Drummer's Weekly Groovecast

Phil and Jon are back in a newly revamped studio B with a topic suggested by a member of our listening audience. This week we discuss the pros and cons of playing with recordings versus playing with live musicians. The request was sent to us in regard to the tribute band show that we did several weeks ago. Our listener, Tony, recently became involved with a Steely Dan tribute act. He’s spent copious amounts of time working with the original recordings however he’s discovering that he has to make numerous adjustments when playing the exact same songs with live musicians. We discuss Tony’s situation and then debate some of the positives and negatives of playing with recordings. Some of the benefits we outline are: ear training, learning typical song forms, learning grooves, ‘playing’ with the professionals, de facto transcription, learning good time/feel, and the pleasure of playing with good music. We then discuss possible detriments such as: being led thus not stating assertive time, possibly learning bad feel/tempos, not listening to yourself, setting up your band mates to fail, and trying to measure up to studio fidelity perfection. We also give some tips to combat these issues along with some ideas for practicing with drummer-less tracks. We finish out the show with a brand-new segment of the DWG Garage. Jon has not one, but two, great tips for dealing with problematic, vintage Ludwig drums. Join us each week for brand new shows. We can be found on iTunes, Google Play Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify and anywhere you access your favorite music and shows. If you are an Apple subscriber, the next time you are in iTunes please take a moment to leave us a 5-star review. We’d greatly appreciate it. Lastly, go by our website at www.drummersweeklygroovecast.com There you can listen to all of our shows, visit our social media, and contact us via email.

After a rather lengthy absence, we present to you the reemergence of the Drummer’s Weekly Groovecast Advisory Board. The board is back after skipping season three and we’re welcoming several new members to this season’s show. Our in-studio co-host is Justin Chesarek. Justin is an Atlanta based performer and educator who holds positions at three major metro Atlanta colleges: Emory University, Kennesaw State University, and Morehouse College. For the remote participants we welcome back long-time board members Joel Rosenblatt and Rod Morgenstein. New for season four we have added esteemed drummer/educators, Carter McLean, George Marsh, and Steve Smith. The question that we will address is: “What mistake (or questionable choice) do you most commonly see and hear your students or other drummers commit?” We listen and comment on the various answers given by our board members. When listening to the answers it’s worth noting that almost everything mentioned relates to basic techniques and thoughtful musicianship. In the current and popular social media world of practicing ear candy and chops it’s completely refreshing to hear some of the world’s best drummers teaching the basics of our craft. We discuss listening, dynamics, musical choices, phrasing, basic drumming technique, listening to recordings, and getting stuck in the routine of the ‘medium phenomenon’. Tune in for a great discussion! Join us each week for brand new shows. We can be found on iTunes, Google Play Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify and anywhere you access your favorite music and shows. If you are an Apple subscriber, the next time you are in iTunes please take a moment to leave us a 5-star review. We’d greatly appreciate it. Lastly, go by our website at www.drummersweeklygroovecast.com There you can listen to all of our shows, visit our social media, and contact us via email.

Just like that, we are halfway through the fourth season of the Drummer’s Weekly Groovecast. The midway point means it is due time for another edition of listener mail. Phil and Jon begin the show discussing the audience response to the new episodes. We also get caught up on the news of the early fall season and discuss how the gigging and teaching jobs are going. This season’s mail bag was overflowing with a variety of questions, comments, and suggestions. We address a host of comments that relate all the way back to the Jim Gordon artist feature and as recent as the re-post from the Crash and Ride podcast featuring Phil. We then answer questions regarding snare drum repair, teaching, and Mel Lewis. We then discuss threads found on drumming forums that reference past shows and answer questions found there. We finish out this season’s mail with the feel-good email of the year! Join us each week for brand new shows. We can be found on iTunes, Google Play Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify and anywhere you access your favorite music and shows. If you are an Apple subscriber, the next time you are in iTunes please take a moment to leave us a 5-star review. We’d greatly appreciate it. Lastly, go by our website at www.drummersweeklygroovecast.com There you can listen to all of our shows, visit our social media, and contact us via email.

