Table of contents for Issue 299 in Rhythm

Hi, Taylor here… Hope that you are all keeping safe and well out there. As I take over this issue of Rhythm and invite a bunch of my favourite drummers – including Matt Cameron, Phil Gould, Ty Segall, Rufus Taylor, Stewart Copeland, Stephen Perkins, Danny Goffey, Dean Butterworth and Roger Taylor – to join me, it’s funny to look back and think that I originally wanted to play guitar… I persevered with the strings for a while, but it just wasn’t happening, and it was my next-door neighbour in Laguna Beach, California – Kent Kleater, a musician himself – that suggested I try drums. He showed me how to do a simple rock beat – ‘one’, ‘two’, ‘three’, ‘four’ on the kick, hi-hats and snare – and as I sat…

1: VOX Telstar Maple Price: TBC The re-imagination of the classic kit from the ’60s has been reimagined once more for 2021 with maple shells this time for their warm tone and deep bass. The quirky oval bass drum offers different tones depending on where it’s struck. www.voxamps.com 2: Zildjian K Sweet Pack Price: £1,029 Zildjian’s versatile K Sweet Series cymbals are now available in a single, more affordable pack. This oversized configuration – comprising 15" hi-hats, 17" and 19" crashes and a medium-weight 21" ride – gives out a lower pitch and darker sound. www.zildjian.com 3: Mapex Chris Adler Signature Warbird Snare Price: £559 This cheeky 12"x51/2" signature drum features the striking Warbird artwork etched into the maple/walnut shell. SONIClear bearing edges give an increased tuning range, while the…

“Rufus has always been like my little brother – even though he is much taller than me now! – and I’m so proud that I’ve been able to play a part in his musical journey. I remember sitting him on my drum riser when he was about 12 – when the Foo Fighters headlined Reading for the first time in 2002 – and it was like we’d come full circle when we headlined again in 2012 and were able to invite Rufus to join us on stage to play drums on ‘Tie Your Mother Down’, while I took over vocals. “Like his dad, Roger Taylor from Queen, Rufus has a real presence on the drums – you know he’s there, and he’s doing so much more than just keeping time.…

“Like all my favourite drummers, Roger Taylor has a truly individual style, feel and sound,” Taylor says. “You only have to hear that hi-hat open up every time he hits the snare to know that it’s him. It’s all about that feel and that big drum sound, which was such an important part of Queen’s heaviness. Not only is he an incredibly versatile drummer, the fact that Roger is also a songwriter means that his fills are very musical – almost orchestral – and he makes every one of them count… “My first-ever concert was Queen, and somehow my parents managed to get me down to the front when Freddie was throwing out flowers. I will never forget watching Roger play ‘We Will Rock You’ and ‘We Are The Champions’.…

Beautiful Wounds is Phil Gould’s first solo release since Watertight in 2009. The album features contributions from Wally Badarou, who worked extensively with Level 42, bassist Yolanda Charles and players from all over the world. “It’s been pieced together over time,” says Gould. The album was recorded in multiple locations, from Chale Abbey Studios on the Isle of Wight to sessions in Los Angeles, Rome and London. Some of the ideas have been dusted off from the vaults: “There is a track called ‘The Fear Of Fear’ on the album, which is actually an idea dating back about 20 years,” says Gould. “I have a musical ecological approach in that nothing is wasted, so it might take 20 years for an idea to become relevant. There’s another track called ‘Truly…

SIMEON READ MARKETING AND PERCUSSION PRODUCT SPECIALIST, HEADSTOCK DISTRIBUTION What are the main differences between the Starclassic and Starclassic Performer lines? “The difference is very much the wood they are made from. Our all-maple Starclassic kits have been the main player in the market since bubinga became endangered in 2017. In 2019, we introduced the new Starclassic walnut/birch combination, and for 2021 the maple/birch has been added to the line-up, giving three distinctive sounds to choose from. The combination of woods in the new Starclassic Performer kit projects with the warmth of maple and the clarity of birch. Tones are clean, articulate and very well balanced.” The Caramel Aurora and Molten Blue Steel Burst are unique finishes. What’s the process in creating them? “To make Caramel Aurora and Molten Steel…

