< PreviousModern Drummer May 2021 68 he has a lot of stories. I’m a sucker for a good drum story, and virtually every drum came with a great one. We worked right up until it was time for me to head back to the airport. Suffice it to say, we had a great time and got a lot done, but I sure didn’t get much sleep. There were far too many drums, and far too many stories to cover in a single article. I’ll take a closer look at some of the crown jewels in future columns. A few highlights are the Gretsch kit and Ludwig snare Steven Adler used to record Guns N’ Roses record-breaking debut, Appetite for Destruction, and the Yamaha 9000 series (an early version of the Recording Custom line) that Jeff Porcaro played on Toto IV . His inventory includes dozens of studio-tested workhorse snares. These drums are not pristine, unmolested eye candy. Most have been tweaked, modified, and rebuilt to create some of the greatest- This Gretsch set and vintage Ludwig snare were used to record Appetite for Destruction by Guns N’ Roses. Hanging with legends (left to right)—Ronnie Wood, Abe Laboriel Jr., Charlie Watts, Paul McCartney, Jim Keltner, Steve Ferrone, Will Lee, and Jamo. Jamo and friends (left to right)—Myron Grombacher, Alex Van Halen, Jim Keltner, Paul “Jamo” Jamieson, and Jeff Porcaro. Front: Jeff Chonis.May 2021 Modern Drummer 69 Jamo Special—Jamo’s hot-rodded Slingerland Radio King snare tracked countless hit records and inspired copies by virtually every major drum maker in the world. sounding studio snares ever recorded. These tried-and-true drums have earned their stripes on countless multiplatinum albums, under the scrutiny of the greatest producers of our time. One of his most popular snare drums was known as the “Jamo Special.” Jamo built these drums for his studio inventory, as well as for many of the top players in Los Angeles at the time. He took a vintage, single-ply Slingerland Radio King shell, and paired it with die-cast Gretsch hoops and a Sonor throw-off and butt plate. The edges were cut to his specs, and the snare bed widened to accommodate 40-strand snare wires. Most of these Jamo Specials were painted with a custom sunburst finish by Pat Foley, although he did several other versions, such as the jet-black model he made for Jeff Porcaro. The Jamo Special became his “secret weapon,” and eventually paved the way for countless single-ply, cast-hoop copies by virtually every major drum company in the world. There are also plenty of rare and collectible vintage drums in the collection that Jamo picked up in his travels. Some are beautifully restored; others never quite made it to the restoration bench. All are dripping with vibe. The collection documents the career of one of the most uniquely influential players in the modern drum industry, as well the drums and drummers who created some of the most important music of our time. Jamo made a huge impact on the drum and music worlds, and his influence will be felt for decades to come. The Yamaha 9000 series set used to record Toto IV. A small sampling of the artists Jamo has worked with over the years.Modern Drummer May 2021 70 Rogers Drums, January 1977 I t seems fitting that two far-reaching events were marked by the inaugural January 1977 issue of Modern Drummer: the beginning of MD’s now 45-year reign as the foremost publication for drums and drummers, and an advertisement—our only full-page advertiser at the time—that heralded Roger’s innovative Memriloc system, which had debuted in 1976. Future Modern Drummer columnist Roy Burns and Dave Donoho collaborated on Memriloc for Rogers, and the hardware’s robust stability, rapid assembly, and capability, which allowed players to standardize and repeat their setups gig after gig, were a phenomenon. The ad got it right—Memriloc made drum history. And Modern Drummer didn’t do too bad, either! —Michael Molenda M O D E R N D R U M M E R M A G A Z I N E • • Of Excellence THE WORLD’S #1 DRUMMING RESOURCEModern Drummer May 2021 72 Crashes in Your Fills By Dawn Richardson The stereotypical rock drum fill might be a measure of 16th notes cascading around the kit from snare to toms, but there are many other options. As we progress as players, we want to increase our vocabulary of beats and fills so that we have a variety of both to draw from when playing songs. Listen closely to the music you like, and you should hear many more options than “cliched” or orthodox fills. This lesson will focus on one of those options—fills with crashes. As drummers, part of our responsibility is choosing the right fill for the song. Sometimes a crash or two in just the right place is the perfect choice. Other times, incorporating crashes with 8th- or 16th-note figures is a better fit. This concept is utilized with great results in the following song examples. These exercises and examples are taken from my book, Chart-Topping Drum Fills [onlinedrummer.com], where I explore drum fills from the ‘60s through today. The book is designed to develop your skills through sequential lessons with an emphasis on coordination, vocabulary, and fill selection. “Rockin’ in the Free World,” Neil Young (1989) Chorus Main Beat Transition to Solo “Walk,” Foo Fighters (2011) Chorus Fills Skill Builders Use this practice template and the following exercises to develop your fills with crashes and provide you with some novel ideas. These are written for snare, but also try orchestrating rhythms around the kit by substituting the snare with toms to create new fills, once you are comfortable with them as written. Plug the one-measure fill ideas into the Practice Template to run through the fills in context. Once you’re used to the concept, you can substitute any groove. Practice TemplateMay 