#paradiddle is a drumming pattern

[jojofox]

favorite word?

hmmm.. I would go with paradiddle :)

[findmeinthefallair]

I'm back.

I finally moved my drum kit to the apartment from the family house. Am excited that I've stopped procrastinating and am dead serious about hitting away at the snare drum, figuring out how tom drums are incorporated into rhythmic patterns and improving my coordination for real, re-learning paradiddles and flams after 13 years, and playing my fave tunes *cue stimming!*

And! I can finally talk about Severance. Aaahhhhh.

Fall is the season that's best known for representing change I think, and if I've chosen an URL with that word in it, I want to be better at embracing change

[auckland-drum-studio]

How To Build Speed And Accuracy In Drum Lessons For Beginners?

Ever found yourself tapping away on the steering wheel, dreaming of being the next big drum sensation? Whether you aim to rock out in a band or just want to impress your friends at the next jam session, building speed and accuracy in your drumming is key.

Fear not, fellow rhythm seekers! This guide will explain how you can supercharge your drum lessons for beginners and become the drummer you've always wanted to be.

Start Slow and Steady

Drum lessons for beginners are like laying the foundation of a house. If the base isn't solid, the rest won't stand up. Start by practising your drum patterns slowly. This might sound counterintuitive, but playing slowly helps you focus on hitting the drums precisely and ensures that your form is correct.

Use a metronome to keep a consistent pace. Gradually increase the speed as you become more comfortable. Speed will come with time, but accuracy must be your priority.

Master the Basics

Before you can blaze through complex rhythms, you need to master the basic drumming techniques. Basic beats, rudiments like paradiddles, and simple drum fills are the building blocks of more advanced skills. Ensure your drum lessons for beginners cover these fundamentals thoroughly.

Practising these basics will not only improve your speed but also enhance your accuracy. It's like learning the alphabet before you can write a novel.

Incorporate Drumming Exercises

Regular drumming exercises are crucial in developing both speed and accuracy. Exercises focusing on stick control and hand coordination will help build muscle memory. Some effective exercises include:

Single-Stroke Roll: Alternate between your left and right hands as quickly and accurately as possible.

Double-Stroke Roll: Play two strokes with each hand in rapid succession.

Paradiddles: Combine single and double strokes to build coordination.

Include these exercises in your drum lessons for beginners' routine and see your skills improve.

Play Along with Music

Playing with your favourite songs is one of the most enjoyable ways to build speed and accuracy. This approach allows you to apply what you've learned in your drum lessons for beginners in a real-world context.

Start with slower songs and gradually work your way up to faster tracks. Playing along will also improve your timing and rhythm, making you a more versatile drummer.

Focus on Hand and Foot Coordination

Drumming isn't just about your hands; your feet also play a crucial role. Practice coordination exercises that involve both your hands and feet, such as playing a basic beat while incorporating the bass drum.

This will enhance your overall drumming skills and smooth transitions between different drumming patterns. Many beginner drum lessons overlook this crucial aspect, but it's essential for developing a well-rounded skill set.

Set Goals and Track Progress

Setting specific goals and tracking your progress is a great way to stay motivated and measure improvement. Break down your practice into short, manageable goals, such as mastering a particular drum pattern or achieving a certain speed on a rudiment.

Review your progress regularly and adjust your practice routine as needed. Seeing tangible improvements will boost your confidence and keep you motivated.

Stay Consistent and Have Fun

The most important tip of all is to stay consistent with your practice. Building speed and accuracy takes time, but you'll see significant improvements with regular practice.

Enjoy the process - play along with your favourite songs, experiment with different rhythms, and have fun with your drum lessons for beginners. Your enthusiasm and dedication will be the driving force behind your progress.

Conclusion

In conclusion, becoming a speedy and accurate drummer isn't an overnight achievement, but with these tips and a solid drum lessons for beginners approach, you'll be well on your way to mastering the drums. So grab those sticks, hit those drums, and let the rhythm lead the way!

[allthemusic]

Week ending: 16th January

After a cracking start, we've got to our first multi-song week of 1958, and our first week with multiple versions of the same song. Thankfully, it's a fun bunch...

Kisses Sweeter Than Wine - Jimmie Rodgers (peaked at Number 7)

Jimmie Rodgers, in my head, was a country artist, but it turns out I'm confusing him with a different Jimmie Rodgers, who was a pioneering country artist, but who died in 1931. This Jimmie Rodgers was only born then. Which isn't at all confusing.