PRICE: Price: £349 (Pro Gig Pack); £109 (18" China) Zildjian’s entry-level ZBT range of cymbals have been a go-to for beginner and budget-conscientious drummers for the past two decades. This line has now been discontinued and replaced with the newly designed i series, which shares the same B8 bronze alloy. Whilst we are all aware of the meaning behind the ‘A’ and ‘K’ series names, what is the story behind the ‘i’ branding? Rather than being a name of one of the Zildjian family, ‘i’ takes its name from the Turkish word for inspiration: Ilham. Our review set is the Pro Gig Pack, which consists of a pair of 14" hi-hats, 20" ride and two crashes, coming in at 16" and 18". In addition, we were supplied an 18" China…

Comping Comping, derived from ‘complement’ or ‘accompaniment’, for drummers is phrasing on the snare and bass drum against the jazz ride and hi-hat pattern, and is how we frame, react to and embellish the melody of a song or soloist. EXAMPLE NOTES 1 Jazz ostinato in 3/4 time. 2 Quarter-note snare drum placements. 3 Off-beat eighth notes placements (swung). 4 Try all previous exercises with the bass drum on beat 1 as well. 5 Try all previous examples on the bass drum. 6 Melodic interplay. 7 An alternative ride cymbal/ hi-hat ostinato.…

Jane’s Addiction Track: ‘Trip Away’ Album: Jane’s Addiction, 1987 “Me and [Dave, guitarist] Navarro were so young, we wanted to have a lot of events in our parts, a lot of fireworks. Perry [Farrell, vocalist] and Eric [Avery, bass] were 10 years older than us – they were past that experience and wanted to tell stories. That’s this great marriage of what ‘Trip Away’ is. I’m so proud of the very first record being live – it was basically what you got out of a rehearsal straight onto the stage.” Jane’s Addiction Track: ‘Ted, Just Admit It’ Album: Nothing’s Shocking, 1988 “Nothing’s Shocking was this great live punk rock band that now had time to explore the studio and make that part of the process. I’ve got pictures of my…

2021 marks 10 years since the first Hit Like A Girl competition. Back at its 2011 inception, it was unclear whether a drum talent trawl for female players would get the recognition and respect from the global community that it deserved… The fact that we’re here celebrating its 10th anniversary speaks for itself. Alumni from a decade of HLAG include a plethora of inspired beatmakers from across the globe, such as Anika Nilles, De’Arcus Curry, Elise Trouw, Venzella Joy, Helen De La Rosa and Nandi Bushell, to name just a few. Emily Moon (Starbenders, pictured), an entrant in those early years of the competition, now finds herself on this year’s judging panel: “I thought the competition was such a cool way to hype female drummers up, so I ended up…

‘Spanish Castle Magic’ The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Axis: Bold As Love (1967) Drummer: Mitch Mitchell “I was 16 years old when I first heard this track – courtesy of my dorky friend at school who just happened to have great taste in music. Human beings are a bit like ducks, in that when a duckling cracks out of its shell the first warm being it sees is ‘mama’ – and, for us humans, whoever is the rock star du jour when we turn 16 becomes our ‘daddy’. For me, it was Jimi Hendrix and Mitch Mitchell… “The amazing thing about Mitch is that he was overshadowed by Jimi, but he really did give as good as he got… He was revolutionary, explosive, exciting, creative – everything that you…

