"Beyond the Blushda" MD article

Terry Branam

Official DW Chief Transcriber
Hey everybody,

Just wanted to let everybody know about an article I wrote about one of my favorite drum licks, the "Blushda" for Modern Drummer magazine. I am proud of this one, and I think you all might dig the content. The article runs in the November issue (on shelves first week of Oct.).

Also it looks like MD will have sound files from the piece available in their new digital issue. They picked some nice examples to play. Should be cool.

Feel free to hit me up here if you have any questions/comments about it,


Terry
 
Thats a great lick....
Even thou its been explained to me by my instructor I still can't get it right....I'm amazed when I hear Tony, Vinne and even Novak do them at crazy tempos...
 
Thanks guys,

The blushda is indeed a cool and useful lick, another gift from Tony Williams.

The cool thing is that even with all of the examples given in the article, I still find new ways of playing it.

And mind_drummer, of course I couldn't help but think of the HOD crew when writing it. They are blushdaholics!

Terry
 
Thanks Raymond and Sardaukar for the interest.

Yeah, I really like Steve Holmes' video of the blushda. He is a great drummer and a nice guy.

I tried to take the blushda figure and explore some advanced phrasing ideas utilizing groupings of 3 4 5 and 7. As well as offer some cool orchestration ideas. The possibilities are enormous!

Hope you all like it!

Terry
 
I really enjoyed the article Terry, and look forward to getting to work on the exercises. Does anyone know of any specific videos or recordings in which Tony uses the Blushda? And is there any specific reason for the L flam, RR, L, sticking? Couldn't you alternate between that and R flam, LL, R for faster tempo's?
 
I really enjoyed the article Terry, and look forward to getting to work on the exercises. Does anyone know of any specific videos or recordings in which Tony uses the Blushda? And is there any specific reason for the L flam, RR, L, sticking? Couldn't you alternate between that and R flam, LL, R for faster tempo's?

Hey man, thanks for the post. I believe I first heard Tony playing the blushda on Miles' "Nefertiti" record. I don't remember exactly where or anything, but Tony loved his flams! Also check out the great "Believe it" album by his band "Lifetime".

As far as the sticking is concerned, the left lead flam accent (or flam drag in this case) seems to lend itself to moving around the kit really well. That's not to say that it can't be played with alternate sticking. In fact, the alternate sticking "blushda" is actually just a flam drag. Confused now?!

Check out how cats like Tony, Novak, Gavin Harrison, Bissonnette, Steve Smith etc. utilize the sticking. Pretty inspiring stuff!


Terry
 
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