Drum Workshop (DW) Candyland V

   DW Drums just released the latest video of their show room called Candyland. They show beautiful, amazing sounding drums. You have to check it out!

Drummer Of The Week

   This Drummer Of The Week goes to Scott Pellegrom! This man right here is one of the greatest percussionists I have ever seen in my life and I had the privilege to see him play and give a clinic at the DW Factory Day in Oxnard, CA this past summer and it awesome and so inspirational. Scott is a world class percussionist and he makes a living traveling the world and playing on records, doing clinics, and playing with world symphonies/bands.

  If I were to describe his playing style I would have to say he is definitely not afraid to take risks which is why I think his style unique than any other drummer. He shows that there are different ways to play drums and make new sounds with things that aren't even in percussion. 

I can't even talk about his playing because I just get the urge to look him up on Youtube and watch him play so I'm just going put below two link of videos of him doing a TED Talk and a jam session with a couple of musicians, enjoy! :)

 Scott Pellegrom TEDxMuskegon 

Live at River City Studios featuring Scott Pellegrom - Oralgami Jam pt. 1 

New Kit Builder

Quick announcement! Zildjian just came out with a new kit builder not to long ago called the Zildjian Sound Lab. It allows you to here and see your dream cymbal set-up so that way you have an idea of what you want on your set. Go check it out!!! :D

 

Drummer Of The Week

 

  This Drummer Of the Week is an awesome upcoming professional drummer name Cobus Potgieter. If you have been seeing my other posts on here you'll probably recognize Cobus in a couple of my previous ones. Right off the bat I want to talk about Cobus's background. When Cobus was six-teen years old he decided that he was going to learn how to play the drums, but had no experience whatsoever, so he basically taught himself how to play drums by ear and tried to imitate drum parts from songs that he liked. Eventually he started putting up videos of himself doing drum covers of songs on YouTube and he became a pretty big hit. In fact he became so big that he was getting multiple sponsorships by companies such as Truth Soul Armor Clothing, TRX Cymbals, UDRUMS,  Samson Microphones, and Evans Drum Heads. But over the years he has made a couple changes. Now he is sponsored by Drum Workshop A.K.A. DW Drums, and Sabian Cymbals. 


  Cobus has also teamed up with Drumeo to make and release lessons called The Cobus Method and right now he's working on another series of drum covers that he will be putting up soon. On other projects he also made his own band called Ventura Lights who are working on doing a tour. 

  Cobus has certainly proven that you can do what you love and can make a career out of it no matter what the odds are. I definitely look up to him as a role model and he always inspires me to want to do better know his background and how much he has progressed as drummer in the a short amount of time. 

   I give my respects to him and with out further-a-dew, with his band Ventura Lights and the music video for their song Superheros, here's Cobus! :)

 

Rhythm In Education

   Now I love playing music and I also try to relate it to other things or subjects so other people can try to get a better grasp on music and whatever other thing they are focusing on. Now I am very big on trying to relate music with school/educaton, even though I'm not really best person when it comes to academics but I love to try to find new ways where I can try to connect the two and try to find similarities and also some type of motivation so that way the person can not only see what the two have in common, but also try to go beyond and explore on their knowledge.

  Remo Drum Heads uploaded this video on Youtube of students doing better in school by taking on a music classes. Not only do they find it fun but it makes them want to better in school so that way they can stay in the music program. Seeing this just put the biggest smile on my face and gave me hope that music and education can work together. :)

 

Quote Of The Day

  My favorite quote ever is one of the main reasons why I still practice and play the drums to this day.

"Practice doesn't make perfect, it makes permanent." - C. Belyea

  Now I heard this when I was in jr. high from my old band director, Charlotte Belyea, now I know she's not the person that made the quote but she is the one that introduced it to me so I'm giving her the credit. If anyone knows who made this quote originally please let me know because I've been looking for the longest time.

  Good Day! :)

DRUM DUET!

