Books you love...

[Anthony Amodeo]

Im looking for everyones top 5 or so drum books...ones you recommend highly and why

aside from the obvious staples what books do you guys love?

my book selection is quite extensive but Im always looking for more books to put into my library

even if it takes me years to get to it, I like to have it because I'll eventually get to it

I'm a bit of an information addict and love different drummers perspectives

rattle 'em off ladies and gentlemen

[Chunky - Hellraizer]

I'm ashamed to say I don't really have many books. I have plenty of sheets and teasees from magazines but no real good books.
Got one big book free of my old tutor at college full of jazz independance excersises and that was real good stuff.

Could you suggest a few of your favs for me gvdadrummasum, please?

[Anthony Amodeo]

Originally Posted by Chunky - Hellraizer

I'm ashamed to say I don't really have many books. I have plenty of sheets and teasees from magazines but no real good books.
Got one big book free of my old tutor at college full of jazz independance excersises and that was real good stuff.

Could you suggest a few of your favs for me gvdadrummasum, please?

absolutely Hell

some of my absolute favorites

Mastering The Tables of Time by David Stanoch
-this books has an extremely unique approach based on the table of time.
its full of seemingly endless possibilities and is one of those books that allows you to amaze yourself with your own playing the very day you open it

Linear Time Playing by Gary Chaffee
- this book is amazing, so many of the players I love hold this book dear to their heart.
guys like David Elitch, Eric Moore, Aaron Spears, Mike Johnston, Thomas Pridgen all say they took tons from this book.
all those gospel cats who steal Vinnie licks all have roots in this book....its amazing

Snare Drum Technique , essential exercises for daily practice by Pablo Rieppi
-this book is one of those staples like Stick Control, Syncopation, and Master Studies.
its extensive polyrhythm exercises starting on pg. 22 are unbelievable and so much fun to apply to the kit

Hands, Drums, and Grooves by Pat Petrillo
-this book goes into rudiments in a way I had never seen before I opened it.
Pat presents a number of solos written in his own short hand that are absolutely great for getting comfortable with combining rudiments seamlessly and musically.
also has great groove ideas and fill ideas that you can expand on all you want

The Art of Bop Drumming by John Riley
-what can I say about this book.
just get it and you will not be sorry...even if you have no interest in becoming a jazz drummer this book will provide you with independence and touch that all drummers desire

The Language of Drumming by Benny Greb
-another book that needs no explanation.
his binary and ternary systems and their application to the kit are fantastic as are his exercises on interpreting groupings of 5,7, and 9

Polyrhythms for drumset by Peter Magadini
-it is exactly what it says
and challenging at that

Ill also add any book by Gavin Harrison is going to be awesome.

also the staples I mentioned earlier
Stick Control by George Stone
Syncopation by Ted Reed
Master Studies by Joe Morello

Ill also add The Drummers Complete Vocabulary as taught by Alan Dawson


those are some of my favorites

[Chunky - Hellraizer]

Originally Posted by Gvdadrummasum

absolutely Hell

some of my absolute favorites

Mastering The Tables of Time by David Stanoch
-this books has an extremely unique approach based on the table of time.
its full of seemingly endless possibilities and is one of those books that allows you to amaze yourself with your own playing the very day you open it

Linear Time Playing by Gary Chaffee
- this book is amazing, so many of the players I love hold this book dear to their heart.
guys like David Elitch, Eric Moore, Aaron Spears, Mike Johnston, Thomas Pridgen all say they took tons from this book.
all those gospel cats who steal Vinnie licks all have roots in this book....its amazing

Snare Drum Technique , essential exercises for daily practice by Pablo Rieppi
-this book is one of those staples like Stick Control, Syncopation, and Master Studies.
its extensive polyrhythm exercises starting on pg. 22 are unbelievable and so much fun to apply to the kit

Hands, Drums, and Grooves by Pat Petrillo
-this book goes into rudiments in a way I had never seen before I opened it.
Pat presents a number of solos written in his own short hand that are absolutely great for getting comfortable with combining rudiments seamlessly and musically.
also has great groove ideas and fill ideas that you can expand on all you want