Still, while this song isn't the country number I quite expected, there are some folksy influences to it, and it's apparently based on the tune of an Irish folk song, An droimfhionn donn dilís, in which the country of Ireland is poetically compared to handsome brown cow. This song became known as Droimeann Donn, and then imported to the US as Drimmin Down, and its in this form that the blues artist Lead Belly picked it up, adding a bit more rhythm. The tune of this version gets picked up by the Weavers, whose version then gets covered by Jimmie Rodgers, but with different lyrics entirely. So it's quite roundabout, but there is a solid folk basis to this song, and overall, the vibe's not dissimilar to Sixteen Tons, or some other more American folk songs of the era, completely with a strummy bit of acoustic guitar and a lot of handclapping. It's a very appealing mix of things.

Lyrically, like I've said, we've completely lost all reference to handsome brown cows, and it's become a song about a man who bags himself a woman who has kisses sweeter than wine. So sweet are her kisses that he keeps accidentally progessing their relationship. So he asks her to marry him, and then whoops! Oh Lord, well she gave me her hand. They end up building up a life and a farm, and then whoops! Oh Lord, I was the father of twins. They end up with four kids, who all get married again and then whoops! Oh, Lord, the grandfather of eight! and then finally he gets to the end of his life and muses on how he'd do it all again. It's cute, and a fun gimmick, and by the end of it you're singing along to the little jaunt whoops!

The whole thing's also got these deep-voiced 1950s backing singers, just repeating lines like sweeter than wine, and clapping along gamely, only to drop out for the whoops! It's effective, in a fun, folksy way - good job, Jimmie!

Peggy Sue - Buddy Holly and the Crickets (6)

Another Buddy Holly number, and it's got all the hallmarks - that slightly nerdy, hiccupy voice, that guitar work and a sort of charmingly DIY, homemade vibe. It's good stuff, though listening to it, it doesn't actually do anything too wild. Instead, it's a song that's all just about layering up sounds and creating a specific atmosphere.

Lyrically, for example, it's beyond straightforward. We don't go for anything much more than just I love you, Peggy Sue. Seriously, that's probably the most complex lyric in the whole thing, it's literally 90% Buddy repeating Peggy's name. And this isn't a problem, but yeah, it's definitely a track that's much more about what the instruments are doing, with the lyrics as a sort of extra bit of texture, Buddy's distinctively reedy, hiccupy voice just becoming another instrument in the mix.

So what instruments do we get here? Well, we've got a strummy guitar that basically just changes from one chord and then back to another from one bar to the next, in a repeating three-chord pattern, and we've got some drums that keep up a steady stream of paradiddles througout (a real term for a type rhythm that I learnt when looking up stuff about this track!) The drums are interesting, because they sound like they've been recorded from a distance, but with a heavy amount of echo on them, like somebody's playing them down a hallway from you - it's a fun, slightly thundery vibe.

The drums and guitar together make for a really simple, stable groove that you can keep up for a whole song without needing a whole lot of variation. And that's exactly what the Crickets do, here. It actually felt really familiar on the first listen through - immediately, Unbelievers by Vampire Weekend sprang to mind, but I bet if I was specifically listening, I'd find this exact same sound elsewhere, precisely because it's so straightforward and versatile. Still, it needs something to break it up - and just when you're thinking that, we get an electric guitar solo. Just like the drums, there's something a bit DIY to this. It's not a polished solo, or a particularly complex one, and the sound's choppy and rough. All of which adds to the "teens in their basement" charm of this song - it feels like something that sounds good, but that you and your mates could achievably play together, not some unattainable virtuoso thing. Which I think is a good part of the appeal, here. It's not a song I love deeply, but I can see the charm, you know?

Peggy Sue, if you're wondering, was the drummer's then ex-girlfriend - they had just broken up - who was apparently really embarrassed when she first heard the song. Which is awkward, and it could be even worse - it was apparently initially named Cindy Lou after Buddy's niece! Still, there's a happy ending to all this, because Peggy and the drummer, one Jerry Allison, did eventually get back together and get married, which is sweet. There's also a sequel song that the band did, called Peggy Sue Got Married, so that's kind of neat too!

Kisses Sweeter Than Wine - Frankie Vaughan (8)

Hey, we've heard this song already! It's definitely the same song as Jimmie, so I'm not going to get too deep into the song itself. Especially not because Frankie's version and Jimmie's version are actually fairly similar. Both use Lead Belly's rhythms, and the Weavers' lyrics, and put the same little spin on the whoops! bits. They're trying to do the same thing, and the overall result is pretty similar.

I will say, Frankie, true to form, is a bit more of a performer. Whereas Jimmie leant into the folksiness with a strummy guitar and not much else, Frankie's got a dramatic bit of violin right at the start that comes back later on, in the background. His backing singers are a bit more dramatic, too - you've got the same deep men's group repeating the phrase sweeter than wine, but you've also got some women who come in now and again, and the clapping, rather than just providing a backing throughout the song, come in and out to give the chorus added oomph. It's a lot showier, as a result.