We begin the show with a quick callback to our season four premiere and then talk about social media issues. Ultimately there has been a bit of confusion regarding listeners following the wrong account on Instagram. Phil and the podcast only have one Instagram account. You can follow the show by using the Instagram account name, Drummers Weekly Groovecast. Dealing with money responsibly is difficult for many people but it seems endemic for the creatives found in the music business. It’s a story that’s been told over and over again. It’s either the tale of the starving artist or the musician that’s done well only to lose it all through bad decisions. In this episode we talk about being smart with your money. We cover topics such as: student loans, filing income taxes, learning deductions, keeping records, investing, planning for retirement, frivolous spending, and substance abuse. We finish up the show with a segment on must-have gear. Jon starts by recommending the Tama version of lug locks called, Tama Tension Locks. This product completely eliminates issues with varying distances between different brands’ tension rod holes and the hoop itself. Phil’s pick is the DrumNBass Hoop Protect 180. This product protects the top and bottom sides of your bass drum hoop while allowing your pedal to comfortably grip the drum and eliminate slide. Join us each week for brand new shows. We can be found on iTunes, Google Play Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify and anywhere you access your favorite music and shows. If you are an Apple subscriber, the next time you are in iTunes please take a moment to leave us a 5-star review. We’d greatly appreciate it. Lastly, go by our website at www.drummersweeklygroovecast.com There you can listen to all of our shows, visit our social media, and contact us via email.

The boys are back from the summer hiatus with a new season of shows. We start this premiere episode by discussing summer gigs, travel, teaching, and vacations. We then break open the mail bag and address our correspondence with new and longtime listeners. We also discuss two new companies started by drummers who listen to our show. Please check out Ryan’s new product for wrist support and compression, Wrist Grips: https://wristgrips.myshopify.com/ There is also a drum-less play-along app created by Damani (from the Drum Coaches) entitled, Drum Trax. This free app is available on Android and Apple platforms so visit the online store of your choice to download it. The main topic of discussion for this show is the growing amount of envy, anger, and depression we see emanating from direct comparison to others on social media. We talk about what happens when we see someone who posts about an abundance of gigs, gets a new piece of gear, or flaunts their new car or home. We then offer our own suggestions about how you get past this issue and subsequently avoid it in the future. We finish up by revisiting our segment on great, underrated drummers. This time around Phil picks English session drummer, Henry Spinetti. Henry can be found on a host of major releases but is most known for his work with Eric Clapton and Gerry Rafferty. Jon picks New York session great, Alan Schwartzberg. During the 70s and 80s Alan was as busy as anyone on the scene including dates with: Kiss, Donna Summer, Tony Orlando and Dawn as well as hundreds of commercials and jingles. Join us each week for brand new shows. We can be found on iTunes, Google Play Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify and anywhere you access your favorite music and shows. If you are an Apple subscriber, the next time you are in iTunes please take a moment to leave us a 5-star review. We’d greatly appreciate it. Lastly, go by our website at www.drummersweeklygroovecast.com There you can listen to all of our shows, visit our social media, and contact us via email.

As we come to the end of the third season, we take some time to discuss the news of the day and the many events that have happened over the course of recent episodes. We discuss https://possiblechops.com/ref/8/ created by friends of the show, Dave Hooper, Gary Novak, and Dave Johnstone. We also humbly discuss the honor of being included by a popular online blogger in their list of top drumming podcasts. Also, the show will observe its three-year anniversary in July. Even though we’ll celebrate during our off-season please stay subscribed. From time to time we’ll give updates on the upcoming season as well as possibly publish a special ‘off-season’ episode. With that in mind, please stay in touch with the show. We appreciate the support and welcome all ideas for future episodes and interviews. As our long-time listeners will attest, we respond to all email and many times use your suggestions for future episodes. For this episode we take on the topic of being imperfect in a digitally perfect music scene. Recently a video went viral illustrating what John Bonham might sound like if he were recording today. The author of the video takes extant Bonham tracks and ‘corrects’ them through digital quantization. We discuss this video and then talk about our favorite, imperfect drummers. We talk about different drummers, their tracks, and how some are unintentionally imperfect while others are intentional. We discuss what make these imperfections perfect along with the various methods they may intentionally employ that make their playing imperfect. Please visit our website at: www.drummersweeklygroovecast.com There you can listen to our shows, interact with social media, email us, view our videos and more. If you are an Apple platform user please take a moment to review us the next time you are in iTunes. A 5-star rating would be greatly appreciated. During our publishing season new shows are posted every Monday and can be found on iTunes, Google Play Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Soundcloud, and everywhere you listen to your favorite podcasts. Subscribe today!

