–

We wouldn’t be where we are today without the drummers who came before us. We need to step back to understand how we can go forward. This is why it’s so important to learn about the history of this incredible instrument.

In America, we have forefathers who had the vision of what they wanted America to be. They had a vision of being a land of liberty. A republic. A concept that hadn’t been done before.

It’s the same with the drum set. There were visionaries who saw the potential in something that wasn’t there. They were holding a machete in a jungle and cutting a path, not knowing where they were going. They kept fine tuning the process and eventually made a clearing where they could settle.

America’s founding fathers – Washington, Jefferson, Adams, and Franklin – were the force in the vision of what they saw the country to be. They had a vision that nobody else could see, so they had to sell the idea. They wrote the Declaration of Independence to explain what they were trying to achieve, and it inspired everyone to see the potential in a country people could have control over.

When we look at the first kit drummers, we can see how they created their own set of rules, too.

The gradual evolution of drum set playing

Early kit drummers, like Baby Dodds, were timekeepers. They didn’t talk, they didn’t arrange, they just set the tempo. They were at the back of the band. Since there was no amplification, it was often only the drummer who could hear the bass player standing beside them, and the bass player would help the drummer keep time. The rhythm section was mostly there to support the ‘real musicians’.

Then guys like Chick Webb came in and started looking at the drum set as a way to create effects. Chick had leather straps hanging from a large armed boom and cymbals hanging flat over his head. He had wood blocks, cowbells, you name it. He was one of the first drummers to be a bandleader, and worked with Ella Fitzgerald and many other incredible musicians who went on to be superstars.

Buddy Rich told me that Chick Webb was his first – and biggest – inspiration.

Then you bring in players like Gene Krupa, who was the first to envision the drums as a solo instrument. At the time, this was shunned upon. You are a timekeeper. You are below human. You don’t do any of that! Krupa had a vision, and he had to sell that vision.

Eventually, he spoke to Benny Goodman, who – according to Joe Morello – said, “I don’t think anybody wants to hear a drum solo.” They challenged each other to see how the audience would react.

After playing “Sing, Sing, Sing”, Gene was asked to play several encores. The message was loud and clear. Drum mania had begun!

Every country has an anthem, and “Sing, Sing, Sing” became the anthem of drum expression. The song still inspires people almost 100 years later. Gene’s solo changed the face of how people saw drummers. No longer were we just timekeepers. The drums were now a featured instrument!

Gene put the modern drum set on the map as an equal musical voice. He became such a huge celebrity that not only was he featured in over 100 movies, but Hollywood produced a movie about his life: The Gene Krupa Story. I advise all of my students to watch it!

The drum set was evolving beyond a simple snare drum and bass drum. It became a playground, with unlimited options for pieces and placement. Viola Smith was one of those drummers responsible for pushing the envelope of drum set size and sound.

In 1935, George Lawrence Stone’s book Stick Control was published, and it became a standard of education. It was one of the first typeset drumming books. At the time, there was a long process for printing: people had to take a metal sheet and chisel each of the notes into that sheet to create a negative. 

I’m sure it took incredible expense and time to do that, but now we had a document that – like the Declaration of Independence – showed our desire to learn and that our level of education was higher than they gave us credit for. When I found out that the negatives for Stick Control had been lost years ago and the only way to print the book was to take progressively lower quality pictures of each page, I worked with George Lawrence Stone’s family to digitally re-engrave it and preserve it for generations to come. It is so important that we don’t let our history disappear.

I often talk about inspiring people to aspire. To do so, I go back to the forebears who had the vision, the guts, the foresight, and the drive to create something that was not there before.

Tap dancing on the kit

When marching drummers came over to the drum set and were playing in those early bands, it was Louis Armstrong who really had the vision of this kind of ‘bouncy’ music. In the early 1900s, America’s streets were ‘paved with gold’, so to speak, and millions of immigrants were coming from all over to be a part of this new world.

Armstrong witnessed people coming to New York to seek life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, realizing that if they worked hard, they could have a better life. We didn’t have music that accommodated that bouncy, happy, free feeling, so he started writing in a jazzy way that encompassed that.

Louis Armstrong was the first advocate to really push this style forward. When he auditioned drummers, he was looking for someone who could play that ‘bouncy’ music. But most players at the time were military drummers who were too stiff and rigid.

Before I continue, you should know that the connection between tap dancing and drumming is important. In tap dancing, there’s the time step, which became the jazz ride rhythm. Several great tap dancers also played drums, such as Fred Astaire, Sammy Davis Jr., and Gregory Hines.

Baby Dodds was a tap dancer and a drummer – a multi-talented performer, as many were in Vaudeville. Louis Armstrong noticed that his bouncy tap rhythms were perfectly aligned with the ideas he had in his head. “That’s it!” he said. “You’re the drummer for my band.”

