3 comments about Jungle Drum "n" Bass: A Guide to Applying Today's Electronic Music to the Drum Set (with audio CD).

1. Very good instructional book. Teaches how to immitate the jungle drum & base rhytms, usually played on drum machines, on acustic drumset. Tons of exercises.Good for every level, from beginners to advanced drummers. The attached CD's demonstrate some of the exercises, bonus electronic demos, and play along tracks.



2. This book has much further applications than just drum-n-bass. I use this book with intermediate students to work on independence, counting, and mixing of patterns. I find this to be a much better rock/funk/etc book than the Funky Primer. Far easier to read as well.



3. It explains in a very clear way. I liked the way the grooves are constructed and explained.
   
   Totally recomendable for drummes that don't want to stay with the same grooves and give to their music a new taste.

1 comments about POPULAR HITS: DRUMS (BIG BAND PLAY-ALONG V2) BKCD (Big Band Play-Along).

1. Classic tunes but all tracks include drums. It is not a true Drum Play-along. It should have two tracks for each tune; one with drums and one with out. This only has the one track with drums.
   
   It is not as advertised.

1 comments about FastTrack Drum Songbook 1 - Level 1 (Fasttrack Series).

1. When I first got this book I wasn't sure what to think. It was cheap, easy to read, and it came with a CD. I thought it was to good to be true. I took it home and started using it. The book covers everthing you could want to know. Like reading sheet music, getting ryhtm, playing fast, and even how to write your own music. On top of that they make jokes that are funny. Even if you don't have drums you can learn because they have a section for teaching air drummers. This is a really great book. No drummer should be without it.

2 comments about The Evolution of Blast Beats.

1. As a beginning drummer, it's hard to listen to a Slayer song and even understand what is going on, much less try to play it.
   
   Derek's book breaks the beats down and transcribes them so you can play them slow and work up to the speed that is necessary for metal. It gives so many variations of the blast beat it will make your head spin, which makes it a great resource for coming up with creative beats.



2. First thing: If I played this style of music I would give it 5 stars, sadly I'm not an extreme metal drummer but I appreciate the fact that this can improve my technique. Especially my double bass technique! There are many, many superb exercises for technique, balance and stamina, so this is great for all drummers. The exercises are challenging and really made me concentrate VERY hard to play them, which is a good thing. All beats are explained and written in detail and the CD is done in a fun way. I might even drop a few blast beats into my solos! My only critisism is that some of the exercises Derek uses (about his stamina building exerercises etc) are written in such a way which confuses me, sometimes 'ordinary' people like myself really need these difficult concepts to be explained in a super basic fashion. But this is minor. Go and buy the book, give it 3 months and see the benefits

No comments about Metallica - Master of Puppets (Drum Edition).

5 comments about Traps - The Drum Wonder: The Life of Buddy Rich.

1. The Buddy Rich story had to be told, and on the whole Tormé does it with honesty and humour. His writing, however, suffers from a number of bad mixed metaphors, and there is a dreadful editing mistake when the lead in quote to one of the final chapters is dated as being at Rich's birthday party in 1988. He died in 1987. These qualms aside, the book is easy reading, with many funny anecdotes. The view of the jazz scene is predictably white and cronyish, but the main interest is Rich's extraordinary life and talent.



2. A great story, but.... The Buddy Rich story had to be told, and on the whole Tormé does it with honesty and humour. His writing, however, suffers from a number of bad mixed metaphors, and there is a dreadful editing mistake when the lead in quote to one of the final chapters is dated as being at Rich's birthday party in 1988. He died in 1987. These qualms aside, the book is easy reading, with many funny anecdotes. The view of the jazz scene is predictably white and cronyish, but the main interest is Rich's extraordinary life and talent.



3. Mel Torme is not a genius of prose or of the biography genre, but he isn't unreadable either, and literary standards these days are low anyway. Besides, Mel Torme KNEW Rich for much of Rich's life. Buddy Rich asked Torme to write a fair biography, and that is what Torme has done. If you want to learn about the life of the greatest technical drum soloist of all time, this is the book to buy. I like the pictures, too. (How's that for genius in prose?)



4. I have been in awe of Buddy Rich's musicianship since hearing him live at "Lennie's on the Turnpike" in MA back in the sixties. He could 'suggest' a melody during his solo's better than any drummer I've ever heard (in 62 years). Mel Torme's biography is just fine at portraying Buddy Rich.
   Read it and judge for yourselves!



5. Torme was a close friend of Buddy Rich, knew much of his life story at first hand, and as a musician himself had access to dozens of Riches colleagues. Mel was a professional writer as well as a musician and it shows in the clarity of his prose. If you've gone so far as to read this review then you will for sure like the book.

No comments about Modern Rock: Drum Play-Along Volume 4 (Hal Leonard Drum Paly Along).

5 comments about The Music of Santeria: Traditional Rhythms of the Bata Drums (Performance in World Music Series).

1. This book is great!!!! This book provides the only transcription of sacred rhythms of Santeria I have been able to find. The transcriptions are accurate. The authors are also very respectful of the religious nature of the music. This book is useful for both musicians and non-musicians.



