Drum Instruction DVD & Book Reviews

Does anyone have Mike Mangini's Rhythm Knowledge 2 ?
I'd really like to know what kinds of exercises are in there..
 
Mike Portnoy- Progressive Drum Concepts

NAME:
Progressive Drum Concepts by Mike Portnoy

STAR RATING:
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WORDED RATING:
Great, Mike explains lots of things, hardly shows off although in some parts he has duets with a drum machine.

TARGET AUDIENCE:
Everyone.

PUBLISHED BY:
not sure

DESCRIPTION:
Mike starts the video off with a short drum solo, then explains his setup and his kit. Goes into beginning double bass techniques and double bass fills. He then goes through odd time signatures, explaining how they can be broken down (eg.9/4 to counting 5/4 and 4/4 like 12345 1234 instead of 123456789) , playing parts from dream theater songs explaining the time signatures and a polyrythym from a song. He then explains how he actually develops his drum parts instead of playing the same beat throughout each song and ends by playing to a dreamtheater song.

Sorry if it was a poor explaination.
 
Dave Weckl: Back to Basics

NAME:
Back to Basics

STAR RATING:
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WORDED RATING:
Lots of information.

TARGET AUDIENCE:
Begginers. Serves a good reminder about technique to intermediate and maybe professional drummers.

PUBLISHED BY:
DCI Music

DESCRIPTION:
Starts with a solo and playalong. He then goes into the basics of snare drumming explaining grips and how to practice traditional grip. He then teaches double strokes and buzz rolls and how to play buzz rolls in time. He switches to brushes and teaches brushing techniques and how you can apply the brushes to the kit. He then shows bass drum techniques(heel up, heel down), talks about seating positions and teaches how to do doubles on the bass pedal. He then goes into coordination, introduces books that help with independence. He also explains how his kit is set up and talks about drum heights. Talks about coordination and soloing then talks about tuning and stuff like that.
 
Im gonna review this one, cause I have mentioned it a few times now and no seems to have heard of it, so I think more people should cause it's a GEM.

NAME:

100 Tips For Drums, Mike Sturgis

STAR RATING:

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WORDED RATING:

100 Tips For Drums is not what it sounds like at all. It's a heck of a lot more than just 100 tips. The information in this book is vast, it covers more areas than any other drum book I have came across. In otherwords for people who aint got a lot of money to be spending on drum tuition materia, this is the one for you.

TARGET AUDIENCE:

It could easily be used by beginners, but I think the book is aimed drummers who have been playing by ear to a few rock songs who want to improve, but have no idea of how to do it. So really for drummers who have that fisrt big brick wall.

PUBLISHED BY:

Tuition, Sanctury Piblishing

DESCRIPTION:

Im just gonna list what it covers from the start of the book to when it ends.

Practicing, The Click, Health Issues, Grip, Set up, Technique (hand and feet..including moller and fingers), Rudiments, Time Playing (this is adressed through the use of ostinatoes and reading text, so it sorts out your independence to), Paradidle Time playing, Swing (jazz/comping/independece), Brushes (jazz), Shuffles, Halftime Shuffles, Jazz/funk Shuffles, Second Line, Odd Times, Latin, Afro-Cuban, Reading, Drumset Vocabulary (linear stickings, doubles stops, stuff like that), Ostinato Soloing.

Now for the rest,

Drums sounds, Head selection, Tuning Techniques, Cymbal Selection, Electionics. In the studio, how to mic a drum kit, effects etc. Playing live setting up, monitoring etc.

All this is pretty comprehensive to, e.g. when he goes into latin, its not just one samba groove, its lots of sambas, and you understand how it all works. Everything is clearly explained and thier is lots of inspiring qotations from famous drummers to keep your morale up, and their is a CD to go along with it to boot.
 
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NAME:
Savage rudimental workshop

STAR RATING:
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TARGET AUDIENCE:
this book is for american marching drum players, but it wicked so drumset players should have it as well. good for all levels from beginer to advanced.

PUBLISHED BY:
Alfred publishing co.

DESCRIPTION:
this is quite a hefty book with 160 pages 2 cd's and it cost £20 front cover discription "for beginer to advanced player, over 400 exercises, gain imediate stick control speed and efficency of motion, enhance your reading skills, 40 rudimental solos with cd acomanyment, 10 groove tracks in various styles, 2 bonous contest solos with cd acomanyment."

This book is really fun, and since i have got it my double have improved loads. it goes through all the 40 rudiemnts. each rudiment has 10-15 exercises on it then there is a peice of music revolving around that particular rudiment which you play along to on a track on the cd.

This maybe aimed at marching drum players but it makes practicing rudiments a lot more interesting, and gives you lots of ways of practicing them. i deffinatly recomend it. and every body need to practice those rudiments!

You can also practice all the exercises with you feet as well!
 
NAME:
Drum set warm-ups

STAR RATING:
# # # #

TARGET AUDIENCE:
Pretty much anyone who happens to play drums...


PUBLISHED BY:
Berklee Press

DESCRIPTION:

I love drum books. I bought this one without even being sure I'd be using it. Warm-Ups ? There is so much to learn, and I never feel I have enough time to practice... My idea of warming-up is just starting slowly. But a complete book of warm-ups drills ? The book stayed beside my drum kit for a few weeks before I decided to give those exercises a try.

Well, I love it.

It is divided into 34 lessons. Each of them is based on a theme, usually a sticking, or grouping combination. Each lesson has many exercises that will make you move around the set in every possible ways. None of the exercises are written in a musical perspective. However, I find plenty of new ideas while doing them, because some of them are so unusual. And each lesson (sadly) reveals a weakness of mine I often never suspected.