Obsession is generally considered a personality flaw. However, there are times when it proves beneficial if focused on a career goal. As musicians it seems logical that having some type of obsessive personality trait would be beneficial when it comes to studying and practicing our craft. Enter this week’s guest, Rob Knopper of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, a self-professed obsessive musician (and prog rock officianado). We were due to hear from the concert side of our discipline and Rob does not disappoint. Aside from having a gig in one of the world’s top orchestras Rob is known for his expertise on snare drum. We pick his brain about: technique, practice, methods, concert snare setup, tuning, and more. Rob is also one of the foremost experts on French percussion author, Jacques Delecluse. Aside from discussing Delecluse and his method we take a solo from Douze Etudes and discuss its general aspects as well as hit the hot spots breaking down rolls, stickings, and more. Rob is also known for expertise with auditions. Part of his teaching studio focuses on helping musicians prepare for and demystify auditions. We talk about his various auditions, what he learned from them and how it led to his successful audition with the Met. Finally, we take a furious pace through the classical edition of the DWG Rorschach Test! As mentioned in the episode Rob has a website where you can contact him and shop for the various products we talked about during the show. You can visit his site by clicking here: https://www.robknopper.com/ Rob’s YouTube channel can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/robknopperstudio Please visit our website at: www.drummersweeklygroovecast.com There you can listen to our shows, interact with social media, email us, view our videos and more. New shows are published every Monday and can be found on iTunes, Google Play Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher and everywhere you listen to your favorite podcasts. Subscribe today! If you are an Apple platform user please take a moment to review us the next time you are in iTunes. A 5-star rating would be greatly appreciated. You can find our page at ITunes by following this link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/drummers-weekly-groovecast/id1140363227?mt=2 Of course, you can search Drummer’s Weekly Groovecast inside of ITunes to find us as well.

Whether right or wrong we like being different and truly enjoy bringing you guests that challenge, enlighten, and entertain our listeners. This week certainly checks all those boxes. Our guest, George Marsh, is probably best known to our listeners as either the drummer from the David Grisman Quintet or as the author of “Inner Drumming” (one of our genres greatest methods). During my first chat with George he was excited to talk music and was very eager to share some of his favorite recordings of which he was a part. Throughout this episode as George describes the various musicians he’s worked with I thought it would be a nice change to mix in some of those artists’ mp3s as the interview progresses. It’s the first time we done that on the show. We hope you enjoy it and that it adds some context to the conversation. We caught up with George at his home in Santa Rosa, California. The long-time bay area resident is originally from the US Midwest where he grew up just outside of Saint Louis. His interest in music led him to gigs in Chicago and eventually to study with legendary educator, Tom Siwe at the University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign. As the 1960s progressed it became clear to George that the weather, music, and culture of San Francisco had a magnetic appeal. Marsh relocated in 1968 and has remained in the bay area since that time. Partaking of the bay area’s fertile music scene George has played and recorded with artists as varied as the Jerry Hahn Brotherhood, Denny Zeitlin, John Abercrombie, Listen, and David Grisman. We discuss his teaching studios at Sonoma State University and the University of California at Santa Cruz. He details his nearly 40-year tenure at both schools and what he teaches there respectively. We finish having George describe the origin of “Inner Drumming”, the use of graphic notation, the nature of deliberate practice, and the myriad benefits of the method. Of course, we finish the show by taking George through the DWG Rorschach Test! Dr. Zeitlin would be delighted! Visit George at his web site: http://georgemarsh.com/ There you can view his media, purchase his book, and contact him for lessons. Here is the list of songs included in this episode: 1) “Time’s Caught Up with You” – The Jerry Hahn Brotherhood 2) “Aural Hallucination” – Listen 3) “This Ain’t Me” – Mose Allison 4) “Camel Walk” – Marsh, Abercrombie duo 5) “Geysers” – Zeitlin, Marsh 6) “Losing You” – Noam Limish 7) “After Hours” – Marsh, Wilsey, and Mathieu Please visit our website at: www.drummersweeklygroovecast.com There you can listen to our shows, interact with social media, email us, view our videos and more. If you are an Apple platform user please take a moment to review us the next time you are in iTunes. A 5-star rating would be greatly appreciated. New shows are published every Monday and can be found on iTunes, Google Play Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher and everywhere you listen to your favorite podcasts. Subscribe today

