The Black Page first appeared on Zappa In New York in 1978. Terry Bozzio recounts how the Black Page was written:
He wrote it, because we had done this 40-piece orchestra gig together and he was always hearing the studio musicians in LA, that he was musing on that, talking about the fear of going into sessions some morning and being faced with “the black page”. So he decided to write his “Black Page”. Then he gave it to me, and I could play parts of it right away. (more…)
Dave Weckl just posted this video yesterday on his YouTube channel. The video features Chick Corea, Frank Gambale, Eric Marianthal, and John Patitucci performing as the Chick Corea Electric Band in Bangkok (March 2017).
I always enjoy finding hidden gems on the internet. A while ago, I posted the drumset audio track of Jeff Porcaro playing Rosanna. What an iconic groove! In today’s post, I want to share another fantastic drumset audio track by legend Neil Peart. This track features his drumming on Tom Sawyer. Are there any tracks you have heard that you would like to share with the community? Please leave a comment below and I will post them.
Joe Morello, legendary drummer for the Dave Brubeck Quartet and his drumming on Take Five and Blue Rondo a la Turk, also wrote one of the best technique books for snare drum called Master Studies. If you don’t own this book, I would highly suggest that you add it to your collection of technique books. Joe describes this book as the continuation of Stick Control (another must own book).
Our friends over at Drummerworld.com, a great resource for videos and lessons from the top drumset players, has written a post on Joe Morello’s Killer Exercise (Ex. 22). You can check out the video and sheet music on their site.
What other exercises do you frequently use? Leave a comment below and let me know.
There are many great instructional videos on YouTube. Austin Burcham has a series called Study the Greats. Here’s a great video of one of my favorite drummers, Vinnie Colaiuta. Andrew has also transcribed the lick here. Get practicing!
To follow up yesterday’s post, here’s one of the best, most innovative ways to tune a snare drum. I know this is demonstrated on a drumset snare drum, but I wonder if you could apply this to a concert snare drum? Anyone want to try it out and let me know? Maybe I could a make a video. Let me know if you are interested.