‘MAKING A FIRE’ “With the gospel-type feel and wider groove on this track, I was able to sit right back in the space and have the time to really think about where my kick and snare were landing. This is great to play live!” ‘SHAME SHAME’ “We set up a really small kit in the stairwell for this one – a bit like Zeppelin’s concept on ‘When The Levee Breaks’, which was done at Headley Grange. Being sat in the middle of a giant hallway meant I needed to keep things simple – if I’d played like I was in Rush with that drum sound, you wouldn’t hear a thing. This one has a computer loop, and it’s a bit of an oddball track – but it’s kind of cool,…

PRICE: £229.99 American music tech giants Alesis have become a big name in the world of electronic drums. After introducing the Midiverb, one of the world’s first affordable studio-quality effects processors, Alesis ventured into drum machines in 1990 with the SR-16 – which is still available to this day. With affordability and quality at the heart of its operation, 1995 saw the introduction of the DM5 drum sound module, which was another bestseller. More than 25 years later, Alesis are still producing some of the most affordable and quality products, with the new Debut Kit being no exception to their neat lineup. Aimed at the young beginner drummer, the small size of the kit makes it suitable for around 5 to 10-year-olds who may not be big enough for a…

PRICE: £923.00 Released at the end of last year, Roland’s TD-07KV bridges the gap between the company’s entry-level TD-1 models and the mid-range TD-17KV. The compact setup features the brand-new TD-07 module, which boasts several features previously out of reach at this price point – making it a strong contender for first-time buyers or drummers looking to upgrade from an entry-level setup. The all-mesh eight-piece TD-07KV kit features an 8" dual-zone snare pad, three 6" single-zone toms and a 5" bass drum tower. Cymbals are all dual-zone and include a 10" hi-hat and 12" crash and ride pads – all of which are choke-able. For any uninitiated readers among you, this means that separate sounds can be triggered depending on where a pad is struck. Head or rim for the…

Hello everyone, and welcome to another ‘Getting Started’ lesson, although I must admit this one is a bit tricky and is as much a lesson in problem solving as it is achieving the end result! We are going to play four notes in the space of three, usually referred to as ‘4 over 3’, and I think a nice way to approach this is in 3/4 time. Ex 1 shows a bar of 3/4 swing with a bass drum on beat 1 and a snare drum on the ‘and’ of beat 2. In Ex 2, we play these notes on the snare drum – notice how the notes are evenly spaced. For the third and fourth bars, we will match two hands together and give an impression of playing two…

The ‘4 over 3’ polyrhythm can be a very effective way of developing coordination in a 16th-note rate. To generate the polyrhythm, we simply need to accent every three 16th notes in 3/4 – this could be thought of or visualised as four dotted eighth notes over three quarter notes. Its use as a means of developing coordination becomes apparent when you realise that these four notes land on the four possible single 16th-note placements relative to the quarter note – in order, the ‘1’, the ‘a’ the ‘&’ and the ‘e’. So the ability to play these on different limbs against a time pattern played in the right hand means you’ll address all of the possible single 16th-note placements in the space of three beats. In Ex 1, we…

Sometimes it can be tricky deciding exactly which samples to choose for a specific track. Should you go with a hand clap or a tambourine layered over your backbeat? The club kick or the 808 on the bass drum? In this issue’s lesson, we’ll be having our cake and eating it, too, by blending two samples together – all from within the sound module itself. This can be a particularly useful feature for creating samples on the fly, negating the need for computer software, which is commonly how we would create samples from scratch. Our hybrid setup for today consists of drum triggers for the kick, snare and a floor tom – all of which are running into the Roland TM-6 Pro. Despite this capability existing in other modules, it’s…

Video calling and live streaming have become essential skills in the past year, but while this has taken the form of Zoom chats with family and friends for most of us, those kind bods over at Tama used the technology for something far grander. Tama Talks launched on Instagram in the thick of the first lockdown last spring and has delivered a treasure trove of live videos – ranging from chats with A-list artists from the company’s packed roster to product demos and Q&As with the Product Manager for Tama distributor Headstock, Ian Aguado-Bush (shown). Ian explains that there was a serious reason for launching the series: “The idea came up straight away because everyone was at home, nothing was going on and the music industry had come to a…