And of course, Frankie is also very cheesy. Jimmie went up a little bit on the whoops! but Frankie turns it into a full-on comedy bit, and almost sounds like he's laughing as he comes out of it, each time. His little mmm-mmmm is that little bit more cartoonish, like he's licking his lips, and he hams it up at the end just that little bit more. The end result is just that bit less subtle, and honestly, it's the worse for it, in my books. Oh, well.

Both of these aren't quite country tracks, and this got me thinking - country's not been as well represented in the charts, in recent months, but we have seen a fair bit of folk music, either in its pure American form, or in British-infused skiffle form, and we've also seen quite a lot of more country-tinged rockabilly rock and roll, which is really the tradition that artists like the Everlys and the Crickets are coming out of. Even Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis are sometimes picking up that country, bluesy twang a bit. So it's kind of interesting to see "legit" country disappear a bit, even as its descendants take over the charts.

Favourite song of the bunch: Peggy Sue

[puranjaydas]

Mastering the Basics: Essential Drum Rudiments Every Drummer Should Know

Drum rudiments are the foundational patterns that every drummer needs to master. These building blocks form the basis of more complex rhythms and fills, making them essential for any drummer’s repertoire. The most common rudiments include the single-stroke roll, double-stroke roll, paradiddle, and flam. Each of these patterns focuses on different techniques, such as alternating strokes, hand coordination, and control. By practising these rudiments regularly, drummers can develop speed, precision, and versatility, enabling them to tackle a wide range of musical styles with confidence. Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned player looking to refine your skills, mastering these rudiments is key to becoming a more dynamic and expressive drummer.

https://puranjay.iidepg.com/

[noteachernomasternoguru]

Teaching progress of one of my students, A. Part 1

During my internship, I managed to watch students improve and learned some of the things that help people practice efficiently. In this example, my student, A, a hardworking and dedicated student managed to learn a drum song with no prior experience.

First week:

Learning the rudiments related to it, learning to coordinate. Rudiments are the building blocks of drumming technique. They provide a structured approach to mastering basic rhythms and patterns, which are the cornerstone of more complex drumming skills. By mastering rudiments, drummers develop a solid technical foundation that supports more advanced playing. Rudiments help drummers develop better stick control, which is vital for achieving precision and consistency. Exercises like the single stroke roll, double stroke roll, and paradiddles train the hands to move with agility and accuracy, which translates into more controlled and dynamic drumming.

A's progress video:

In this example. my student A is practicing single strokes in 8th notes, with accents changing from the upbeats to the downbeats - something fundamental that needed to be worked on as the song he was planning to learn had a lot upbeats and downbeats in 8th notes, and he needed to be comfortable switching them around.

The exercise that we created together, to get better at feeling upbeats and downbeats in 8th notes. As shown in the picture, we created a simple exercise that switches accents on the upbeats to downbeats in 2 beats, to get used to the different feelings via comparison and contrasting.

For this particular example, I wanted him to feel the transition and the switching of accents (the black square in the picture), as most new drummers have difficulties when transitioning two different types of rhythms - overlooking the importance of feeling solely the transition as well.

Thoughts:

Every class I have also serves as a reminder for myself, and in this case, the importance of having good and strong fundamentals. Every "complex" musical skill came from a simple idea, and from there it was grown from. This reminded me to not forget about the process, and that the final outcome of things are often not the point of doing things but rather, the process and journey behind it - which is often simple to do, but difficult to master.

[favemusiclessons]

The 5 Most Underrated Drum Rudiments (And Why You Should Learn Them)

Have you been writing the same drum parts over and over again? Are you looking for some new patterns to add to your arsenal? You’re in luck: the answer to your problem was right under your nose this entire time. In this quick video lesson, Dorothea Taylor shares five less-popular rudiments that you can use to build into your drum parts.

0:00 - Intro 0:33 - 1. Single Ratamacue 2:08 - 2. Swiss Army Triplets 3:35 - 3. Double Drag Tap 4:37 - 4. Drag Paradiddle #1 6:08 - 5. Grandma’s This hybrid rudiment (meaning it’s not found on the list of 40 standard rudiments) consists of a paradiddle with an accent on the second note, followed by an accented tap. Remember to practice all of these slowly and regularly until you have them clean and tight.

[zelusacademy]

Learning Drums : Using rudiments in fills

In this lesson from Zelus Academy’s online drums course, you’ll learn to play a sixteenth note groove and orchestrate various fills across the drum kit. Let’s break it down step-by-step.

Start by playing a sixteenth note groove. Use your right hand to play sixteenth notes on the hi-hat, while your left hand hits the snare on counts 2 and 4. Add the kick drum on counts 1 and 3 to create a solid foundation.

