Drum Instruction DVD & Book Reviews

Hi Jackohan, I would get the red one. Which is rhythmic illusions.

His books are VERY hard (at least to me) and i stopped going through them to focus on more pressing stuff that needed to be addressed in my playing.

THey are also very conceptual which means the ideas will take a while to internalise. Great books non the less.

Do you have stick control, master studies, syncopation, new breed as well? Definately worth getting

Dave
 
Attention beginner drummers and drum teachers!!

If you're looking for a strong foundation on the drums, check out Time-Keepers for all iOS devices. It's loaded with over 30 HD play-along videos to help you learn a wide vocabulary of grooves and fills. See a play-along video by clicking here. You'll also learn strategies on how to practice the lesson material effectively and how to apply it to music. Time-Keepers is now available in iBooks..
Click here for a FREE sample of Time-Keepers including 4 videos!!

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- Chuck Keeping (Big Wreck/Suzie McNeil)


“This is a great book! Meat & Potatoes. All killer, no filler. It’s the book that every beginning student should have. Thanks Kevin, for giving students what they want and teachers an easy and concise way to give it to ‘em."
- John M. Wicks (Bruno Mars, Cee Lo Green, Fitz & The Tantrums)

For more information, please visit: kevinmendes.com.

Time-Keepers-Cover.jpg
 
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Hey!

I'm searching for a new drum challenge.
Rick Lathams Advanced Funk Studies was great!

Does anyone have ideas on what books would be nice for me to play?
I'm having a hard time finding a book with at least the same 'difficulty'.

Thanks in advance!
 
NAME: Drum School "Taking It To The Next Level"

STAR RATING: *****

WORDED RATING: Drum School comes with a Book, 2 DvD's & 1 Cd. Every audio & visual lesson is recorded & filmed in 3 separate levels with a metronome from beginner to extreme advanced level players.

TARGET AUDIENCE: This 4 piece "Drum School" catalog's title alone is self explanatory and lives up to its name. "Drum School" portrays itself academically and describes the content by portraying this product as nothing but an educational learning tool for all levels.

PUBLISHED BY: Drum School Products LLC - Lee Mangano (pres /ceo)


DESCRIPTION: Lee Mangano is not only the main drum instructor performing on the DvD's, he is also the producer and creator of Drum School. This great drum tutorial has filmed the experience & knowledge from 6 other professional drummers that have toured internationally, and have a combined 50,000,000 records, tapes and major movie soundtracks sold throughout the world. Drum School wanted to cover as many styles of drums & percussion as possible on both of the 60:00 dvd's.

Drum School Teachers :
Lee Mangano - "NRG" TF:TM - Transformers The Movie
Gary Moffatt - "38 Special"
Sean Shannon - "Molly Hatchet" - "Pat Travers" band
Joe Pet - "Joe Perry Project"
Jackie Santos - "John Cafferty & Beaver Brown" band - Berklee Music drum professor
Hirsh Gardner - "New England" - producer

DRUM SCHOOL
DRUM-SCHOOL.USA

INNER CITY RHYTHM DRUMMERS
Inner City Rhythm Drum Program

NRG TRANSFORMERS CLUB

NRG TRANSFORMERS CLUB


 
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Hello everyone,

Has anyone used this book?

4-Way Coordination: A Method Book for the Development of Complete Independence on the Drum Set
http://amazon.co.uk/dp/0769233708

I would appreciate any thoughts on how good it is for beginners/intermediate players.

Many thanks.
 
Hello everyone,

Has anyone used this book?

4-Way Coordination: A Method Book for the Development of Complete Independence on the Drum Set
http://amazon.co.uk/dp/0769233708

I would appreciate any thoughts on how good it is for beginners/intermediate players.

Many thanks.

I bought this book a while back and started working through the exercises. After a few days, I stopped and moved onto other exercises. Don't get me wrong, it is a classic book. Terry Bozzio says he worked through this book. However, I feel the book is rather 'dry'. I found plenty of other ways/books to work on independence, that were also a lot more engaging. If you are a beginner/intermediate, I'm sure you will start to look elsewhere just like I did.
 
. I found plenty of other ways/books to work on independence, that were also a lot more engaging. If you are a beginner/intermediate, I'm sure you will start to look elsewhere just like I did.

Thanks for the advice. So what other book(s) wold you recommend to work on independence?
 
Thanks for the advice. So what other book(s) wold you recommend to work on independence?

Just at the top of my head: The New Breed which also touches on timing, groove and reading all at the same time. I would strongly recommend this over everything else, because you're working on several things at the same time.

There are several exercises that can be applied to the Syncopation book, just do a search on the forum.

Get into Latin drumming even if you don't play Latin. Excellent coordination practice in a musical setting.
 
TITLE: Morgan Ågren's Conundrum: A Percussive Misadventure

AUTHOR: Carl King

RATING: 3/5

PLAYING TIME: 2 hours

COMMENTS:
This more a documentary on a person than it is a performance DVD.

I love Morgan Agren but I found myself quite frustrated at the producer (Carl King), because he doesn't seem to understand that people buy a dvd about a drummer because they want to watch him drum.

Every performance played second fiddle to an interviewee talking. E.g There was footage of morgan doing a performance at some sort of clinic and instead of just letting us watch, we had the volume cut down and some guy talking about what Morgan was doing in the clinic. It's like the person who edited the movie doesn't think we would find the performance entertaining enough? And there was a jam with Tony Abbassi and some other great bass player and instead of seeing that jam, we have the same guys standing around in a kitchen talking about Swedish clothing or something.

