In January 2018, Vic Firth hosted its first ever #vfJAMS LIVE recording session at EastWest Studios in Hollywood, California. This amazing event showcased some of the world’s top drummers performing with Robert “Sput” Searight and the all-star vfJAMS Band!
This is an incredible series. Vic Firth’s content for percussion is always high quality and these jam sessions feature videos, transcriptions, and PDFs so you can learn the tune. Check it out and let me know your favorite performance in comments below.
I have always enjoyed listening and learning from great musicians. Too often we listen to people we want to emulate on our own instrument when you can gain valuable insight from other musicians. Over the next couple of months, I am going to put together a series of blog posts of musicians, artists and other creatives that have inspired me. In his book, Steal Like an Artist, author Austin Kleon talks about the theory of picking one great artist and reading, listening and learning everything they did. Once you have learned from that artist, you pick three artists that inspired the first artist. Sounds like endless inspiration to me!
David Garibaldi has been an inspiration to many drummers and musicians for over 40 years. I remember the first time I saw him play in 1991 with Tower of Power. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing and after the performance, I went to Tower Records and bought all of the TOP albums I could find.
Drumeo creates high quality videos of the top drummers. Even if you are not a drum set player, take some time and watch this video.
From YouTube:
David began playing drums professionally at 17 years old and joined Tower of Power at the age of 24 in 1970. Not too long after, he became one of the most sought after drummers in the industry. He has featured in hundreds of songs by notable artists and has also appeared on live TV and films. David won the R&B/Funk drummer award from Modern Drummer magazine for five consecutive years from 1980 to 1985, and again in 2003.
Do you listen to 80s music? The 80s music channel is my favorite on Pandora. Growing up in the 80s and learning how to play drum set to Huey Lewis and News, I always wondered how to tune my snare drum the way I heard on recordings. This video explains how gated reverb became the iconic 80s snare drum sound.
For some audio examples of gated reverb, check out this Spotify playlist that Vox.com compiled.
Drumeo is a great resource for drummers. The site features hours of video content by the world’s top drum set artists. Their tagline is “Learn Anything On The Drums with The World’s Best Teachers.” David Garibaldi, legendary drummer with Tower of Power, shows the “King Kong Beat” and how it influenced his playing. Check it out and download the PDF. What is the most important beat you ever learned? Leave a comment below so we can check it out.
VicFirth.com is a great educational resource for percussionists. Their educational videos feature mallet, drumset, marching and percussion instruments. There is something for everyone, including the Mallet Literature Library which has already been featured on Percussion Education.
This post features a new series on jazz drumming with the AHA! Trio (Steve Houghton, Steve Allee and Jeremy Allen). (more…)