Drum Instruction DVD & Book Reviews

NAME:
Shed Sessionz Vol. 1

STAR RATING:
# # #

WORDED RATING:
THIS IS NOT A INSTRUCTIONAL DVD. Its just alot of the top gospel drummers jamming away. Probably can take some fills and stuff.

TARGETED AUDIENCE:
Anyone that wants to watch a bunch of people jam away. Especially gospel drummers so you can pick up some stuff.

PUBLISHED BY:
Gospel Chops

DESCRIPTION:
Gospel drummers Jeremy Haynes, Joey Oscar, Tony Royster Jr., Thomas Pridgen, Eric Moore II, and more take it out in a jamming session. With one piano player and one bass four drummers at a time take it out in a session. This dvd has 5 sessions.First one just has the young kids take it out. The rest is just mixed gospel drummers. I enjoyed watching it. I got some fills and some facial exspressions. LOL.
Not good if u want it for a INSTRUCTIONAL DVD.... Good if you want a show off dvd. or just enjoying other good drummers play.
 
regarding Steve Smiths 'history of a US BEAT' DVD, i kinda liked it!

he really goes into all the different styles up until about the fusion era, and it's an interesting demonstration, he definately knows his stuff,,,

the thing that really annoyed me about Steve Smiths DVD is that he explains styles up until 70's-80's fusion, and then he stops and says "sit back, relax and watch my band play fusion" - its like DUH HELLO STEVE!! what about all the music from the 70's to 2006?! The development of modern music didn't just stop at fusion dude!,,,

ohwell no ones perfeft, like i said its still a cool DVD and the technique section is real cool
Nina xxx
 
yes Marcos DVD is AWESOME, that guy is a freak. its more a 'watch me play' kinda thing, but he's definately the kind of player well suited to that scenario. he have phenominal chops, and inderpendence, but the thing I like about him is he's also very musical (dynamically) and I find I can watch him for a lon time, whereas other "choppy" guys tend to bore me a bit.

also his kit and the studio looks cool and sounds great.

Nina xx
 
Re: DRUM INSTRUCTION DVD REVIEWS

aahznightsky said:
I have a question ... does greg actually explain all the different techniques and ideas he uses in each song in depth? Like if he does some perplexing, cool fill in a song, does he break it down stroke by stroke?

Yeah he does breakdown alot of his licks in each song....My favorites are his explanations of the Tony Williams flam and he does this ultra-sychopated funk groove that he got from Morris Day and the Time that I still can't do...

My only gripe is that the video is more of a promotion of his CD than really covering styles - personally I liked his old DCI video better but this is still a good product....
 
Heres a couple of recomendations I have from my collection of about 35 dvd and videos...

Accelerate Your Drumming by Larry Finn
To me this is a very underrated dvd...It covers advanced rock, funk and latin grooves and gives some nice ideas for fills...I would recommend it for intermediate to semi-advanced players or someone like me who took some off and wanted a refresher course...

Its kinda of in the Tommy Igoe mold except a little better to me as I got bored with Igoe's simplicity...however if you got some chops going already the Igoe play-along book is really cool - you get to practice to many styles and work on your weaknesses...

Shed Some Light by Steve Holmes
Another underrated durmmer who clones himself out of the Weckl and Vinnie mold...I like this video alot just for ideas in watching him solo...He also demonstartes a real cool Tony Williams type flam lick that I like working on and phrasing in fives ala Steve Smith....If you can find it its worth buying...

Sticking Time, Linear Time, Rhythm and Meter by Gary Chaffee
Hard to find video that explains Gary's concepts from his patterns series books...Explains how to approach timekeeping in a linear approach and paradiddle variation type sticking feels...A good teaser but would be better if you have his books....I wish there was some band performances...

Brazilian & Afro-Cuban Drumset by Maria Martinez
A basic 2 dvd set mostly for someone just getting into latin grooves...I got it because I really only played samba and I wanted a breakdown of the basic grooves, terminology, and understanding the clave...Her playing is very simplistic so don't expect El Negro licks....however it is a good starting point for someone who wants to diversify their playing...

Theres a few as I tried to breakdown some that have not been discussed....I have alot more -some good and some bad so maybe I'll post some later...
 
NAME:
Alfreds Max Drumset (dvd and book set)
STAR RATING:
# # # # #
WORDED RATING:
Goes from the basics to advanced; intended for your daily practice sessions
TARGET AUDIENCE:
beginners - intermediate
PUBLISHED BY:
Alfred Publishing Co.
DESCRIPTION:
This guy is very clear when he explains things. He starts off with the basics like reading music and basic rock/jazz/blues beats and fills. He has some good practice excercises like "embellishing the left hand" and stuff they are helpful too. He has full songs in the book that you can play along with the dvd. These are very similiar to lessons. When i went up to tril music to buy a book or dvd or something the guy recommended that and said that "covers just about everything we teach here". He must of been honest because this dvd helped me. I have certain excercises that I include in my warmup now from that book. I recommend this to all beginners and intermediate players.
 
moore6537 said:
Getting Started on Drums, Featuring Tommy Igoe

The above sounds similar to Dave Weckl's: Back to Basics, which I own now and appreciated very much. If anyone has seen both, would you recommend purchasing "Getting started on Drums" AND "Back to Basics?" Is there very much overlap in content?