I always enjoy the interviews we do at Drummer’s Weekly Groovecast. Part of the reason is that I only ask guests that I have a genuine interest in. It certainly doesn’t hurt if they have something to say. If they have a good time saying it, it’s just a bonus. This week I dumbed into a grand slam. I know, I know. You’re saying to yourself that you’ve heard this guy on other podcasts and social media. Not like this you haven’t. If you’re in the drumming business and unaware of Carter McLean, get out from under your rock and listen up. If you removed his current, long-term gigs (Broadway’s ‘The Lion King’ and Charlie Hunter) and his resume was reduced to his social media and educational posts, that’d be enough. If that doesn’t convince you, what if I told you that Vinnie Colaiuta was a fan? Well, he is. In this episode we cover some areas of Carter’s playing and teaching that have not been touched on. We discuss, in minutia, what it’s like getting into the Broadway orchestra pits. We talk about everything pertinent to drummers: following various conductors, subbing out shows, learning the book, covering mistakes, taking direction, monitoring, drum cages, and much more. Carter then gives us his daily routine from his commute into the city until he walks out of the theatre. We also spent a good amount of time discussing his teaching practice, his web site, and the upcoming release of his new method book, “Concepts and Creativity”. Carter discusses his educational background and how his experiences led him to create his own methods. He has documented many of his main ideas on his web site: www.fourhandsdrumming.com There you can discover his thoughts on topics such as: groove, feel, time, tuning, soloing, and more. Carter then gives us a preview of his upcoming book and walks us through a few of the concepts and exercises found within. We finish up by discussing his current, personal practice routine and then, of course, a comfortable jog through the Drummer’s Weekly Groovecast Rorschach Test! You can find out more about Carter by visiting his educational site: https://fourhandsdrumming.com I encourage you to also check out his Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/cartermac Please visit our website at: www.drummersweeklygroovecast.com There you can listen to our shows, interact with social media, email us, view our videos and more. If you are an Apple platform user please take a moment to review us the next time you are in iTunes. A 5-star rating would be greatly appreciated. New shows are published every Monday and can be found on iTunes, Google Play Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher and everywhere you listen to your favorite podcasts. Subscribe today!

We spread our wings this episode and interview our first bassist, Jimmy Haslip. Now before you call me out regarding our bassists’s perspective show, with two of our favorite bass players, keep in mind that was a four mic show and not really an interview. Most of you will know Jimmy from his long-term relationship with the seminal fusion group the Yellowjackets. During his 32-year tenure with the band Jimmy and fellow band mates released some of the most influential music in that genre’s history. All the while Jimmy continued to work with other musicians on various live and studio projects which ultimately led him to develop an affinity and mastery for production. In 2012 Jimmy decided to take a break from touring to concentrate on producing music of his own and for other like-minded musicians. Little did he know that break would turn into a permanent full-time gig. In this episode we caught up with Jimmy during his recent stop in Atlanta with the Oz Noy trio. I met him in the lobby of his hotel where we set up shop and talked about his recent gigs and production projects. We then devote the majority of show discussing the drummers that Jimmy has worked with. It is one of the most impressive and comprehensive lists of drummers and percussionists I’ve ever seen. We naturally discuss his work with great jazz and fusion players such as: Will Kennedy, Vinnie Colaiuta, Gergo Borlai, Tom Brechtlein, and Joel Rosenblatt. But we also cover a list of players that you wouldn’t normally associate with Jimmy. And…of course, we finish up with a run through the gauntlet that is the DWG Rorschach test. Visit Jimmy at his Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/jimmy.haslip Visit Jimmy at Blue Canoe Records: https://www.bluecanoerecords.com/arctrio_jh_sc_gb.html Please visit our website at: www.drummersweeklygroovecast.com There you can listen to our shows, interact with social media, email us, view our videos and more. If you are an Apple platform user please take a moment to review us the next time you are in iTunes. A 5-star rating would be greatly appreciated. New shows are published every Monday and can be found on iTunes, Google Play Podcasts, Stitcher and everywhere you listen to your favorite podcasts. Subscribe today!

In the snowy mountains of rural, western North Carolina Jeff Sipe (Apt. Q-258) resides. You may know him from his tenure with acts such as, John McLaughlin, Jimmy Herring, Leftover Salmon, Col. Bruce Hampton, Jazz Is Dead, and Shawn Lane/Jonas Hellborg. However most know him from the group that gained him his initial popularity, Aquarium Rescue Unit. To finish out our second season Jeff agreed to talk to us about all of the above including his current gigs and the publishing of his new method book, “Rhythm Patterns for Drum Set”. Stories. Everyone likes to hear them and many musicians have colorful tales about being on the gig. If you look at Sipe’s past credentials you’ll quickly recognize that he’ll have plenty to offer in that category. We start with how he received the moniker, ‘Apt. Q-258’. We also spend a good bit of time discussing his upbringing abroad and how it fostered his love for music. Jeff also tells great stories about his time in Boston and attending the Berklee College of Music. One of the stories revolves around his friendship with guitarist, Steve Vai, and being present during Steve’s ‘transcription phase’ prior to his tenure with Frank Zappa. Jeff then talks about his departure from Boston and subsequent arrival in Atlanta. From there he tells of how a chance meeting with Bruce Hampton ultimately led to a long relationship with the legendary performance artist. From there we go through the lexicon of his gigs including the formation of the Aquarium Rescue Unit and the bands that followed. We finish up talking about his current teaching studio including a description of his new method book. As always, we end the show by putting Jeff through the obstacle course that is the DWG Rorschach Test. Jeff wants you to stay abreast of his upcoming gigs. Please go by his web site at: www.jeffsipemusic.com There you can find out where he’s performing and check out his new method book, “Rhythm Patterns for Drum Set”. Thank you very much for your support during season two of the Drummer’s Weekly Groovecast. Please stay subscribed during our short hiatus and let us know what you’d like to hear in the next season. You can email us via our web site at: www.drummersweeklygroovecast.com There you can also listen to all of our episodes, watch our videos, and manage your social media accounts. Lastly, please take a moment to share our podcast with your friends. If you are an Apple user and access the show through Itunes we’d greatly appreciate a review the next time you’re at our homepage inside of Itunes. Finally, if you do not use Itunes you can find us at Google Play Podcasts, Stitcher, Podbean, Soundcloud, and everywhere you listen to your favorite music and podcasts.