Here is a awesome drum duet remix of The Beatles song "Come Together" by Jared Falk  and Cobus Potgieter. It is so good! If you are a Beatles fan then you will love this and if you are a real Beatles you'll probably think they just ruined the song. Oh well, hope you like it! :)

 

Kit Builders

Ever wanted to see your dream kit come to life? Well now you can by playing around with these kit building websites! :D 

Drum Workshop Kit Builder 

Meinl Cymbals Sound Check

Mapex MyDentity Kit Builder

Sabian Set Up Builder

It's Getting Better #1

     One of the things that drummers find challenging is how can we make our lives easier when it comes to the drumset and what we can do to improve it and not really worry about it. Well we are lucky enough to have companies to take that time to make things that can improve our drum life without much stress. One of those companies is Gibraltar Hardware and they are always coming up with new ways to make it easier and accessible for drummers to do things with there set-up or come up with new accessories that they think drummers would like. It really appeals to me when companies take the time to focus on the small things that we as drummers struggle with because it really is the small things that count and if they aren't working or if they aren't working to your requirements then you want to see what other options  out there that can work for you. I will be showing a lot more products by other companies that I feel are a good use or that appeal to drummers, because what drummer doesn't want things easier? 

   I will be keeping up with cool products so that way you can check them out and hopefully you can look into getting a couple of these products to make your drumming life easier. :)

   

Drummer Of The Week

                  Tony Royster Jr. 
 Well if you don't know who Tony Royster Jr. then you are totally missing out! Tony is probably one of the greatest drummers ever and has truly left a mark in the drumming community probably in the past decade and a half. He started playing drums at the age of three and since then he has won the Guitar Center Drum Off (at age 11), he performed at the Grammy's (at age 15), getting multiple sponsorships, working with some top artists, and he is currently on tour with Jay-Z. He even has a couple DVDs out like Pure Energy and Evolution. So you can defiantly see that he has accomplished a lot in the short time he has been in world. 

  If I were to describe his style of drumming it would defiantly be fusion, hip-hop, and just insanely bombastically musical, and the last description I feel is right on point and the people who have ever seen him play would probably agree with me. 

Just talking about him makes me want to just go on Youtube right now and watch him play so I'm just going to stop and just let you watch the videos I have below

   ENJOY! You can thank me later. ;)

 

 
   

Drummer Of The Week

 

Billy Kilson

  Awwww man! Billy Kilson is one of the greatest jazz/ fusion drummer I have ever seen in my entire life. I remember the first time I ever saw him play was when my old band director showed a video to the jazz band last year and it was on a amazing trumpet player named Chris Botti. It was a concert that he did in Boston and me and a couple of the other drummers noticed this drummer in the background playing like a madman. It wasn't that he was going super animal or anything like that, it's the way he poured out himself when he was playing on the kit. This man was moving his entire body, flailing his arms, and was making the most over exaggerated faces when he was performing and I loved every minute of it. I knew that he was giving that 110% when he was playing because you can see it coming out of him when he plays. 

 

  Right now this usually where I would be talking about the drummers style but I can't put it into words on how much I love Billy's playing so I'm just going to set a link to a interview of Billy on Drum Cafe, which is right here. The interview talks about Billy's background, his style, and his experiences in learning on playing the drums. 

 

         

   So with out further a do here is Billy Kilson. :)

 

 

Fede Rabaquino

Fede Rabaquino is a drummer I started following not that long ago and he has definitely made an impact with me. He has shown me that drumming doesn't always have to be so serious. I think with a lot of drummers that go on wanting to do this as a career they start getting more serious ,which is good, but sometimes we just need to stop and remember why we play the drums. From my personal experience I remember I went to this whole serious drumming phase and I was really focusing on how I can become a better drummer. Again that it isn't a bad but I did loose the reason why I played drums in the first place, I forgot on how fun it truly is.   One of the things that really stood out to me that I found out about Fede is that he is a mexican drummer and what I mean by that is he lives in Mexico and only speaks spanish , but that didn't stop him from making drum covers of The Police , Mana, Green Day, Lady Gaga, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, and etc. He was willing to take a chance and do songs that he loved that were kind of out of his comfort zone because he loves drumming and music so much and he shows in it in his playing which also adds his own kind of style when he plays. I have so much respect for Fede because he truly knows what it is to have fun for what you love and that is a big part in my book.

     Please subscribe to his YouTube channel right here. I swear, you wont be disappointed.

 

Drummer Of The Week

 

This Drummer Of the Week goes to Dave Weckl. Dave is absolutely one of my favorite drummers of all time! I can watch him play for hours and still be amazed since he is just so good. In my own words I can say that he is one of best fusion drummers and overall one of the best drummers of all time.

