas but in a swing or shuffle context. The basic patterns entail splitting the shuffle rhythm between the right hand and left foot, so the left foot plays the swung upbeat, or ‘skip note’ (Ex 1). This is an approach you may have seen used by Steve Gadd and usually featuring four-on-the-floor on the bass drum. So as well as being able to split the shuffle between right hand and left foot, you’ll need to be able play it between the feet as seen in Ex 2. In Ex 3 we’ve added a backbeat to create the full Steve Gadd pattern, while in Ex 4 the right hand plays the jazz ride pattern – by adding the skip…

This involves striking with all four finger tips on the main body of the drum, away from the hole. Different pitches can be created by striking in different places on the instrument. Only the top quarter of the fingers should hit the drum, not the whole flat hand. They should travel from around two inches out, strike the surface and not be pulled away too quickly. This stroke can be accented or non-accented. An accent is created by peforming the same action but from a further point of travel from the surface of the drum.…

INCLUDING: ● The evolution of the snare ● How it developed and diversified over time ● Top tips for nailing a great snare sound ● Snare accessories – how to enhance your sound and tone ● The most desirable vintage drums on the planet ● Choosing your perfect snare PLUS A host of famous faces on their favourite snares and sounds, the impact they have on our best-loved recordings and how one single drum has become the heartbeat of a player’s signature sound ON SALE THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 9, 2021 TO SUBSCRIBE OR BUY A SINGLE ISSUE, VISIT: www.rhythmdrumnetwork.com…