After playing this groove for one bar, transition to orchestrating fills. Begin with single strokes (RLRL) across the snare drum, hi-tom, mid-tom, and floor tom. This basic sticking pattern helps you move around the drum kit smoothly.

Next, try double strokes (RRLL). Play these across the same drums, focusing on even, controlled strokes to maintain consistency and clarity.

Then, incorporate single paradiddles (RLRR LRLL). Use the paradiddle sticking to move around the snare, hi-tom, mid-tom, and floor tom, creating interesting and complex rhythmic patterns.

End your fill with a crash on the first beat of the following bar, providing a strong, definitive transition back into the groove.

Zelus Academy’s drums online learning program offers detailed instructions and demonstrations for each of these steps, ensuring you master the groove and fills with confidence. Join our online drums course today to elevate your drumming skills and explore the full potential of your drum kit! Continue reading

Visit -Zelus Academy

[sal-rivera]

Key Strategies to Improve Your Drumming Skills

Learning to play the drums takes time, dedication, patience, and practice. Spending hours performing unfocused tapping or jamming won't enable one to master the instrument. However, employing several proactive strategies can improve your drumming skills.

Mastering the basic techniques required in drumming is essential to becoming a great drummer. Those who play the instrument often make the mistake of attempting advanced techniques or playing rapidly without mastering the basics first. This tendency can result in the formation of detrimental habits and skill gaps. Allocate a significant portion of your practice routine to performing single and double strokes and refining key rudiments (basic patterns) like the paradiddle and five-stroke roll before delving into intricate techniques or high tempos. You'll elevate your playing to an advanced level once you consistently execute these fundamental drumming elements with dynamics and precise timing.

Build muscle memory by spending 20 minutes playing basic drum patterns with your eyes open. Then, challenge yourself by closing your eyes and synchronizing your snare drum hand with a metronome or click. Practicing with closed eyes helps develop muscle memory in your arms, legs, feet, and hands. Mentally visualize your drum kit or drum machines as extensions of your arms and legs. Attempt to play by feel as you synchronize with the metronome. Mistakes will occur while establishing muscle memory by playing with the eyes closed. However, the exercise will enhance your skills over time.

Collaborate with fellow musicians, as engaging with your musical peers can significantly contribute to your growth as a drummer. Your fellow musicians can synchronize with you during jam sessions and offer valuable feedback and suggestions to enhance your technique.

Master your timekeeping skills to maintain precise timing for the songs you perform through specific practice exercises. For example, utilize headphones synced with your laptop to have a click track directly in your ear to learn to keep time. You can also engage in practice sessions where you focus on keeping time with songs played on the radio. Using a metronome is crucial as it serves as the ultimate tool for gauging speed and accuracy. Incorporate it into every practice session, whether on a practice pad, a full drum kit, or an electronic drum set.

Prioritize your physical well-being to unleash your optimal drumming potential. Research indicates that a 90-minute drumming session demands the same stamina as a professional soccer player in a complete game. Cardiovascular activities like running, jogging, swimming, or cycling significantly enhance drumming endurance. Incorporating weight training into your fitness regimen bolsters power, sharpens reflexes, and fosters injury prevention. At the very least, completing a pre-play stretching routine and warming up is crucial. This promotes blood circulation and protects your joints and muscles from strain during your drumming sessions.

Work on enhancing your drumming skills using both hands. Make a conscious effort to involve both hands during practice, as it’s common for new drummers to find their dominant hand is initially stronger. Strengthening the weaker hand requires focusing it when executing pronounced beats while letting the dominant hand handle softer notes—additionally, practice rudiments with each hand.

[bradcrotchet]

Week Two

Unfortunately, after week one I could not move onto week two because I did not have access to a drum kit to practice rudiments. I did attempt to make use of inanimate objects like a cushion to imitate playing the drums, but the recoil and bounce was not the same. At least from this I learnt the pattern and the coordination even if it was not the same playing experience. The purpose of practicing rudiments is to enhance my ability to play and mentally process more complicated rhythms and more precise control in my hands. I did get some time eventually to learn and practice the paradiddle, the single stroke roll and the flam. The paradiddle has the sticking pattern R, L R, R, L, R, L, L. To play the single stroke roll you just need to play left hand, right hand repeatedly, the difficult part is to make all the notes even and unaccented and perfectly in time. I did have some difficulty keeping time and accenting the right notes because I'm right-handed. The Flam is a quite simple one, the goal is to hit the same drum head with two hands at almost the same time, creating a slight delay between them, this is achieved by raising one arm slightly higher than the other. I would recommend purchasing a practice pad, if you find that a drum kit or an e drum kit is not available to you. Some practice pads even simulate the feel of hitting a drumhead and are portable which would be a worthy investment. I found that I could perform these rudiments successfully by the end of the week, they did, however, need some cleaning up to make sound more professional.