We are back again with our illustrious panelists from the Drummer’s Weekly Groovecast Advisory Board. With the success from the last episode featuring the advisory board we knew it was a must for the second season. For this show’s topic we have employed a few past board members and welcome a few new faces to the panel. Please welcome Rod Morgenstein, Chris Fryar, Tom Brechtlein, Joel Rosenblatt, and Ted Mackenzie to this session’s advisory board. This time around we pose the question, “What important aspect do you believe is missing or should be done better in music education?” Each guest gives their answer and we discuss our own thoughts on what might be beneficial to modern students in today’s current and future music business. We analyze different topics such as: curriculum, application, concepts, student accountability, methods, technology, and much more. If you haven’t heard the previous episodes featuring interviews with our panel members you listen to them by following the links below: Rod Morgenstein: https://soundcloud.com/phil-smith-592966725/episode-100-interview-rod-morgenstein You can also visit Rod’s web site at: www.rodmorgenstein.com Tom Brechtlein: https://soundcloud.com/phil-smith-592966725/episode-65-interview-tom-brechtlein You can also visit Tom’s web site at: www.tombrechtlien.com Chris Fryar: https://soundcloud.com/phil-smith-592966725/episode-90-interview-chris-fryar-of-the-zac-brown-band You can visit Chris’ web site at: www.chrisfryar.com Joel Rosenblatt: https://soundcloud.com/phil-smith-592966725/episode-29-interview-joel-rosenblatt You can visit Joel’s web site at: http://joelrosenblatt.com/ Ted Mackenzie: https://soundcloud.com/phil-smith-592966725/episode-103-the-adler-technique-with-ted-mackenzie You can also visit Ted’s web site at: www.tedmackenize.com If you haven’t been to our website recently please go to www.drummersweeklygroovecast.com and see what new content we have to offer. Aside from access to all of our episodes we’ve posted ‘Host Spotlight 3” on our video page. Feel free to send us a message through our email form or manage your social media accounts from our site. We try to personally answer all emails and questions. New shows are available every Monday. You can subscribe through Itunes, Google Play Podcasts, Stitcher, Podbean, and everywhere you listen to your favorite podcasts. If you are an Apple Itunes user please click 5 stars and leave us a short review. We greatly appreciate your support!

Here at the Drummer’s Weekly Groovecast Thanksgiving is one of our favorite times of the year. It gives us the perfect opportunity to give thanks to our art form and for us, Phil and Jon, to give thanks for our listeners. In this episode we dedicate the entire time to answering listener questions. We begin the show with a short segment of listener comments directed at the last two shows, JM Van Eaton and Roger Hawkins. We often say it but never say it enough. Thank you very much for your loyal support of the show! Your comments and reviews mean the world to us! We then get to the main part of the show which is a full session of Q & A. Over the last several months we’ve received quite a few emails. We always respond personally but most of the time we don’t discuss them on the show. We decided this time around to publicly answer our most frequently asked questions. Topics we cover include: practice, injury, gear repair, recording tips and technology, music theory, ear training, and more. We finish the show with a segment on underrated drummers. Phil and Jon each share their picks along with representative tracks and videos. If you haven’t been to our website recently please go to www.drummersweeklygroovecast.com and see what new content we have to offer. Aside from our episodes we’ve posted ‘Host Spotlight 3” on our video page. Feel free to send us a message through our email form or manage your social media accounts from our site. New shows are available every Monday. You can subscribe through Itunes, Google Play Podcasts, Stitcher, and everywhere you listen to your favorite podcasts. If you are an Apple Itunes user please click 5 stars and leave us a short review. We greatly appreciate your support!