Don’t Forget Your ABCs…

MasterMind Drummer

Oct 14th, 2024

Newsletter #43

Last week, I started working with an internationally renowned drummer, from a high-level arena band.

He reached out simply as he enjoys my playing, and wants to dial in some areas he feels he hasn’t given much attention.

We’ve loosely connected over the years – the perks of social media, but he DM’d me a couple of weeks ago, inquiring specifically about 1on1 lessons.

I said, first off, let’s just jump on a call and discuss your goals etc. and see where we go from there.

We ended up having a great yarn (over an hour), figured out exactly what he was after, and we booked the first lesson in a couple of days’ time.

Now, he’s not the first pro-level player I’ve had the pleasure of working with – this started happening in the last 2-3 years, but it got me thinking…

Actually, let me set this up properly by acknowledging –

Firstly, he is an absolutely FANTASTIC drummer – world-class by all standards. He’s tight, has speed, writes great parts. He’s a weapon. Oh, and his band rules.

Secondly, I don’t have all the answers, and never claim to have, hence why I asked to jump on a call with him first.

If I felt I wasn’t the right fit for him, we wouldn’t have moved forward.

I’m not after every student, just the ones that I am right for.

So anyway…

Something I’ve come to realize as I get older and dive deeper into my craft is that there’s really only one true pathway to achieving the results I want for myself, and for my students.

Fundimentals. Fundimentals. Fundimentals.

When I first started teaching over 22 years ago, if a student came to me wanting to work on, for example, chops/facility etc. I would jump right into it, showing them as many combos and stickings as I could possibly muster.

You know, all that empty low-hanging fruit most people get pulled in by.

The problem was (and I could see this playing out in real time), they may have started to get their head around the patterns and concepts I was showing them in the lesson – great – but more often than not, their mechanics just weren’t up to scratch, or mature enough to match.

With full awareness of this at the time, I’ve always rationalized this problem as, “well, they only have 60 minutes, so I want to give them as much bang for their buck.”

But really, when it comes down to it, I’d walk away feeling the lesson was sort of empty and vacuous, because I knew deep down there was a much bigger mountain that needed to be climbed.

I wasn’t being the educator I knew I could be.

And I’ll add, too, this is regardless of how happy they felt about the lesson, and the new concept they just learned.

I wrestled with this for many years.

So, I actually ended up pulling back from teaching. I cut my students right back and stopped offering new lessons.

I took this time to dive deeper into my own growth (on and off the kit) as I wanted to plug some glaringly obvious holes I could see, and during this period, a couple of things happened.

1. My mindset shifted with regard to teaching. I decided the student may think they know what they want, but often they don’t as they don’t have a broad enough view of things.

2. It’s my job to zoom out and explain the bigger picture as this can ONLY come with time and experience.

3. To be a good teacher, you must remain a dedicated student.

This third one is NOT optional. If you are a teacher and are not pushing yourself daily on your craft, you are doing your students a disservice, and its basically just daylight robbery.

I mean that.

The thing is, the more I learn about my own playing and the craft itself, the clearer it becomes, that if you want everything at the highest standard (I know I do), then we must go back to the fundamentals, dial them in, and then build from the ground up.

There is no other way. Not if you want true growth as a player. Otherwise, you’re just waisting your time and setting yourself up for failure and future disappointment.

So, now when someone comes to me, (and no matter what they may want to develop), the first thing I always ask is:

“How solid is your double-stroke?”

Why? Well, for me, that one metric tells me sooooo much about you as a player. It really is an extremely powerful microscope.

I have people that really like the way I move around the kit, and want to get lessons from me. That’s all well and good, but a big part of my flow and fluidity is built on a foundation of –

1. Strong Double-Strokes

2. Refined in Mechanics/Dynamics.

So, intentional movements with FULL control.

Yes, there are other key elements too, like odd number combos and phrasings, a strong conversation between the hands and feet, and the single-kick stuff too, and they are all important, for sure, but they are absolutely second to a strong foundation.

I focus on doubles so much because until you have them dialed in, you don’t really realise how much they actually cover within your playing. The ability to ‘not control the stick’, (just guide it), and then to ‘control it’.

It’s the marriage of these two mechanical switches that once you gain access, it opens up a whole new level, and a world of options on the kit.

Now, at the risk of coming across as ‘The Lord Of All Things Drums’, don’t worry, I’m well aware that I do not have all the answers (as mentioned at the top of this). This is why I screen potential students first, as I very well may not be the right guy.

I’m hyper aware of my weaknesses, as I should be. I have to face them every day.

Every day I bike to my studio, sit down on my pads, and see if any of the work I did the previous day has actually moved the needle or not.

Sometimes it has, but, to be honest, often it hasn’t, as we are talking about such specific areas of improvement, which only come from extreme amounts of time and effort – slow burn long term.

Aka – The good shit!

I know my strengths too, and I am extremely proud of them. I work on my playing alot, so I am grateful for my gains and my wins.

It’s your job, not just as a drummer, but as a creative, to know your weaknesses, and be able to pinpoint and isolate the areas that need work, but… you need to know your strengths as well.

You need to know what you offer, and what you offer WELL!

I’ve mentioned this before, but I can’t stand the ‘humble pie’ persona that players feel they need to uphold, so they don’t run the risk of coming across as… dare I say… confident!

Know your shit, own it, offer it, and keep pushing.

Anyway, I digress.

I suppose this is all to say that, these days, no matter what people come to me for, it will now always lead me back to the beginning, first. It has to.

So, doubles, mechanics, dynamics, and the like. The fundamentals.

As, no matter what area you may want to improve in, it will always be determined by the strength of your foundation in the first place.

I feel this is my duty as an educator, and honestly, I just can’t do it any other way. Not anymore.

Now, I’ll admit, it’s a much slower process, as we now have to follow a very specific pathway of milestones before we can move forward, but I’m telling you, if we do, the pay-off is MUCH larger, has MUCH more substance, and guarantees a MUCH higher level of player as a result – which is what we want.

So yeah, just remember, no matter where you are in your journey…

Don’t Forget Your ABCs…

As It’s never too late.

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Let’s leave it there this week, as I’m sure you have a big day ahead.

As always, thanks for taking the time, and thanks for all your feedback, too. I really appreciate it.

I read them all. So please, if you have any thoughts, send them through, and let’s get a dialogue happening.

Don’t forget… Stay hungry (and stay healthy!)

See you next week.

Stan