Fundamental Concepts for Drummers

This book is a comprehensive guide. It describes the fundamental concepts which a modern drummer should be familiar with. All elementary issues of drumming are analyzed systematically. The book demonstrates approaches from scratch for reaching top results and a maximum joy of playing the instrument. A conceptional guide for all drummers, teachers and students alike. I took a long time wondering whether it would make any sense to write yet another book on drumming. The market is fully saturated, and for any conceivable topic you will find more or less sophisticated literature. In the course of my activities as lecturer and director of the drum department, I was granted many really astonishing experiences. I have developed many concepts of my own, some of which are based on the support and suggestions provided by my colleagues1. Intensive encounters with some of the world's best drummers2 have helped me analyze and understand the most various approaches to drumming directly at the source. Realizing the fundamental structures of today's drumming practice has inspired and encouraged me to start this project. In this book I will try to introduce these concepts to the reader. I want to show how people can learn and experience drumming in a way that is different from what is perceived and described in the existing literature on drumming. The whole book is free from any musical notes, because it is not about learning yet another set of licks, patterns, and combinations, but instead a fundamental approach to the instrument we all love to play so much. Some colleagues may consider the one or the other issue from a completely different point of view and tend to a different approach. But that doesn't mean in turn that my concepts are insufficient. They are just different, and they may seem odd in certain respects, but in fact they have been shown to be highly efficient.