2. The book did what I was looking for to do in regard to the bata drumming styles and rhythms. This is the real timimg of the Yoruba-Nigerian and Cuban expressions of the bata drums. I hope it would had the same effect on you as it did to me. Even if you are not a musician or just love community drumming the bata rhythms are the original trive toques(Spanish)of the Afro-Caribean Cuban Santeros and the Latinos Musicians that used them in Salsa Music of today.



3. Having been a student of Amira's, and having travelled to Cuba several times, I know a little about what this book means for people who study Afro-Cuban sacred rhythms. Cornelius is also a drummer and ethnomusicologist.
   This book is accurate, interesting, and extremely informative. But it is a shame that Amazon doesn't carry the CD that goes with this book--it is a clearly laid out study of the most important rhythms. I have known some drummers who grew up playing in Havana to get excited when they heard this recording, and ask to play specific sections over again to study them in detail.
   This book is satisfying to all levels--from the beginner who wants to start learning a little about the rhythms, to the advanced scholar who is ready to dive into the details. The authors are completely trustworthy sources of information and this is a work of devotion and years of study.



4. This is a great book for learning about the music of santeria, but it has some short comings as far as TEACHING how to play the bata drums. This book covers historical background, musical structure and provides notations for many traditional bata songs. I would not consider it to be an instructional book.

   My book came with a CD, which is perhaps the best recording I have been able to find of traditional bata drumming (most discs have vocals with the drumming that make it difficult to specifically concentrate on the drums). This disc consists of recordings of specific songs being performed on bata drums.

   I wish that the CD would have broken up the parts for the indivdual drums to make that easier to hear. I would also have liked to have some instructional demonstrations on the disc to hear various techniques of playing the bata drums. The text is also weak on instructional techniques for the drums with only 9 photographs and 1 page of text dedicated to teaching technique. There is no discussion or demonstration for the use of bata drums with contemporary music. I realize that this is not the intention of this book, and apparently teaching technique is not either. (I sure would like to find a book dealing with these issues!)




5. I agree with everyone who loves this book, which combines the historical scholarship of Fernando Ortiz with careful transcriptions of New York-based bata drummers, including Jesus Perez, Julio Collazo, and Puntilla.
   
   This book is all rhythms, marvelous if you are a drummer or other musician, do not get this if you are looking for a history of santeria.
   
   This book DOES include the CD, which is indispensable for learning the rhythms. There is only one ISBN for the BOOK/CD set, which is 0-941677-70-2. If your copy doesn't contain the CD, return it for one that does, and do NOT buy the CD from dealers who try to sell it separately for as much as $200 on Amazon marketplace and elsewhere.
   
   Happy drumming!

2 comments about Virgil Donati: Ultimate Play Along Drum Trax (Book & 2 CD's) (Ultimate Play-Along).

1. While it's highly unlikely that most drummers will achieve Donati's technical ability as showcased in this package, this is a great way to get inside his head and finally understand some of his advanced techniques.
   
   The song selection is excellent and the transcriptions are accurate and detailed. Even better, the dual CDs offer mixes with and without drums. For the more complex parts, there are slowed down and repeated "minus-drums" mixes available (for example, on a complex section where Virgil applies some advanced metric modulation and beat displacement techniques in OTV's "Native Metal" tune).
   
   All in all highly recommended for intermediate to advanced drummers who want to learn more about Virgil's unique style and thinking. This is challenging material that will increase your chops and musicality.
   
   Kevin



2. I love this book! Great for challenging your hands, feet and co-ordination. A well set out book with helpful thoughts and exercises. Possibly the best play along book for the heavy rock drummer.

4 comments about Ultimate Play-Along Drum Trax: Level 1.

1. I have both this volume and volume 2. This one (Volume 1) has a great range of styles Straight Eights, Shuffle, Sixteenths are found on both volumes 1 and 2 however with different tempos and feel. This volume has more of a "programmed" accompaniment. In other words, a lot of the bass tracks are synthesized. However, it's still a great tool to learn how to approach the various styles of music. I love both. I currently study with Dave, and use it in our sessions.



2. For those of you who wish to really solidify your playing, buy this package. Very comprehensive and the quality of songs is exceptional for a "play-along". Two CDs. One with drums, the other without. The one with drums is worthy to just listen to just like a CD you buy from the store!! They're that good. And to play along with it and learn the approach to several different styles of music is invaluable. The only track that could've been left out or replaced is the "Rock" track. To me it feels like it was put there just for the sake of putting a "Rock" style in. But, the intent is to convey and learn a good solid "Rock" groove, so in that respect it works.



3. Dave is one of the best drumming teacher I have seen and was very impressed. Good job Dave.



4. This is by far the least user-friendly drumming book I have purchased, and I am already having to order something to replace it with. There are no specific links between the book and the cd (such as "Track 1 - 16ths," etc.). I looked high and low for track numbers next to the written music, to no avail. Incredibly convoluted presentation of text -- lengthy, single-spaced paragraphs, often with musical notations distributed throughout, as opposed to setting it apart from the text. I am giving it 3 stars rather than 1 only because it is possible I am simply not smart enough to figure it out. Fortunately, there are so many user-friendly books out there, I won't have to tear my hair out trying to make heads or tails out of this one.