2021 Modern Drummer 73 Exercises Chart-Topping Drum Fills – The 60s Through Today Dawn Richardson has had eight drum-method titles published via Online Drummer and Mel Bay Publications. She has toured or recorded with 4 Non Blondes, Tracy Chapman, Shana Morrison, and Elettrodomestico (featuring Jane Wiedlin of the Go-Go’s). She holds a B.A. degree in percussion, and is endorsed by Zildjian cymbals, Vic Firth sticks, Drum Workshop/Pacific Drums and hardware. Learn more about Dawn at dawnrichardson.com.Modern Drummer May 2021 74 W hen I first started playing brushes, I copied what I heard on recordings, and what people like Joe Morello were doing. When Joe came to town, I would get as close as I could to watch how he played brushes. I taught myself a brush technique in which one hand primarily sustained, and the other hand articulated staccato notes. There are all sorts of variations, but the left hand stays on the head, and the right brush is off the head like a stick, so you have a staccato hand and a legato hand. Years later, I heard a great group—the Bill Evans Trio—with drummer Marty Morell. Marty’s brush technique is really individualistic. What I came up with after watching him is the idea that brushes can work in the same way as sticks. By this I mean, instead of playing a staccato and legato hand, why not have both hands playing the same thing? The sticking is right-left-right-left, and you apply it to the drum with a horizontal motion. Both hands are legato, and the accents of 1-2-3-4 are created by pressing more of the brush fan onto the head. This is why it is very important to play the basic motions with the forward portion of the fans—not with the full fan pressed against the head. We have to talk a little bit about grip, and this is entirely personal. If the result is musical and pleasing, the technique is correct. Some people naturally move counterclockwise, and some people are more comfortable moving clockwise. I prefer counterclockwise, but if you move clockwise, that’s perfectly fine. Here is a story I like to relate. Like anything else on this instrument, anything played fast sounds very cool. If a clarinet player walked in right now, and I gave him or her a pair of sticks, and they played right-left-right-left-right-left on a drum, someone outside would say, “Hey, there’s a drummer in there.” But what if I gave a clarinet to a drummer? Someone walking by wouldn’t say, “There’s a clarinetist in there.” They would say, “There’s a fool drummer in there trying to play a clarinet.” The instrument is very deceptive in that all you have to do is hold onto two pieces of wood and start hitting, and that’s why it’s important to think in terms of musical attributes. We can take something that is very basic and form it into something that is very musical. In my course, Jazz Improvisation, available in the Drum Channel store, you will develop your musicianship and improvisational skills. The course covers foundational stick technique, Moeller stick exercises, pedal technique, and brush technique, along with rhythmic improvisation on the set accompanied by a great jazz rhythm section. Foundational Brush Technique By Ed Soph. Presented by Drum Channel. 4 4/ RightHandBrushMotion >> 11 œœœœ 5:43 LeftHandBrushMotion 22 / LeftHandBrushMotion >> 22 œœœœMay 2021 Modern Drummer 75 Alex Solca / RightHand: BothHandsTogether 7:08 >> LeftHand: / >> 33 / RightHand: "SkipTheRock"Motion 7:43 LeftHand: / >> 33 44 œœœœœœœœ œœ ‰ œœœ ‰ œœœœœ 6:01Modern Drummer May 2021 76 W e have all heard that it’s very beneficial for drummers to learn how to read music. I completely agree. For me, it was one of the many game changers for my drumming. Learning to understand basic notation gave me the ability to explore totally new ideas through various books, videos, and other documents. These were ideas I would never have stumbled upon in my normal “sit down and jam or learn songs” regimen. Even though my career has never required much sight reading, I have still benefitted greatly from acquiring the skill of reading, and I feel it has opened many doors for me over the years. The Next Step As wonderful as it was having this new skill, it wasn’t long before I realized I was only getting half the benefits of understanding notation by merely knowing how to read. I needed to learn to write out figures, as well. Not surprisingly, this came to me when I was looking at 40 songs I had to learn in about a week for a new gig. I’m sure a lot of drummers have found themselves in this situation before. It was at that moment, I decided to begin my journey towards learning to write notation. Power of the Pen At the time, it didn’t dawn on me, but learning the skill of writing out computer- generated notes and rests takes just as much practice and patience as mastering any other task when sitting behind the kit. To master this skill, I needed to put down my sticks and pick up a pencil and eraser. In the beginning, a lot of time was invested in learning how to write out my own interpretation of rests and notes. It took some experimenting on my end, but soon I was comfortable writing out my version of a quarter- note rest, dotted 8th notes, and so on. All of these things require nothing more than slight learning curves. I have vivid memories of getting to the gig excited to read my newly written-out charts, only to discover I couldn’t read my own notation. Now, I’m able to chart out stuff with ease. In fact, if it’s a basic song and groove, I can chart a song in real time without stopping the music to write out figures. You just have to put in the time. The rewards will come. Finding the Note Now, I’d like to talk about the other side of being able to utilize this concept. You