Patafla-fla Our exploration of the various flam rudiments continues this issue with amusingly titled Patafla-fla. And like many rudiments, the name is onomatopoeic: ‘pata’ relating to two single strokes and the ‘fla-fla’ being two flams. With this in mind, you’d expect the basic figure to be written as single, single, flam, flam – however, it’s traditionally notated one note out of sync as is shown in Ex 1, while the figure that the name Patafla-fla actually implies is in fact seen in Ex 2. Exs 3 and 4 are the remaining two permutations, placing the flams either in the middle or at the beginning. Technically speaking, the Patafla-fla is all about being able to execute two hand-to-hand flams within single strokes, something that requires the development of quick reflexes. However,…

PRICE: From £12.49 Code Drum Heads is a Leicester, UK-based brand founded and run by James Potts and Embrace drummer Mike Heaton. The company’s latest addition comes in the form of the Signal Range: single-ply drumheads that Code says are one of its hardest wearing to date. Available in both Coated and Smooth White options, and in a wide variety of sizes (6" to 18" toms and snare, and 16" to 24" kick), for review we have 10", 12", 13" Signal Coated for the toms, plus a 14" for the snare and a 20" Signal Smooth for the kick. Let’s give them a test drive and see how they compare to the ‘Big Three’. Hands On In practice, these heads fail to disappoint. In no time at all we are…

Welcome to Beats Working, the part of the magazine aimed at helping drummers of all abilities to develop and progress. Kicking things off this issue, Colin and Erik and I are all looking at a variety of rhythmic and independence ideas in 3/4 time in ‘Getting Started’, ‘Creative Concepts’ and ‘Technical Difficulties’, respectively. Next in ‘Four-Piece-Fills’, Jason Bowld explores some two-way triplet ideas, while in ‘Percussion Toolbox’ all-round percussion guru Pete Lockett begins his exploration of playing the bongos with some essential rhythms and techniques. Finally, Mike Sturgis continues his look at the more cerebral aspects of making music, here exploring the sometimes conflicting concepts of imitation and inspiration. Enjoy!…

Welcome back. In this issue, we are looking at playing jazz in 3/4 time. In particular, we’ll focus on developing the ability to improvise and comp within this time signature. A time signature is the numerical fraction that appears at the start of every piece of music and gives us a metric framework within which to perform. It tells us how to count the music we are playing. It tells us nothing about tempo, volume, style or even what to play. The top number tells us the number of beats per bar, and the bottom number tells us the rhythmic value of those beats. Thus, 3/4 equals ‘three quarter-notes per bar’. Put simply, this tells us to count to three. Let’s start with a jazz ostinato in 3/4 (Ex 1).…

The four-piece fills we are looking at this issue involve playing triples. It’s important not to get these confused with ‘triplets’, which relate to the note value. Instead, triples are relating to the amount of notes – groups of three, fast 32nd notes, to be precise – that lead with both hands in this lesson! That is the challenge, and starting with Ex 1, you’ll see the 32nd-note triples are placed amongst a 16th-note fill. On closer inspection, the first triple starts with the left hand and, mid-bar, two triples are played subsequently that alternate the leading hand. This ambidextrous approach is more effective than the ‘normal’ sticking method. Ex 2 flies in with left-handed triples that create ‘hertas’ when combined with the 16th notes. Once again, halfway through, the…

It is probably safe to say that every single musician who has ever lived has tried to imitate the work of other musicians who have inspired them. No one exists in a vacuum, and most musicians can point to specific people and credit them with being an influence. The tradition of emulating the greats is an important one, and it’s this conscious act of connection that often inspires people to start playing an instrument and embark on a lifelong journey of furthering their skills. And while this is a wonderful thing, there is also a potential risk of sounding contrived or cliché when you imitate someone else. Ironically, being too good of an imitator may even create the perception that your style is inauthentic or unimaginative. An even worse scenario…