I was first introduced by him and his amazing playing around two years after I started playing and I was looking up drum videos on YouTube and I actually clicked on a video montage of drummers and Dave just happened to be one of them. It showed him playing to a track and I remember him doing all this these licks and chops and it sounded really off to me since at the time I was really only into rock/punk music and I here him playing to a latin/fusion track. I wasn't used to hearing any type of fusion music whatsoever, so right away I didn't like it since I was so used to a 4/4 rock beats.

 

 A couple years later once I really started opening to other styles of drumming and music I found another video of Dave and the only reason why I clicked on the video was because his name sounded very familiar so I winged it and watched the video. Once the video had ended I was instantly hooked because since I wanted to become a better drummer I was looking for something that was more challenging than just a simple rock beat. Seeing him play was definitely a inspiration. He is for sure one of those people that I can call more of musician than a drummer since he brings so much musicality in his playing and you can hear it when he plays the drums.

 

 Okay. So I think that's all I have to say for now...sooo....with out further a do here's DAVE WECKL!!! :)

 

 

                                                                                        

Practice Tips

  A problem that a lot of drummers always face is when they can find time to play on the drumset. There can be a lot of reasons why drummers can't always be on kit whether it's finding time in their scheduled, not being able to play in the early mornings or on the late nights because neighbors would get mad,or even not having access to kit on a daily basis. All these problems get in the way of playing but it shouldn't get in the way of practice which I think a lot of drummers don't realize. Just because we can't practice on actual drum doesn't mean we shouldn't practice. There are many different ways to practice with out a drum or drumset and you'll be surprised how many ways there is to practice. In the video you below instructed by Cobus Potgieter you'll see some ways to practice with out the use of drumset. Hopefully this will help some of get some new ideas on how to practice.

  

WATCH, LEARN, ABSORB!

  

Stretching & Warm-Ups

   Most of the drummer population at one point or more has either experienced cramps or some type of pain during or after they play the drums and a lot of that has to do with not actually stretching and warming up. I remembered when I was getting more comfortable playing the drums harder and for long periods of time, after I was done playing my hands, wrists, and forearms would be really sore or in pain and for the longest time I never knew why untill I saw a video of a drummer name Tony Royster Jr. explaining why. In the video below he is going to show a couple stretches and a technique called the Moeller Technique and how you can use it in your warm ups and in your playing. The one of thing that I like about these stretches and warm ups is that they aren't made specifically for one thing. I don't really like things where I can only play it on the kit or play on a marching drum because it feels like, well at least to me, I can only do so much with it so I like to find and try things that I can apply to on the kit and marching. I defiantly do these things now before I start playing, especially for drumline, before I play at a performance, and when I for sure know I am going to go all "ANIMAL" (hopefully some people get that term,) on the kit because every drummer need to go crazy every once in a while without any disturbance.  

 So without further a do, here's Tony! Enjoy! :)

 

Drummer Of The Week

Aaron Spears

 Aaron Spears....Where do I begin? Well I can for sure say that he is on of the first drummers I really got into. I was on YouTube one day and it showed this video on the recommendation list of Aaron and it was his performance at the Modern Drum Festival in 2006, which by the way if any of you want to see it it's right here. I remembered when I saw that I was just blown away by his playing. I have never seen a drummer do what he can do and in another video he was explaining what he does when it comes to licks/chops and he shows that he uses a lot of triplets in his playing, which you think isn't that really hard, but then instead of playing a simple triplet pattern every time he switches his hands and moves the pattern around which really defines his sound and to this day he is still one of most well known respected drummers. His style that he plays is gospel/fusion but as I said before he switches it up a bit to make it his own sound and he definitely used it to make his mark in the drumming community and he even played with some big artists. 

  So now instead of me talking about Aaron I am just going to shut up so that way you can see him play. ENJOY! :)

The Start Of Somthing Pt. 2

   As my sophomore year came to an end and I was approaching my junior I realized that I have to step up my game even more. Not only was I going to be an upper classman but the kids that were coming in to band and drumline are going to look up to someone and that someone was me and I definitely wanted them to look up to me, but not as a person they just see and be intimidated by like how I was when I started, but someone that they can look up to, see, and ask for help without feeling uncomfortable. I didn't really want to be looked as a leader, but as a friend, colleague, or just someone they can go to if they are struggling with something. I remember ,I think it was in my second semester of my junior year, I just came to realized on how much I've grown as a drummer and as a musician. In all the progress I made from my freshman year to my junior I realized I wasn't the same drummer I was before and when I saw on how much I progressed I wanted to see how much father I can go. 