must be able to accurately identify exactly where the notes are landing within the time. For example, is the kick drum landing on the “e” or the “&” of beat three? Did the snare play the “&-a” or the “e-&” on beat two? Is the hi- hat playing 8th notes or 16th notes? When you hear a groove, can you identify each individual voicing? You’re developing your ears for this, and if you cannot accurately identify where these notes are landing, then learning to write out notation will have no value to you. What good is having the ability to write notation if your ears cannot accurately tell you what to write? Developing your ear can be a challenge. I recommend that you get a good teacher, so they can make sure you’re getting everything down correctly. One exercise I do with my students is I’ll play a basic one-bar groove over and over while they attempt to tell me what each individual part is playing. They are mainly listening to kick, snare, and hi-hat. I ask them to write it out for me, and I check it for accuracy. If a student is struggling with this exercise, I’ll try another approach. We’ll go to a lessons page we’re working on that includes some grooves they are comfortable with. I’ll then randomly play one of the grooves for them. Their job is to listen and find the groove I’m playing. In the beginning, I’ll play the groove as much as they need. But, over time, I’ll challenge their ears by only playing the groove once before they must figure it out. In this scenario, the students are listening to a figure, dissecting what they’re hearing, and associating it with the note value, instead of seeing the note value and being told what to play. This requires a totally different mindset than reading a figure from paper. I know I’m being redundant, but you must be patient with this process. Like anything, the more you do it, the better it gets. Challenge yourself by picking a song you like and trying to chart out the groove. I still have my old charts that I did 35 years ago. The Reward Taking the time to learn this skill has proven to be one of the best investments I’ve made. Not only did it help me learn a bunch of tunes at one time, it’s also a great tool to have at rehearsals. Let’s say your band mates or the music director changes or adds a part on the spot. Back in the day, I would panic and do my best to memorize the information as it was coming at me. Quite often, this would cause me to The Importance of Writing Notation By Billy Ashbaugh This chart was my first attempt at notating an entire song. It took many hours to finally get this one finished. I remember working on it well over a week! May 2021 Modern Drummer 77 put a mental block up and just make the entire learning process even harder and more frustrating. But once I had the skill of writing notation, the whole process was as easy as writing it out and reading it. Also, imagine being able to write out the ideas you come up with. Have you ever had a cool idea or a groove only to forget it the next day? I certainly did. Now, you can easily notate a library of ideas that will be at your fingertips for future recall. Think of it as jotting down notes. Being able to read and write notation is like learning the alphabet for a language versus simply being taught a few key words or phrases. It’s that powerful. My Stories I’d like to share a couple of stories of how utilizing this technique saved me hours of trying to memorize parts. Back in 1999, NSYNC did a song with Gloria Estefan for the movie Music of My Heart. While on tour, we found out we were going to perform the song with Gloria on the Teen Choice Awards. The problem was that filming the performance was literally the next day. Obviously, I didn’t have much time to prepare. It would have been no big deal—except the kick-drum pattern for this particular song was all over the place. It constantly changed throughout the song. Even more concerning, although I would be playing live, they wanted to keep the programmed kick part from the original track in the mix. This meant that I had to lock dead on with the track to avoid flamming. And, remember, this is live TV! Thank goodness I was able to chart the kick pattern out before we got to rehearsals the next day. I had two pages of kick drum written out that I had to follow. Needless to say, this was definitely one of those times I was glad I had learned to write notation. I’ll never forget that during the rehearsal, Gloria’s husband and renowned producer Emilio Estefan smiled and nodded as if he knew I had avoided a potentially disastrous situation. A similar situation happened when we had to learn three new songs to back Jordan Knight of New Kids on the Block on Good Morning America. Again, this was live TV, and filming was just a day away. Though the songs were structured conventionally, it was still awesome to write everything out and read my charts on the gig. This was a much better scenario than having to spend hours listening to and memorizing three songs. The Challenge I hope sharing my personal experiences with you might help inspire you to take the plunge and embrace this concept. As I mentioned earlier, I felt that just learning to read notation was only giving me half of the potential benefits this world has to offer. Everything seemed to come full circle once I learned to write. I have the ability to pick up a book and explore new ideas, and I have this amazing ability to chart out parts with ease. What a difference this has made! Trust me, writing notation is one skill you will not regret putting in the time to master. This is one of many charts I’ve written out for various gigs I’ve had. These are some random fill ideas I jotted down for a song I was working on.Next >