Drumming Lessons

In memory of the recently passed James Forbes “Jim” Chapin (July 23, 1919 – July 4, 2009 ), I felt it only right to let you all hear from the big man once again. Jim was probably best known for his work with the moeller technique. If you are going to learn it from someone, then Jim is the man to teach it – and just because he isn’t here anymore does not mean he can’t still teach us a thing or two! Enjoy the video and feel free to leave your comments for Jim below. R.I.P Jim. We will miss you.

Here’s a really easy way to make your double stroke open rolls sound more powerful and even.

I learnt this technique from one of my drum teachers years ago and it helped tidy up my double stroke rolls immediately. This drum lesson has to do with accenting the second beat of each double stroke.

See, most drummers like you and me slip into the habit of accenting the first note of each double stroke – it just feels like the natural thing to do. What this means is the second stroke of each double is much softer than the first and leads to an uneven sounding roll.

When you instead concentrate on accenting the second stroke of each double, all of a sudden your roll evens out and becomes a lot more powerful.

I’m not sure if that all made sense to you or not (even I got lost somewhere in between all that) so here is a short drum video from Jim Chapin that shows you exactly what I am talking about.

Trust me, it doesn’t take long to make the change but the difference it makes to your open rolls is massive.

Here’s a cool drum solo by the Red Hot Chili Pepper’s drummer, Chad Smith. The reason why I like to show this solo is not because I rekon the Chili’s are one of the best bands to ever walk this earth, but because Chad is a self-confessed, self-taught drummer just like me.

Chad learnt a lot of his skills just by playing along to funk songs on the radio and watching a ton of drum videos. So being cool isn’t all Chad and I have in common.

Just goes to show you that you don’t need the best teachers in the world to be a successful drummer. He slogged it out on his own and look where he is now. C’est la vie!