Hey everyone in Modern Drummer land! My name is Carter McLean and I play the drums at the Lion King on Broadway in NYC and tour with various singer-songwriters. I want to share with you the reasons why I started my educational website, fourhandsdrumming.com.

In my teaching over the past ten years I’ve noticed that students often ask me very similar questions at each lesson. How do you get good left hand control? How can I improve my feel? How can I become more creative on the drums? These topics inspired me to create a series of fun, yet focused forty-five to sixty minute videos in my home studio that address real world musical issues facing drummers today. The tutorials are not meant to be chops shows or “How to Play in 17/8 Meter” demos, but rather practical guides for improving your rhythmic feel, preparing for a Broadway show, using dynamics, applying technique, and developing your own drum sound. My hope is that you’ll find some ideas in these videos that you can use to further your own music careers.

From time to time I also bring in special guests, including guitarist Charlie Hunter and bassist Tom Barney (Miles Davis, Steely Dan, Michael Jackson), for a non-drummer perspective on the role of the drummer in contemporary groove-based music. Advertisement

June 1, 2017 will be the website’s one-year anniversary and so far the feedback I’ve received from viewers on social media has exceeded my expectations:

“I subscribe to fourhandsdrumming and I must tell everyone I’ve learned so much from these lessons. Thanks so much Carter for being such a great educator and super nice guy!”
-Tim Morrison

“It’s really refreshing to have a hub for learning that, as far as I’m concerned, balances theory with passion and all the while focusing on growing as a player. So stoked!”
-Creighton Barrett (Band of Horses)

My goal is to make fourhandsdrumming accessible and I’m encouraging all subscribers to get in touch with me directly with any questions they might have about the material. Interacting with subscribers is important because I want to make a personal connection so this project can be an ongoing conversation about music and drumming with friends who share my passion.

The yearly subscription fee is $165, which includes all the lessons that are posted on the site. Individual lessons will soon be available for purchase and I also offer Skype lessons at a discounted rate for subscribers interested in diving deeper into topics of their choosing that we can develop together. Advertisement

When I’m not at home filming videos for fourhandsdrumming or playing at the Lion King I’ve been touring the East Coast with Charlie Hunter. We just finished recording an album of original songs with vocalist Silvana Estrada. Our trio recording will be available later this year so stay tuned!

Stay positive and keep making your music!

For more on McLean, visit www.fourhandsdrumming.com, www.youtube.com/c/cartermclean and follow him on Instagram at cartermac.

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