The Art of Bop Drumming by John Riley
-what can I say about this book.
just get it and you will not be sorry...even if you have no interest in becoming a jazz drummer this book will provide you with independence and touch that all drummers desire

The Language of Drumming by Benny Greb
-another book that needs no explanation.
his binary and ternary systems and their application to the kit are fantastic as are his exercises on interpreting groupings of 5,7, and 9

Polyrhythms for drumset by Peter Magadini
-it is exactly what it says
and challenging at that

Ill also add any book by Gavin Harrison is going to be awesome.

also the staples I mentioned earlier
Stick Control by George Stone
Syncopation by Ted Reed
Master Studies by Joe Morello

Ill also add The Drummers Complete Vocabulary as taught by Alan Dawson


those are some of my favorites

Thanks! Sounds like I'm going to be busy! I particularly like the sound of the linear beats one. Gospel chops never fail to amaze me!

And that bop one, I think I could do with improving my lower range feel and 'touch' groove. Thank you!

[Anthony Amodeo]

Originally Posted by Chunky - Hellraizer

Thanks! Sounds like I'm going to be busy! I particularly like the sound of the linear beats one. Gospel chops never fail to amaze me!

And that bop one, I think I could do with improving my lower range feel and 'touch' groove. Thank you!

you will love those brother

I promise you that

and Im telling you....dont sleep on that David Stanoch book

I think its one of the most important ....not only drum books....but music books ever written

it will change your thought process and your approach to playing....in a very good way

[Anthony Amodeo]

also if you like to read there is a book called The art of piano playing, a scientific approach by George Kochevitsky that I truly believe every musician should read.

his approach and theories are mind bending and mind blowing

definitely a must read if you want to open your mind as a musician and get a fresh outlook and a new approach to your instrument

highly recommended

[jeffwj]

Since the greats such as Stick Control, Syncopation, and Master Studies have been covered, I will add one that is great - but not as common:

Advanced Concepts by Kim Plainfield.
http://www.steveweissmusic.com/produ...set-methods-cd

It is separated into 3 sections. The first section is technique (hand technique, multiple drum dexterity, foot technique for bass drum and hi-hat). The second section is styles (from New Breed Style rock and funk to Syncopation style jazz. It also extensively addresses Latin and Brazilian styles. The third section is solo techniques (solo ideas using rudiments, polyrhythms, etc...)


And I have a book coming out soon through Alfred Publishing called The Level System. It is an in-depth look at the Level System as taught by Stone and Morello. It is almost done. They just emailed me the cover design - It looks great. I'm excited - It's been years in the making.

Jeff

[Ground Pounder]

From a "not-necessarily-drums-but-awesome-music-related-nonetheless" collection:

"Standing in the Shadows of Motown" - The Life and Music of Legendary Bassist James Jamerson
Awesome book with excellent insight into Jamerson and the Funk Brothers

"The Funkmasters: The Great James Brown Rhythm Sections"
Drumming galore in this one!

"The Daily Adventures of Mixerman"
An excellent, humorous read of the daily recounts of a studio engineer hired to work for a big-time producer on a debut mega-budget album of an unknown-up-and-coming band. Hilarious

"260 Drum Machine Patterns"
I admit that I used this a lot... a WHOLE lot... when I was playing bass. I would just pick a page, pick a pattern, program it in, and go. Worked awesome to develop a sense of finding a groove, a pocket, working on fills, filling spaces, etc. No doubt I'll use these when playing drums just to go back and explore ideas for drumset playing.

[jeffwj]

I've been starting to catalog my books. I use an online program to categorize and number them. I then use a label maker to so I can find it in my filing cabinets. So far, I have only cataloged about 80 books, with hundreds more in my collection to go. Here is a link to a small percentage of my book collection.