Expanding upon time signatures, mentioned last week, these are a way of understanding rhythm. The top number represents how many beats are in a bar and the bottom number represents what type of beats these will be. For instance, if you count all the beats correctly in a bar of 4/4 it should be equal to four crotchet beats, this same principle goes for 2/4 and ¾. This will make more sense once you grasp the value of these beats, which are, semibreve is a whole note, minim is a half note, crotchet is a quarter note, quaver is an eighth note and semiquaver is a sixteenth note. There are also dotted notes which have the value of the note plus a half. 

Paradiddle tutorial resource

Single stroke roll tutorial resource

Flam tutorial resource

The second week marks the first review point. So far, everything is going according to plan as we're not that far into it. I hope that, going forward, resources are more available to me, as I did not get as much time practicing on the drum kit as I would have hoped this week.

week 2 practice

week 2.2

[pigspeetsandhooflikefeets]

Weirdly enough the context for the "keep your chin up" response is "hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle, the cow jumped over the moon... and got stuck in orbit, for some reason. Looks like the cow is now caught between the moon and New York City. According to a certain movie's theme song, what's the best than he can do?" And "keep his chin up" is one of the answers lol.

I'm literally so bad at YDKJ Movies that I can't even guess what the incorrect answer RESPONSES are about huh

Honestly I'm glad I play for the responses because I think if I played it straight I'd cry constantly because I know less than anything about movies and actors from. anything. ...ever, actually, now that I think about it.

[helmar-weiss]

Paradiddle - Percussion

[themusiciansstuff]

MASTERY OF THE BASIC DRUM RUDIMENTS: A QUEST TO BECOMING A PROFICIENT DRUMMER

This article is aimed at reiterating the importance of the fundamental drum rudiments as to how it can help you improve your drumming and also ensure that your abilities are not undermine due to lack of knowledge of this rudiments.

Drum rudiments are basic elements for all drum grooves and fills. This gives explicit insight as to how important the mastery of drum rudiments can change radically or fundamentally your drumming. Drum rudiments are core groundwork of drumming. However, learning the drum rudiments is one of the most disregarded or over-looked drumming principle.

The need to understanding drum rudiments, how to orchestrate them round the drums also the ability to play them across your four limbs cannot be over emphasized. I hear most drummers say I want to be as fast as Dave Weckl, Eric Moore, Thomas Pridgen and the likes this will only be wishful thinking if the drummer has not spent quality time practicing his or her fundamental drum rudiments amongst other drumming techniques to help attain that height of proficiency.

The ability of a drummer to orchestrate different strokes or sticking pattern around the drums is something worthy of note. Let take for example the Single Paradiddle (RLRR-LRLL) this particular rudiment can be played in different forms such as placing accent on different strokes of the paradiddle, playing them as inversions. Also it becomes exciting when you play that rudiment on different sound sources on the drums. Inquisitively a drummer can also play this particular rudiment across his or her four limbs and thereby giving the drummer a more melodic approach and also encourages independence and coordination abilities of the drummer.

For every drummer out there aspiring to be great, the need to learn and master the fundamental drum rudiments, practicing them with the metronome at different tempos and playing them at different note values cannot be over emphasized, as this gives you solid foundation to becoming a proficient and dynamic drummer amongst other drumming techniques that also makes you a great drummer.

Hence, the need to master your drum rudiments on your journey to becoming a proficient, creative and dynamic drummer should not be overlooked.

Thanks

Akhenoba, Davies Oshone

Author

©2022

#prodrumdiogineer

[auckland-drum-studio]

Intro to Rhythms: Beginner's Drum Lessons

Embarking on a journey as a beginner drummer is an exciting experience filled with endless possibilities. Drumming is not just about hitting drums; it's about creating rhythms, expressing emotions, and connecting with music on a whole new level. As you dive into drum lessons for beginners, you'll discover the beauty of percussion – the heartbeat of music that sets the pace for melodies to unfold.

Getting Started: Essential Drum Kit Basics

Before you start drumming, it's crucial to familiarize yourself with the essential elements of a drum kit. From the bass drum and snare drum to the hi-hat and cymbals, each component plays a unique role in creating rhythmic patterns. As a beginner, understanding the layout of the drum kit and how to hold drumsticks correctly sets a strong foundation for your drumming journey.

Mastering the Beat: Basic Drumming Techniques

Learning basic drumming techniques is key to developing your skills as a beginner drummer. Practice rudiments like single strokes, double strokes, and paradiddles to improve hand coordination and build muscle memory. Focus on maintaining a steady tempo and experimenting with different rhythms to expand your drumming vocabulary. With dedication and practice, you'll soon find yourself grooving to the beat with confidence and precision.

