Jonathan Brown

Musicians, great and terrible, all play what they think sounds good on their instruments. But there's a difference between o.k. players and great players even though they're both doing what they think sounds good. Sure, skill, preparedness, technique, and experience all factor in that difference, but there's still something really small but really important missing. It just so happens to be something I have found to be incredibly difficult to explain. Simply put, it's why. We all ask ourselves, "What would sound good here?" but excellent musicians take it one step further and ask, "Why would this sound good?" Have you ever bothered to ask yourself why the thing you want to play sounds good? If not, you're in trouble. I love how there are so many types of music. You can get the same song to sound very different by playing it in a different style. With all the different genres of music out there, all of the different artists and songs, each of us a...

There's a difference in my playing when I give myself permission to "be the drummer." That probably doesn't make a whole lot of sense. What I mean is allowing myself to be the guy who knows what he's doing back there. The guy that knows how to best play his parts. The guy who practiced with the band. The guy who knows where the song is going before it goes there. What is that? It's confidence and authority. I like to call it "being the drummer." So back to what I'm trying to say. There's a difference in my playing when I give myself permission to "be the drummer." I say "permission" because only I have the power to grant that permission to myself. Well why wouldn't I grant myself that permission? Isn't that an obvious thing to do? Well, I'll tell you why that doesn't happen sometimes. If I didn't learn my parts, I don't have my own permission to play like I confidently know them. If I don't know...

Let's talk about language. "Language?" you say. "I thought this was about drumming!" Yeah. Just stick with me. What's great about music is that it's so similar to a language. In most languages you have actually more than one vocabulary; you have one for listening, one for speaking, one for reading, and one for writing. Let that sink in. Isn't that just crazy how you can understand certain words when someone else uses them but not so much when you use them yourself? Or I've found myself speaking words I don't even know how to spell. (I'm referring to the word "pristine" ) I bet if you start looking for it, you'll notice differences in your vocabularies. Anyway... Musicians don't just play music; they listen to it, too. Listening to music can give you ideas about sounds, rhythms, general vibes, emotions, drum fills, instrumentation, taste, melodies, chord progressions etc. The list is practically endless here. You can lear...

Why on earth are there so many sticks to choose from? And what makes them all different? You want to know? - me too. This is a topic I have been hardcore exploring lately. Here is what I've learned. I think it's important to define different parts of the drumstick (as nerdy as that is) so that you will understand what I'm talking about when I reference it. So take a good look at this diagram of a drumstick. Yeah. That says butt. There are two main reasons why people buy certain types of sticks: 1. how it sounds 2. how it feels Let's dive into the factors that affect sound . Diameter/Thickness - Generally, the thicker the stick, the more power and projection it has. Length - Longer sticks have more torque or leverage (I'm not sure what the right science term is here) but think about it. The tip of a longer stick will travel faster with the same wrist motion of a shorter stick, thus, giving a louder sound (and a different rebound). Tip Shape - This is a big deal. I...

I recently played an "acoustic" service with just a kick, snare, hi hat and occasional shaker. With this very simple set up, I had to rearrange the drum parts to fit my context. In other words, I can't play the tom groove that's supposed to happen if I don't have any toms, so I had to come up with different solutions to many parts. It was a fun challenge, especially, not having a crash cymbal. I want to share with you how I came up with the parts that I did or, at least, my thought process. I basically asked myself a lot of questions, and I categorized those questions into 3 basic steps. The first step is to be acquainted with the song. How does the song go?   What is the general vibe?   How do the drum parts normally go?  What rhythms are being played?  What's the primary subdivision? When changing the drum parts to any song, it is important you know what it is you are changing. I wanted to stay true to the original drum parts within reason. I...