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/jeffwj

Jeff

[dmacc]

I've been through many, many books but here are the ones I really refer back to:

John Riley's Library

• Art of Bop Drumming - Why? Different approach to topic previously studied from other books. Reaffirms some of the stuff previously learned while introduced several new ideas.
• Beyond Bop Drumming - Why? See above
• The Jazz Drummer's Workshop: Advanced Concepts for Musical Development - Why? See above

Keith Copeland - Creative Coordination for the Performing Drummer Why? Covers many topics of interest - Straight ahead jazz styles & Latin - especially Cuban styles of Latin.

Other than that the main classics...

• Stick Control
• Master Studies
• Wilcoxon 150 Rudimental Solos
• Wilcoxon Advanced Swing Solos
• 4-Way Coordination (Dahlgren & Fine)
• Portraits in Rhythm (Cirone)
• New Breed

Once I'm done with John Riley's material, I'm going to get the Jim Blackley Library and that should be it for life since it seems as if that material will last me a 2-3 decades.

[Anthony Amodeo]

Originally Posted by jeffwj

I've been starting to catalog my books. I use an online program to categorize and number them. I then use a label maker to so I can find it in my filing cabinets. So far, I have only cataloged about 80 books, with hundreds more in my collection to go. Here is a link to a small percentage of my book collection.

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/jeffwj

Jeff

awesome collection.

there are a bunch in there I dont have that Im looking into getting

I noticed you have its about time by Fred Dinkins.....he was a teacher of mine

love Fred ...he was very inspiring ...he was who introduced me to Harvey Mason and Ricky Lawson ...two guys who completely changed my drumming philosophy


keep me posted on your book release...Im very interested

[Ami]

One book that has not been mentioned yet and that I really really enjoyed working through was Conversations in Clave by El Negro. Very challenging and musical.

:-)

[Anthony Amodeo]

Originally Posted by Ami

One book that has not been mentioned yet and that I really really enjoyed working through was Conversations in Clave by El Negro. Very challenging and musical.

:-)

it just got put on my list

thanks Ami

EDIT: just ordered it :)

[Ami]

Originally Posted by Gvdadrummasum

it just got put on my list

thanks Ami

EDIT: just ordered it :)

Awesome! I'm excited for you! Let us know what you think about it.
:-)

[Anthony Amodeo]

Originally Posted by Ami

Awesome! I'm excited for you! Let us know what you think about it.
:-)

absolutely

anything El Negro touches is sacred to me so Im excited about it

[Midnite Zephyr]

There's a PDF version of Dave Tough's Advanced Paradiddles.... somewhere buried in Drum Technique or one of those sub-forums on here.

My other book was already mentioned.

[Numberless]

I've worked with the first four chapters of Conversations in Clave, the book does a great job of introducing the elements of afro-cuban latin and getting the coordination side going, however I found that for getting the cascara to really swing, the book itself wasn't enough, like Horacio recommends, a good amount of time must be spent listening to the music itself. I spent a while listening to traditional cuban stuff with only drums and voices, it's really a fascinating world, so much stuff to learn, I've only just started to grasp the surface of latin drumming.

[Anthony Amodeo]

Originally Posted by Numberless

I've worked with the first four chapters of Conversations in Clave, the book does a great job of introducing the elements of afro-cuban latin and getting the coordination side going, however I found that for getting the cascara to really swing, the book itself wasn't enough, like Horacio recommends, a good amount of time must be spent listening to the music itself. I spent a while listening to traditional cuban stuff with only drums and voices, it's really a fascinating world, so much stuff to learn, I've only just started to grasp the surface of latin drumming.

while studying at MI in Los Angeles I was lucky enough to take a trip to Havana Cuba with Chuck Silvermans class

absolutely amazing!!!!!!!

talk about learning hands on to make cascara swing.....

I returned to the states a different person

[Swiss Matthias]

I'd like to add to the list:

-Groove Alchemy by Stanton Moore
-Rhythm & Meter Patterns by Gary Chaffee

...I have lots more at home :).


Gvdadrumma: How is Benny's book compared to the DVD? Is it useful if one
already has the DVD? Does it cover more topics or go deeper?

[Ami]

Originally Posted by Numberless

the book itself wasn't enough, like Horacio recommends, a good amount of time must be spent listening to the music itself.