Feeling the Groove: Embracing Rhythms and Timing

Rhythm is at the core of drumming, and as a beginner, developing a strong sense of timing is essential. Practice playing along to metronome clicks to improve your sense of rhythm and internal clock. Experiment with different time signatures and drumming styles to broaden your musical horizon. By feeling the groove and locking into the rhythm, you'll enhance your drumming skills and elevate your musical expression.

Building Your Repertoire: Exploring Drumming Styles

As a beginner drummer, exploring different drumming styles and genres can spark your creativity and broaden your musical palette. Whether you're into rock, jazz, funk, or Latin rhythms, each style offers unique challenges and opportunities for growth. Dive into drum covers of your favorite songs, study drum patterns from iconic drummers, and embrace the diversity of drumming styles to expand your repertoire and find your voice as a drummer.

Finding Your Beat: The Importance of Practice and Persistence

Practice is the cornerstone of progress for beginner drummers. Set aside dedicated time each day to practice drum exercises, work on new rhythms, and refine your technique. Consistency and persistence are key to mastering the art of drumming, so don't be discouraged by challenges along the way. Remember that every great drummer was once a beginner, and growth comes from embracing the journey, learning from mistakes, and celebrating small victories along the path to mastery.

Conclusion

Embarking on beginner's drum lessons opens up a world of rhythmic possibilities and musical exploration. Through mastering drum kit basics, honing essential techniques, embracing rhythms and timing, exploring diverse styles, and committing to regular practice, you can set yourself on a path to becoming a skilled and expressive drummer. Remember that every beat you play is a step towards musical growth and self-expression. So, pick up your drumsticks, feel the groove, and let the rhythmic journey begin – the world of drumming awaits your unique voice and creative spirit.

Source By - https://tinyurl.com/45mzz59v 

[blindhazey420]

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A post shared by s1cksteen6it (@blind_hazey)

This is the groove ive been working on past couple days. Was having trouble with getting back into the hats shuffle pattern after the dada on snare. Id mess up entry to the reset and get stopped. So i tried a paradiddle after the snare hits and boom resets itself. Not using usual left for snare and the paradiddle is reversed right lead same hand as snare. Yea took some getting used to. Drumming cover Track Lotus By Robin Hagglund 🥁 #drummingcommunity #blinddrummer #drummer #musicismylife #music #vdrums #roland #drumming #edm #electronica #beatingdisability #journal #drumkit #inspiration #spontaneous #creative #musictherapy #drumcover #mentalhealthawareness #alternative #practice #drums #drumidea #drumchops #drumtrack #drumplayalong #drummersofinstagram #vicfirth #contentcreator #musician Thanks for your time. Appreciated 🙈🤘🖤 (at Spalding, Lincolnshire) https://www.instagram.com/p/CaZ9NNaopOj/?utm_medium=tumblr

[brittsekland]

Interview with Topper Headon, February 1980.

Turn off your mind, lie back on the couch and relax. We're going to have an association test. What do you think of when I say the Clash? Running battles with the grey forces of government? Three cord supercharged thrashes vilifying unemployment and public housing vegetation? Seething hordes of punks dancing themselves into a frenzy? Wrong. Times have changed. Punk is now locked as firmly into the past as hippies were in the sixties. Safety pins and bondage trousers are as passe as headbands and peace signs. The bands that characterized an era have disappeared. The Sex Pistols destroyed themselves, the Damned are a self-parody, which leaves the Clash. After an impressive first album and a fair second effort, their third a double recaptures the drive and energy of the first. The Clash have esestablished them-selves as the most talented band to emerge from the much vaunted new wave.