  Right now I'm in my last year in high school, captain of the schools drumline, percussion section leader for the school band, played in a couple musical groups, met some amazing musicians/ drummers who inspired and helped me in a big way. They helped me to become myself and now I'm just a musician falling in love with his instrument and wanting to learn more about as time goes on. 

    I barely touched the surface, now it's time to keep going and experience on what's to come... 

The Start Of Somthing Pt. 1

   I was in 5th grade and I was moving to a new town since my dad got a new job in town called Santa Maria (SM) located in California. We lived in Santa Barbara (SB) and he didn't want to drive such a long distnace to get to work so that ment I had to say goodbye to my life in SB and move to my new life in SM. The move was kinda tough since I had to leave all my friends behind. I should up to the first day at school and it was really scarey since I was they new kid and didn't know any one. As time went by there was a announcement saying that people could sign up for band, so I signed up and I chose to learn percussion since I was already bagging on lap, desks, air drumming to songs, and etc., also I felt like I couldn't play anything else. Once I joined I instantly loved band and playing percussion since I literally get hit things and make music, plus I lucky to have an awesome band director who could actually play almost every instrument very well. I played in the school band my entire 5th and 6th grade year and continued in jr. high and I am currently in my high school band, but this is sadly my last year in it since I am senior so that's I am bummed but also excited since the experience so far has been awesome. 

 This man you see right here to your upper left is the reason why I took drums so seriously in the first place. The summer before I entered jr. high my sister introduced me to an awesome band called Blink 182 (sound familiar, yes? No? Maybe so?) and I see this guy in the back playing the drums like a maniac so after researching the members of the band I found out it was Travis Barker and once I saw him it was a total game changer for me. He was the first drummer I was ever really obsessed about and I after seeing him I wanted to make that transition from a school percussionist to a drummer playing on the kit. Near the end of eight grade my parents got me my first drumset, it was a piece crap but I didn't care at the time since I was so excited that I got a drumset, and I was just so excited because now I can play and be like my hero and try to figure what he's actually doing instead of using my legs or pillows. About a year after I got my kit I just started looking up random drum videos on Youtube and I saw players like Aaron Spears, Eric Moore, Billy Cobham, Dennis Chamber, Stewart Copeland, and etc. and I was just amazed on how great they were and it definitely opened a new era on how I look at drumming.  

  When I entered into my first year of high school I joined the marching band/ drumline (still in it to this day) and they first week I just remembered seeing the upper class playing and...oh...my....gosh....I thought they were like professionals and I was so intimidated by them and I didn't want to play the drums because I thought they were so much better than me, I felt like I would be criticized since I wasn't as good as them, and I really didn't want to play the drums at all at one point because I thought I just sucked. Around mid into my sophomore year I just to myself "You know what? I want to be good just like (the upper classman) I don't how I'm going to do it but going to do it!" So from then on I tried to practice every day for a couple hours, I tried to look up drum instructional videos on Youtube, improve my reading in music notation, learning the really basic drum rudiments since a lot of the cadences and music that I played had them and also trying to see how I can apply it to the kit, and so forth. By the end of my sophomore year I saw that I improved tremendously and I definitely felt more confident about myself when I played. 

  

TO BE CONTINUED...

  

THE AMAZING LEGENDARY BUDDY RICH! :D

If you are a drummer and you don't know who this man is then first of all slap yourself! Just kidding, don't do that but if you are serious or getting serious about drumming then you have to at least know the legend. 

The Great Buddy Rich 

 

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to THE DRUM SPOT! I'm just a seventeen year old boy who is obsessed about drums and drumming. It is my entire life right now and hopefully I can show all my love for it right here. I will be posting things like drum covers, lessons, performances, drum products that I find interesting, and just straight out drum solos from some of my drummers, percussionist, and artists. I'll do my best to show how much love I have about this and hopefully you will enjoy it as much as I do! :)