Yeah, they're pretty similar. Both cover basic beats and techniques. Different teaching styles, but if you learn the info from one, you probably wouldn't get too much from the other.
 
Name:
The One Handed Drum Roll
Star Rating:
# # # #
Worded Rating
Well put together, instructive, but nothing you can't find elsewhere.
Target Audience:
Those looking for something new for drumming.
Published by:
Railroad Media
Description:
This video is very nice, although there are quite a few flaws in it. It starts you right off withhim explaining how to hold the drumsticks and how to position yourself in relation to the pad. He then spends a whole 1 minute teaching how to do the one handed drum roll. This was not enough, I've been at it and still can't quite get it as well as he can. He should have spent more time teaching and developing the one handed drum roll with you. Instead he (by the way when i say he i mean Jared Falk) goes right into warmups, quite fast too. He teaches well though. Buy this if you are ready to work. Also you can find the technique at drummerworld's drum clinic link, it is the same thing. It has helped me though.
 
Hey does anyone know if Mike Portnoys Liquid Tension Experiment DVD is worth buying? Does anyone have this dvd? Did you learn a lot from it? thanks a lot.

Wes
 
Last edited:
Backwards Marathon said:
Hey does anyone know if Mike Portnoys Liquid Dream Theater DVD is worth buying? Does anyone have this dvd? Did you learn a lot from it? thanks a lot.

Wes

Yeah theres a lot of cool fills and ideas in it. CD1 is all about LTE which i wasnt into as much at Dream Theater...or check out his other DVD
 
Name:
Progressive Drum Concepts -Mike Portnoy (1995)
Star Rating:
# # # #
Worded Rating
Informative-well presented-clear and concise
Target Audience:
mostly for beginner to intermediate rock drummers
Published by:
Hudson Music(??)
Description:
This DVD is split into 2 main parts-double Bass Technique & Time Signature Explanation and application. Despite looking hungover as hell..Mike does a great job presenting in a friendly way which is fun and easy to understand. Firstly he explains his double bass technique in grooves (triplet to 8th notes etc) then in fills (demonstrates some great hand foot combo fills).
The DVD then goes into Time Signature explanation in a basic clear way without notation and goes on to show subdividing compound time signatures, then shows examples of time signature changes from their early albums with John Myung and Derek Sheridian.

Well worth a look
 
Im looking for a good Latin book thats starts from beginner grooves/independance to advanced grooves and independance. I know theres probably a book in this thread somewhere, but I really dont want to search through 6 pages or more to find it. Thanks in advance.
 
TomasHakkesBrain said:
Yeah theres a lot of cool fills and ideas in it. CD1 is all about LTE which i wasnt into as much at Dream Theater...or check out his other DVD
yeah thanks i actually downloaded the movie and downloaded the book that comes with it and it has all the fills like the opening to Paradigm Shift.
 
A Funky Primer

Name:
A Funky Primer
Star Rating:
# # # # #
Worded Rating
This book is great, teacher recommended and I got it its great teaches all types of rock beats, excercises, warm ups, techniques ect.
Target Audience:
Beginners, Intermediate, Advanced. All.
Published by:
Alfred
Description: Contains various warm ups, sticking exercises, many types of rock beats and some jazz, techniques to loosen up and be able to play beats left handed and right, its got double bass stuff too... great book. I recommend
 
Have any of you Bros here tried the below Books in drumming? and Is it Good? Please Advice

( 1 ) Beyond The BackBeat (from Rock & Funk to Jazz & Latin...by Larry Finn, Berklee Press

The exercises in this book teach us how to incorporate Mambo, Swing, Latin, Jazz Bossa Nova and other Styles into our ROCK & FUNK beats with ultimate goal to expand our range and add new influence into our style of playing...and comes with CD


( 1 ) Rudimental Warm-Ups (skill-Strengthening Exercises For All Drummers) by Maria Martinez

This is a Book and CD package that provide Drum exercises and variations based on the 40 Contemporary Drum Rudiments....It features both demonstration and play-along track.
 
Re: DRUM INSTRUCTION DVD REVIEWS

Stu_Strib said:
Steve Smith's video is more of a documentary than an instructional dvd. He explains a lot of stuff, but there are no excercizes or play alongs or anything like that. I own it simply to watch one of the three best drummers alive play the kit. I also like Vital Information a lot, so you get to see Frank and Baron and the guys a bit too.

I would love to know how he gets that snare sound "rim shot"
I am a newbie to the drumming world.

Rick

[email protected]
 
To produce a 'rim shot' sound, you need to catch the rim and the snare together.

Experiment an a snare drum, you'll find it pretty quickly.
 
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