Their lastest album, London Calling, displays considerable evolution since early days of the band. The songs are more reflective and melodic. Songwriters Joe Strummer and Mick Jones contribute heavily but to a large extent the dexterity and adaptbility of drummer Topper Headon has enabled the Clash to develop their musicality. Topper is, perhaps, the most accomplished musician of the four-man band. His early training with a variety of different music forms from traditional jazz to soul, has provided a firm foundation for Strummer and Jones. Topper provides the matrix from which the rest of the band work. Topper believes the Clash have survived because they have staying power, because they haven't been afraid of changing and because they weren't hesitant to branch out when they grew tired of playing frenetic chords. "We've remained true to what we originally believed in," declares Topper. " We still enjoy playing our own songs. We're not going through any set patterns. The basic idea has been to remain true to what we believe in and not allow ourselves to be dictated to by the industry and become CBS puppets." They've done a deft job of staying ahead of big business machines. "We refuse to do Top of the Pops for example, even when the single came in at 29. CBS started to put pressure on us to do it. They tell us we won't have a hit single, and we say, so what? Who needs it? We wanted our double album to go out for £5 when everybody else's albums go out for a lot more. We had to fight battles to get a cheap record out. Obviously that's not in record company interests. They told us it was impossible. Maybe that's why we've stayed together; we keep setting ourselves impossible tasks. It gives us drive. Even on tour, the Clash are determined to keep prices down which certainly affects the bands take home pay. But money isn't what they want most. "What we want is for the kids to be able to see us," Topper says. Their attitude to irrates businessmen. "If anybody does something like sneak a video of us on television, we'd split up. And CBS know we mean business. We owe them so much money they can't afford for that to happen." The Clash are a refreshing contrast to the kind of bands that do anything to get their name on the dotted line. From the beginning it's been a complete turnaround from the usual state of affairs that exist between band and record company. The companies have been chasing the Clash. Topper joined the Clash between their first and second albums. Previously he was playing with a soul band that regularly toured Germany and British airforce bases. Regularly earning £50 weekly, Headon took a cut in pay to work with the Clash. "I knew at once that it was the gig I'd been looking for. Everything came quite naturally. By the time Topper joined the Clash, he was beginning to think he'd never pass an audition. Not many bands were signed before the British punk explosion. "They'd form a band for somebody from out-of-work musicians who had been thrown out of other bands. They knew the ropes, so they wouldn't kick up a fuss because they knew they were dispensable. Every time I went along for an audition, I was constantly beaten by drummers who had played for name bands and had 'experience'. It just went on and on like that." Topper had been playing drums since he was 13. Drumming was a habit he picked up when he had a broken leg which halted a promising football career. His dad spotted a second-hand kit in the local paper and bought it. By 14 Headon was regularly playing with a traditional jazz band. "For some reason bands were always short of drummers..." As far as tutoring, Topper never got past the introduction in the books. Paradiddles and triple paradiddles were as far as he got. Eventually Headon bought a Premier kit: "At that time it was the cheapest pro kit you could get. You could go into any music store and get one. Everyone stocked spares and fittings. That was one of the reasons why I bought a Premier. I'm still sold on silver kits because they look great under the lights." A few days before his first tour with the Clash he took possession of a silver Pearl kit, which he still uses. After a bit of chopping and changing of toms, he's wound up with a 24" x 17" bass drum, 14" x 10" top tom tom, 16" x 10" and 18" x 10" floor toms, and a Ludwig Black Beauty snare drum. All the cymbals are Zildjian - two pairs of 15" Heavy Rock hi hats, a 16" crash, an 18" crash, a 21" Rock ride, a 19" Rock crash, and a 20" Rock crash, plus a little Zildjian splash cymbal attachted to the top of the bass drum which he claims is driving the rest of the band mad. All the stands are Premier Lokfast Trilok stands. "I go for a real solid kit," claims Topper, "that's why I chose Pearl and Premier. They're really solid and serviceable, no frills on them. You get a good feeling when you sit behind them because they're so workmanlike. You think, 'Great, I ain't gonna knock these over.' I use rubber mats to secure the kit on the riser." "Although I have the kit basically the same most of the time, I do like to change it around occasionally. If I started to use wooden blocks on the riser then I'd be stuck with one position, and that can be limiting." When it became evident that the Clash were here to stay, Topper got the chance of a new kit, which he tried but didn't rate as much. However, he did take Pearl up on the offer of a recover and recon. He expects to have his present kit for at least another five or six years, providing it dosen't get dropped or broken. Another complaint from Topper is lack of service and spares outside London: "We've got a flight case which is like a miniature drum shop, it carries everything down to cymbal felts and spare lugs for the bass drum. We always take it with us on the road and keep it stocked up. "I begin a tour with everything I conceivably need, and gradually I get rid of things I don't need, so the kit gets smaller as the tour goes on. Once the hi hat busted, the spring went right inside, and it was impossible to fix up. It was a Saturday night when we discovered it, and we had a show on Sunday. Luckily, we were able to borrow a high hat stand from the support band." Topper is a man dedicated to acoustic drums. He regards synthisized drums as irrelevant: "They were alright for two weeks, then the novelty wore off. Personally I'm exploring different areas, like percussion. I even use finger cymbals on one track of London Calling. But thats the way to go - into acoustic