There were plenty of wasteful scenes like some guys store where he keeps empty air tanks that were supposedly for Morgan to play on (which we never saw). I felt that this DVD was going to be like this before I bought it and I tried to find some reviews that confirmed my suspicions but there weren't, so here is one. It's not the type of movie that you'll come back to because you want to absorb more drumming, once you see it, you've seen it.

On the plus side, it was still an okay watch and there were some very honest insights on being a drummer, the music scene, maybe a little bit pessimistic but it was good to see who Morgan is as a person and I am happy to support him.

And because this dvd didn't give me what I really wanted, it made me more curious about his playing and I'm probably going to go and get the Mats/Morgan cd and study him a bit more.
 
I recently went through a phase of purposely taking a MAJOR set backwards. We all get so caught up in trying to play really "advanced" stuff (odd time signatures, left foot clave, etc.), that we take things that we think we know for granted.

So I spent the better part of a year working with Jojo Mayer's "Secret Weapons..." DVD (the first disc), EVERY DAY. I've been drumming for 22 years. I know the Gladstone and Moeller techniques. But sitting there and watching Jojo break it down into it's smallest parts and doing it along with him at agonizingly slow tempos made a MASSIVE difference in my playing. The "advanced" stuff improved just by working on the basics. I highly recommend it.

I don't know what the rating system is here, but I give it a 5/5, 10/10, 5 stars, two thumbs up, whatever it is.
 
the idea is that we professionally review the dvds or videos in our collections. like on Amazon.com. So please use the following headings and rating system.

j
HEADING: DRUM SCHOOL
NAME: Taking It To The Next Level

WORDED RATING:
DRUM SCHOOL consists of 6 professional drummers of all styles combining their experience & technique to share with the student. DRUM SCHOOL's # 1 priority is to offer every student learning tools in all media formats produced with quality & information viable to the music educational world. Every Lesson is recorded in 3 separate levels from beginner to extreme advanced.

PUBLISHED BY: DRUM SCHOOL products

DRUM SCHOOL website: http://drumschoolproducts.com

star rating system:

# # # # # #
 
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Lee, your above reviews aren't exactly impartial.

I agree. These leave a bad taste in my mouth. I don't think this thread is intended for publishers or anyone associated with the project to hawk their wares. I actually think Lee should delete these.
 
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I think having the drummers themselves submitting reviews of their own tutorials isn't a bad thing in itself. One can still be as objective as possible. But applying that 5-star rating to one's own material is rather pointless - this should be left to the users.
 
TITLE: The Level System

AUTHOR: Jeffrey W Johnston

RATING: 4/5

PLAYING TIME: Book

COMMENTS:

This book deals specifically with stick heights and how they relate to certain rudiments and grooves.

Jeff does a great job explaining the subject and each element in the book clearly.
All the notation is clear and nothing gets too cluttered or feels unnecessary.

More of a reference book than a specific exercise book it would work great along side Master Studies, Stick Control and Accents and Rebounds.

Great job Jeff!
 
NAME:
The Commandments of the Half-Time Shuffle by Zoro (book only)
STAR RATING:
####
WORDED RATING:
A great instructional book for any one interested in mastering the half-time shuffle and applicable to all triplet based rhythms
TARGET AUDIENCE:
Anyone but most appropriate for intermediate drummers or more advanced drummers unfamiliar with this groove.
PUBLISHED BY
Alfred Music 96 pages
DESCRIPTION:
Here is what you get
History of the groove examples and transcriptions
Loads of technical exercises covering every permutation of snare hi hat and kick

Why it's great? If you practice it correctly your freedom in this lovely groove is assured. More than just covering Fool in the Rain or Rossana or Babalon Sisters you get very comfortable with this groove so that it isn't just a prescribed 2 or 4 bar groove, but more like you gain the vocabulary and independence to "play whatever you feel" quite naturally. It is well organized and written. It applicable way beyond this shuffle. I am finding it one of my all time favs and encourage anyone interested to give it a real try. I am a third of the way through and I am amazed at I can talk out loud and improvise in the groove. Three months ago I couldn't play Rossana even at a slow bpm without locking up.
 
TITLE: The Level System

AUTHOR: Jeffrey W Johnston

RATING: 4/5

PLAYING TIME: Book

COMMENTS:

This book deals specifically with stick heights and how they relate to certain rudiments and grooves.

Jeff does a great job explaining the subject and each element in the book clearly.
All the notation is clear and nothing gets too cluttered or feels unnecessary.

More of a reference book than a specific exercise book it would work great along side Master Studies, Stick Control and Accents and Rebounds.

Great job Jeff!

Dave,

I just noticed your review now. I'm glad to see that you are enjoying the book!

Thanks again,

Jeff
 
I bought this book a while back and started working through the exercises. After a few days, I stopped and moved onto other exercises. Don't get me wrong, it is a classic book. Terry Bozzio says he worked through this book. However, I feel the book is rather 'dry'. I found plenty of other ways/books to work on independence, that were also a lot more engaging. If you are a beginner/intermediate, I'm sure you will start to look elsewhere just like I did.

I just started this book.
What do you recommend?
 
Hey I am thinking about getting JoJo Mayer's Secret Weapons for the Modern Drummer DVD Foot Technique and his first DVD and Benny Greb's Language of Drumming DVD. Have you guys had success with these?
 
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