Modern Drummer is the world’s most widely read drum magazine, is dedicated entirely to the art of drumming and caters to the needs of amateur, semi-pro, and professional drummers.
On The Cover - Chris Dave
The iconoclastic rhythm auteur is readying his hotly anticipated new album. MD contributor Ken Micallef got an early listen, and, transfixed by its contents, presses its creator for explanations and looks for clues to his self-expression. TO READ THE FULL…
1,000 Ways to Practice a Single Page, Part 1: Introducing the Method
I’ve always wanted a system for practicing different subjects that I can take with me anywhere without having to lug around a heavy stack of books. My students often forgot materials for their lessons, so we ended up using any…
Frank Ferrer
It’s 98 degrees at Music City’s Titan Stadium, and Modern Drummer has been invited on stage to sit behind the kit of the world’s most dangerous band, the reunited, unrepentant group of misfits known officially as Guns n’ Roses. TO…
Snare Drum Effects - 16 Add-ons to Quickly Modify Tone
The snare drum could be viewed as a drummer’s most important voice and has helped define some of the drumming community’s most revered performances. Consider John Bonham’s deep, throaty snare on Led Zeppelin’s IV, which dominates tracks such as “When…
CooperGroove - GrooveGrip Performance Drumsticks
CooperGroove drumsticks feature a modification of traditional stick design with the intention of improving grip, stimulating pressure points, decreasing fatigue, and helping players who drop sticks due to sweaty hands. The namesake of these new tools is Chicago-area drummer Carlo…
DW - Bass Drum Beaters
DW recently released a quartet of bass drum beaters that are designed to provide multiple tones and textures from a single source. The Black Sheep and Control Beater XL models were created in collaboration with top endorsers Rich Redmond and…
Tony Hajjar
After spending a few years building his résumé as a film composer, Tony Hajjar is back at home with the post-hardcore favorites At the Drive-In. The El Paso, Texas, band released three full-length albums and several EPs before calling it…
Dream - Paper-Thin Crashes, TriHats, and Libor Hadrava Stacks
Since 2005, Dream Cymbals and Gongs has been providing competitively priced handcrafted instruments that are designed by professional Canadian percussionists and manufactured by expert metalsmiths in China. The company’s product line includes traditional Chinese effects (Lion, Han, and Jing), interesting…
Daryl Hall and John Oates' Brian Dunne
If you’ve ever seen Live From Daryl’s House, it’s a good bet that you’ve thought to yourself at least one time, Now that’s one gig I’d love to have. And to be sure, the enormity of performing with pop and…
Ddrum - Max Series Drumset
Originally a Swedish electronics company, ddrum began offering acoustic drumsets after being purchased by Florida-based Armadillo Enterprises in 2005. Some of ddrum’s acoustic drum innovations include the first all-ash shell and the more recent all-alder shell. TO READ THE FULL…
Catching Up With Nada Surt's Ira Elliot
Nada Surf has accomplished that rarest of feats in pop music: surviving the massive out-of-left-field success of an early single—a song titled, indeed, “Popular”—and the all-too-typical insult of then being dropped by the record company that released it. TO READ…
Kit of the Month - The Eliminator
When searching for the inspiration to build this month’s featured kit, Travis Wenzel of Elk Mound, Wisconsin, looked no further than his band’s rehearsal space. “This project started out as a 125th-anniversary Sonor Force 2001 drumset,” Wenzel says. “At the…
The Swampy Double Groove - Grease Up Your Phrases
With double grooves, the left hand plays every 8th note using unaccented strokes in between accented backbeats. I refer to these unaccented notes as “taps.” Combining this snare pattern with a standard 8th-note hi-hat figure results in a locomotive groove…
Groove Construction, Part 9: Split Grooves
This month’s groove workshop introduces split patterns. In these phrases, the right hand alternates between two voices, the hi-hat and ride. The arm should hardly move; the motion should originate from the wrist. This concept is especially effective with patterns…