percussion. There's so much scope there that I don't know why synthisized drums were invented in the first place." Miking up for a gig is a lot similar to miking up for the studio. Topper uses two overhead cymbal mikes, and two mikes for the double hi hat set up he uses. The toms are all miked from the top, and the snare drum is miked from beneath. He keeps both heads on and never keeps anything inside the shells. Topper uses very little damping live. What damping there is, is usually on the bass drum, and always external. All damping is with gaffer tape. Topper prefers AKG mikes, but on tour they vary depending on which PA hire company is being used. "I can go into the studio and get a good drum sound in an hour," continues Topper. Listen to the latest LP London Calling and you'll hear what he means. "The first time I went into the studio I was pretty green but I learnt from it. For London Calling I went straight in and knew exactly what to do. Everybody goes into the studio much more relaxed now. I use AKG mikes and everything is miked from the top except for the snare. Again I use double heads to get the boom sound, and I use room mikes to pick up the spillage, to make it sound more live without going over the top. The set up is exactly the same as I have live, really, except I don't use a bit of damping." The biggest problem with putting out the new album were recording costs. The Clash figure that the longer they spent in the studio, the more it would cost, the more money CBS would have to put up, and consequently they'd have a greater hold over the band. The Clash even put up some of the money themselves. Eventually they had the tape and told CBS: "You can have it if you meet our conditions." Topper admits that there are some mistakes on the album, and more than a few drum errors. That's the price to pay for the energy captured on the vinyl. London Calling was recorded in a month, with Guy Stevens producing. That's how it's going to be in the future, Topper maintains. The second album, Give Em Enough Rope, was not as successful as either the first or the third records, and Topper blames producer Sandy Pearlman for this. "He made it quite dull," Topper says. "He was a dull person to work with. We wanted a producer, CBS gave us a list of producers and his name was on the top. We listened to stuff he'd done with heavy metal bands, and we thought it was rubbish, but it was the production we were interested in. We wanted to get a good sound, and one complaint against the first album was that it sounded too thin. So we wanted some production that would stand up to time. So we got Pearlman. But he took so long to do it, with his perfectionism, that the prevalent feeling in the studio by the time he'd finished was boredom. When I think about recording that album I cringe." Problems don't end in the recording studio for the Clash. For a good few years now they've had constant trouble with local councils who insist on banning their gigs for fear of trouble. The whole surge of reaction against punk bands from "The Establishment" began with the infamous Sex Pistols. The daily newspapers portrayed the Clash as wreckers of society. "We're still getting that sort of prejudice," explains Topper. "We've had 16 gigs booked at various Mecca places, and then about 12 pulled out. You have to completely re-route the tour." The Hammersmith Palais cancelled a concert there because they said there were too many mirrors in the place to safely allow Clash fans in. "But our fans don't smash things anymore. They do if they're told what to do, like sit down in this seat and be a good boy. That's why out of all the gigs on our British tour only have two seats in them." Harassment from local villages takes other forms. The obligatory visit from the fire inspector often results in strict demands being laid down: "He says take that backdrop down, so we take the backdrop down, and he says erect more crash barriers, so we put up more crash barriers, he says this stage has to be rebuilt here, and you need more security. We just laugh at him and do anything he wants. Nothing can stop us playing. But they make life difficult." As time progresses, however, the Clash are becoming more acceptable, though not more respectable, Topper hopes. He makes the point that the Clash have to pay for all the damage that's caused, so why should they promote vandalism? Surprisingly, Topper found that the audiences in America weren't so much different to the British fans. The punk thing is really only just beginning to happen across the pond: "They're still into safety pins," declares Topper. "It's the same as the White Riot tour here, when there were about 300 or 400 fans dancing down the front with the rest there out of curiosity. But we sold out 25 of our 28 gigs there, and that was in 3,000 and 4,000 seater auditoriums. The States is so big. LA was just a load of old hippies lazing around getting stoned in the sun. I liked Chicago best, with all the blues clubs. But we should do well over there because the USA has all the same problems as Britain except they're magnified. They have all the slums and the poverty and more of a racial problem too." Highlighting social problems is one of the bands strong points. They should have plenty to write about in America. The Clash are political, and very definitely anti-National Front. Topper's favourite drummers come from America, such as Harvey Mason and Steve Gadd. His favourite British drummer is Terry Williams, who plays for Rockpile. Musically, his tastes are strictly black; James Brown, Otis Redding and lots of reggae, particularly the Mighty Diamonds. America looks tripe for the Clash. They've toured there twice and soon they should start to take off now that punk has spread. The Americans have been fairly slow catching on to what the 76' British New Wave was all about - perhaps they've been too wealthy for too long. With a new recession biting home, maybe the Clash will take on new relevance to downtrodden, unemployed kids in America. Topper himself represents a new establishment of musicians in Britain that once would have been unthinkable. Two years ago the Clash were vilified as not being "real" musicians. Their drive, talent and staying power has proved the cynics wrong. In general, the Clash have proved themselves to be dedicated professonials with firm ideals at heart. In particular, Topper Headon spearheads the drumming new wave with a forceful and accomplished style that can't be dismissed.