Billy Ward here!

Kenny Werner wrote a book called "Effortless mastery - discovering the musician within" ... I got hip to this only recently - it's pretty darned good.

I just picked up a copy of this from my local library -- I wasn't really looking for it, I just took it from the shelf randomly. Haven't had a chance to look into it yet, since I'm still wading through Miles Davis' autobiography. I guess I'd better get to it ASAP... :)

Your DVD has had a huge influence on my approach to drumming and music in general. Thanks a bunch, Billy!
 
HEy Wave and Lost - Thanks! Means a lot to me! I will be releasing another DVD maybe as early as MArch...so stay tuned... I hope it is accepted half as much as the first!
 
HEy Wave and Lost - Thanks! Means a lot to me! I will be releasing another DVD maybe as early as MArch...so stay tuned... I hope it is accepted half as much as the first!

Billy,

I purchased your video "Big Time." I really dig the analogy and philosophy of the clock gears, very effective for me. I also enjoy the angle of a visual artist with music. I must say though, the biggest learning tool for me was/is watching you and Andy just grooving around. So much that I purchased a Firepod to be able to lay my own improv bass lines down, loop them, and play with different approaches. I certainly hope there is more of this kind of stuff on the new video.

Thanks for ehjumuhcating me,

Brian
 
Thanks Parser -

The next one i very unike Big Time. It is a more outward approach to some fundamental jazz concepts - including relevant rudiments and examples. it's a broad approach aimed to get drummers who don't "get" jazz" into jazz - or jazzy-ness. I hope it helps alot of folks out! We are hoping to have it available in March so stay tuned...
 
Thanks Parser -

The next one i very unike Big Time. It is a more outward approach to some fundamental jazz concepts - including relevant rudiments and examples. it's a broad approach aimed to get drummers who don't "get" jazz" into jazz - or jazzy-ness. I hope it helps alot of folks out! We are hoping to have it available in March so stay tuned...

Fantastic! I also read your article in Modern Drummer and thought that is was great. I have had the same talk with many band members and drummers alike, as I flat out told a drummer that he had to be ahead of the game if he was ever going to get anywhere! When the record deal did come, he was the odd man out and almost cost his band the record deal with his bad attitude. Jeff Porcarro used to replace bands' drummers all of the time.



Mike

http://www.mikemccraw.com
http://www.dominoretroplate.com


http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=drummermikemccraw
 
hi billy

i'm asking all the pros this question. i think the answers could be very instructive to many of us.
let's say there was a totally new drum rudiment that was suddenly discovered and was so totally applicable that any drummer worth their salt would quickly try to learn it, master it and use it in recordings and gigs. this hypothetical new rudiment is quite hard to play and totally unrelated to any other rudiment. it is so good that you know that the next time you sit in on a session the writer is probably going to ask you to use it somewhere in their song.
my question is: starting from scratch what would be your way of learning it?

thanks
j
 
interesting question Nutha - as in all things that are difficult, I would begin slowly and work it until it feels great - then slowly speed it up. I would also mentally practice it when away from the kit - listen to it's sound in my mind's ear.
that's it!
anybody can do it!!!!! :D
 
thanks billy.

let's say that a pupil of yours was learning a totally new rudiment...say the flamacue. you had in a lesson showed them how it is done and by the end of the lesson you were satisfied that they understood the pattern but a week later they came back and told you they were having problems organising their practice. what practical advice would you give them in terms of setting up a schedule and/or breaking in the new rudiment. what in your experience has been the best way to organise practice? how long to play the exercise at a given tempo, how often etc?

thanks
j
 
Hey Nutha -

I don't have any students that come weekly. Or even yearly! There are, in fact, only one or two people who have had more than one lesson with me...ever.

I can't honestly answer a fictitious kind of question such as yours. I have no game plan. I would llike to think that I would know what to say to crack the nut (so to speak) with your fictitious student - but maybe not. I teach maybe two or three private lessons per year. That is all my schedule allows. So I am not the guy to offer advice on a teaching "program". I deal with each student instinctively and hopefully am able to help them. I love teaching - I love helping out! this is why I make the DVDs and participate as much as I can - trying to reach as many as possible. sorry I can't be more of a help.

Elvin Jones once told me that practicing more than an hour a day is a waste of time. There are many perspectives on practice. i think one should practice technically - and THEN have some fun on the drums.. and THEN try to push the envelope musically a bit and tape what is going on.
then repeat the next day.
Meanwhile - listen to music and learn. follow your heart.
 
still a great answer. wish i was one of the two.

and on what elvin said. i have found that if i keep up a schedule of 5 hours a day i burn out after a few weeks. so it does make sense. i guess it is helpful to separate technical excellent practice from applicable fun practice. one hour of technical practice at a high degree of performance a day sounds right. the fun stuff (creatively applying something already covered melodically over the kit or jamming to discs or free soloing) can be done for hours and very often i get sad when i see that its time to make supper and get off the kit. same thing at gigs really. we're supposed to do two sets of 45 mins at most of our gigs but we try as often as possible to get away with 2 hours - some places just let us play as much as we like. they all pay the same but for me the money i get paid is for the shlep of travelling, setting up and affording the gear...the actuall playing i would do for free (and have way back in the past even paid for that priviledge).

j
 
hi billy

sorry to load you up with questions but here's another one...

in the August 1992 issue of modern drummer there was a great and useful article titled: THE 25 GREATEST DRUM RECORDS. because of it i bought steely dan's AJA in a time when i was almost exclusively addicted to AC/DC.
they wrote this article by researching across the industry but in particular they asked some of the top guys for their top ten selections. i'm hoping to do a similar thing here on DW and post the reults in a separate thread eventually.
So if you would be so kind please give us a list of your own top ten (perhaps your current top 10) records/albums. it would be helpful if you identified your favourite out of those and dropped in a line why it is so...but this is not totally necessary. think of it like if you were going to be locked in a remote log cabin for a whole winter, which 10 albums would you take, if 10 were all you could take?

thanks
j
 
Hi Nutha,

log cabin records are different choices than what I might think are important records for a drummer to get into. Some of my log cabin records may have NO drumming! :D

Are you sure you want log cabin records?.. or top ten recommended records for drummers?
 
Re: Billy ward on Constantinoples?

Awsome video. Insane grooving. I didnt really like the sound of his ride that much but everything else sounded OK to me.
 
Re: Billy ward on Constantinoples?

Great video. I have the DVD. It says on YouTube that it was taken from Drummerworld, so I have to ask Bernhard why he edited it the way he did, especially in the beginning where he has the video play the opening fill twice.
 
Re: Billy ward on Constantinoples?

Yeah, a nice video...from Drummerworld! ;-)
Billy is really an outstanding drummer and from what I`ve heard and read also a great person. He had fun...so nice!

PS: Was he playing on a K Custom High Definition Ride in that video???

Karl
 
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