So true, for any style of music really.

[Ami]

Originally Posted by Gvdadrummasum

while studying at MI in Los Angeles I was lucky enough to take a trip to Havana Cuba with Chuck Silvermans class

absolutely amazing!!!!!!!

talk about learning hands on to make cascara swing.....

I returned to the states a different person

That sounds really amazing! :-)

[Pollyanna]

My favourite book ...

[McNeil Pro Drumming]

Paul Delong's "Delong Way To Polyrhythmic Creativity" I personally studied with Paul for about a year and I jumped like 4 levels in that year. Paul has an incredibly vast knowledge of music and endless ideas to provide students as they work on their drum set skills. This book in particular if mastered will blow your phrasing ability off the charts while also providing you with a lot of interesting pattens for moving around the drum set. The book will have you playing stuff that is metrically wild but still very logical and musical sounding. In other words, it sounds crazy but all flows smoothly. The book doesn’t get carried away (as can any book based on the mathematical possibilities of rhythm). He keeps it contained so students don’t get lost in the almost endless possibilities and end up not learning anything. He'll have you playing stuff that sounds really complicated but most of the stuff is all based on sixteenths or triplets.

Tommy Igoe's "Groove Essentials" (1 and 2) Probably the best book out there that cuts through the garbage and just leaves you with some of the most important info you need to be a diverse musician and drummer (learn the basic grooves of a lot of different styles, play them along to the actual music they are associated with and get a bit of experience learning how to read basic form charts with stops and shots written in {some music reading experience is required}).

Gary Chaffee's "Linear Time Playing" One of the most revolutionary ways of groove playing on the drum set. Opens up a whole new way of creating and improvising grooves.

Tony Verderosa's "The Drummers Guide To Loop Based Music" and "The Techno Play Along" These books provide a really detailed break down of many of the styles of electronic music out there, helps you to identify a lot of them and also identify the grooves and stylistic elements that are associated with each. In todays music industy this type of music is becoming a part of many other styles of music. It is important to be able to identfy them when you come across them (as well as any other style of music from any other genre) so you know which "bag of tricks" to pull your grooves and fills from in order to play stylistically appropriately. These books contain plenty of recorded examples and "The Techno Play Along" includes play alongs in a bunch of different electronic styles (I think it comes with tracks that include the drums and tracks that don't have the drums on them too).

Lincolne Goines and Robby Ameen's "Afro Cuban Grooves for Drums and Bass Funkifying The Clave"

A lot of drummers get lost in all the traditional approaches to latin rhythms. Trying to play all the individual percussion parts on the drum set as one player is a great exercise and in some musical scenarios it is very necessary. Obviously if you want to be able to play those styles the best you can and as authentically as you can you need to learn those authentic percussion parts and learn how to apply them to the drum set properly. However, I think it's easy for students to get lost in all of this and get caught up in the almost endless "variations" and not realize that there are contemporary approaches to playing these styles that are unique to the drum set. This book shows you these contemporary approaches and provides play along tracks so that you can practice playing the grooves along to the actual musical styles they are associated with. It is great to be able to play these styles because in some situations you may be playing drum set in a group that includes a percussionist and you would be stepping on their part if you were to try to play the authentic percussion parts on the drum set. If nothing else, this book provides a method for players who come from a more North American rock/funk/jazz background to bridge into Cuban musical styles from a more contemporay drum set oriented approach before they delve into the tradition stuff (which you must eventually learn!).

Enjoy those books. I highly recommend them!

[dmacc]

Originally Posted by Pollyanna

My favourite book ...

This looks awesome! Might try to find me a copy someplace if that's remotely possible.

[Anthony Amodeo]

Originally Posted by Ami

Awesome! I'm excited for you! Let us know what you think about it.
:-)

only on pg 23 of the El Negro book and I love it

I worked pg 23 for the last couple hours and it felt great.....I really felt it absorbing and flowing

I was running 1 through 8 then back up 8 through 1 doing each line 4 X each

so much fun

thanks for the suggestion