There is a subtitle : Essential exercices for improving technique. I think it is more appropriate. I never use it as a warm-up. And there a small comment from Ron Spagnardi as this book being the "stick control for the drum set". While this may be a bit of a reach, It is indeed written in a similar format, and I now think it is a very good book. Pretty inexpensive as well.
 
Does anybody have the dvd of benny greb called "vorschlag" ? Because I can't find anything on the internet about it..

Thanks,
 
Shane G said:
Do you have Rhythm Knowledge 1?


Looking for reviews of that book two, also Rhythm Knowledge 2 ofcourse.

If there's anyone who can post it here? thx.


Also considering Code of funk or any other Dave Garibaldi material.
Reviews anyone?
I'm just a bit afraid it will be waisted money cuz it will be way to difficult...
 
Beat Spector said:
Looking for reviews of that book two, also Rhythm Knowledge 2 ofcourse.

If there's anyone who can post it here? thx.
Well...RK one is the theory, and RK two is the exercises.

Rhythm Knowledge 2 is worth the price for the C&C exercise alone.

course...you get lots of other things too, like how to play every permutation against another, how to count & play odd subdivisions through 19 at fast tempos, and so on & so on.

They're pretty cool, but Mike's stuff takes time. Very conceptual, but well worth it. If you only can afford one or the other, get Vol. 2.
A friend of mine gave me his books, and I was skeptical at first, but after a few weeks I started noticing the difference.
 
Re: DRUM INSTRUCTION BOOK REVIEWS

Irv Cottler, I've Got You Under My Skin

STAR RATING

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TARGET AUDIENCE

Intermediate to Advanced

PUBLISHER

Alfred Publishing

DESCRIPTION

This is one of the few books that you can find that's a compilation of great drum charts for big band numbers. It's not so much an instructional book in that you'll find detailed explanations but you'll learn so much by listening to how a master of big band drumming sets up the horn figures. It will help inexperienced drummers to get an idea of how to properly prepare new sections, how to calm down the band, how to bring up the energy...
It's also an excellent book to go back to it once in a while to freshen up your ideas and change your own ways of orchestrating figures.

The songs are so relevant, every drummer should know them, and the band on the recording is fantastic. You can get the book for less than $20. Get it!

Here's a link to the book on Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/Ive-Got-Under...ef=sr_1_1/002-7956379-2693648?ie=UTF8&s=books
 
i can play straight rock and jazz but alot of the cymbal rhythms are difficult for me (in marco minneman ultimate play along) it is probably pretty far away for me, but all i want is a push in the right direction.
i was wondering if anyone here could suggest some books, or even exercises to help me get from straight rock to marco minneman's ultimate play along
 
I have recently bought "Advanced Funk Studies" by Rick Latham, the 25th anniversary DVD. It is very inspirational and It has a lot on rudimental application. I suggest getting the book for it too, to use as reference. It is for all skill levels.
Beginner to advanced.

It's a nicely done video, but falls short in that it is hard to learn from. What was left out is even though it says it includes the material from his two books, it doesn't include the text, so there you are watching him play pattern after pattern trying to figure out what he's doing. I would recommend just cut to the chase and buy his two books, which come with CDs and /or videos, and leave this one at the store. I had this pegged for my winter workout, now I'm back to square one. It's kind of like you buy the DVD, which tells you that you need to buy his book for it to be of use. Sure I can get something from this, but not the whole package.
 
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Review Educational Video: Wreckl's "Back to the Basics"

I was taking lessons for 3 years before I bought this video. This video confused me so I want to explain to others about what they will be getting for their money before they change their style of playing.

Dave Wreckl's "Back to the Basics"

Seemingly aimed at beginning players, a video of this type should exclude any personal bias on how to play and offer a wide spectrum of different techniques. Yet, this video does leave large gaps that I wish to discuss.

This video is separated into different sections. I will try to recall the some of the sections to explain away some of the larger gaps.

1. Hand control: Wreckl has great hand control. Many of his techniques are helpful. He teaches about the finger control offered by the French grip and traditional grip. However, I would inform the beginner that Wreckl neglects to inform about the German grip, the grip that I and many many other players prefer using (Buddy Rich for example).

2. Foot control: Wreckl shows you how to play the bass drum with heel up. Yet, there is another gap. He doesn't show you how to use the heel down technique, which is used, and preferred, by many drummers (including Buddy Rich). In my opinion I think that heel down is more important for beginners because it evenly distributes your weight between your butt and two feet. A beginning player needs to understand the concept of weight balance and thus, having one foot continually up isn't the best start (it is also exhausting). Also, heel down technique is known for offering more control and more balance.

3. Cymbal Placement: Wreckl teaches you how to play the cymbals and produce the cymbal's different array of sounds. Yet, there is no overhead camera on the cymbals and you can only see the drum set and cymbals on profile. Also, he chose a kit set up that confuses the issue because of its vast amount of cymbals. Simply, a beginner needs to know how to place ONE ride and ONE crash.

4. The solos: Wreckl is a masterful drummer who plays with a lot of feeling. I would recommend anyone interested in prog. rock to listen to his stint with Chick Corea. However, I believe that a key element for playing drums is tempo and, right after cymbal placement, when he says that he will play a "straight-ahead" beat , he goes into a complicated solo that is without tempo. And this isn't the only solo without tempo.

Overall, it isn't a bad video but I would not recommend it for beginners. Though seemingly a video comprised of sections for the beginner, the real highlight of this video is watching and listening to Dave Wreckl. However, for a beginner, I actually believe that this video confuses the most important issues: a steady tempo and the basics.
 
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