When Baby Dodds first learned the military drum, he would stand up and play on a marching snare. People were dancing to the bouncy, syncopated songs Armstrong had written. Sometimes the band would do two or three gigs per day, so it made sense for Dodds to sit down.

It’s when Baby Dodds – and other young drummers of the time – sat down that the drum set really began to evolve. When those early drummers realized that sitting down was more conducive to this new music, the equipment had to catch up to the demands.

That meant a shallower snare drum that could be placed lower down, and a special snare stand. Bill Ludwig had developed a bass drum pedal so bandleaders didn’t need to hire someone to play the bass drum. Sitting down meant the concept of drum set development was now in its infancy stage.

Since many early drum set players were tap dancers and had good control of their feet, the concept of controlling a pedal wasn’t that big of a deal. Gene Krupa, Buddy Rich, Louis Bellson, Joe Morello, and Papa Jo Jones were tap dancers. So were Roy Haynes, Jack DeJohnette, Jimmy Cobb, Art Blakey, Art Taylor, Max Roach, and Elvin Jones.

And we can’t forget Philly Joe Jones, Sonny Payne, Sonny Greer, Rufus Speedy Jones, and even Steve Gadd!

50+ founding drummers you should know

If you’re looking for inspiration in drumming, start here. If you research any of the names on this list, you’ll find yourself on the path of a creative vision. Even though we might think of them as much older, many of these drummers were youthful, phenomenal monster players who just didn’t have the technology to capture the magic the way we do now.

Look at who they played with: Papa Jo Jones played with the Count Basie Orchestra, traveling on a bus from state to state, country to country, until Basie passed away. They kept going because of the sax player, Frank Foster. And they kept going after Foster passed away. In fact, the Count Basie band is still going to this day.

Sonny Payne filled in with Count Basie and recorded with Frank Sinatra live at The Sands. You want a lesson in Big Band? Listen to that album and transcribe his fills. Study it.

Cozy Cole opened up a drum school – one of the first drum set schools – with Gene Krupa in the ‘50s. I could go on and on.

The 52 drummers on this list greatly inspired me personally, and I knew many of them. I took lessons from Shelly Manne, Jim Chapin and Joe Morello. I knew Buddy Rich and talked to Gene Krupa once on the phone as a student. Krupa planted the seed of inspiration; that’s what these people did. They were so passionate about what they did, they continue to inspire people to aspire.

• Sonny Greer (1895-1982)
  
• Baby Dodds (1898-1959)
  
• Chick Webb (1905-1939)
  
• Ray Bauduc (1906-1988)
  
• Dave Tough (1907-1948)
  
• Gene Krupa (1909-1973)
  
• Cozy Cole (1909-1981)
  
• Big Sid Catlett (1910-1951)
  
• Papa Jo Jones (1911-1985)
  
• Viola Smith (1912-2020)
  
• Buddy Rich (1917-1987)
  
• Irv Cottler (1918-1989)
  
• Art Blakey (1919-1990)
  
• Jim Chapin (1919-2009)
  
• Shelly Manne (1920-1984)
  
• Jack Sperling (1922-2004)
  
• Philly Joe Jones (1923-1985)
  
• Sonny Igoe (1923-2012)
  
• Max Roach (1924-2007)
  
• Louie Bellson (1924-2009)
  
• Roy Haynes (1925-)*
  
• Alvin Stoller (1925-1992)
  
• Sonny Payne (1926-1979)
  
• Stan Levey (1926-2005)
  
• Elvin Jones (1927-2004)
  
• Joe Morello (1928-2011)
  
• Jimmy Cobb (1929-2020)
  
• Charlie Persip (1929-2020)
  
• Alan Dawson (1929-1996)
  
• Ed Shaughnessy (1929-2013)
  
• Art Taylor (1929-1995)
  
• Mel Lewis (1929-1990)
  
• Hal Blaine (1929-2019)
  
• Ed Thigpen (1930-2010)
  
• Joe Porcaro (1930-2020)
  
• Frankie Capp (1931-2017)
  
• Joe Cusatis (1931?)*
  
• Jake Hanna (1931-2010)
  
• Grady Tate (1932-2017)
  
• Emil Richards (1932-2019)
  
• Colin Bailey (1934-2021)
  
• Roy Burns (1935-2018)
  
• Rufus ‘Speedy’ Jones (1936-1990)
  
• Billy Higgins (1936-2001)
  
• Louis Hayes (1937-)*
  
• Horace Arnold (1937-)*
  
• John ‘Jabo’ Starks (1938-2018)
  
• Harold Jones (1940-)*
  
• Clyde Stubblefield (1943-2017)
  
• Michael Carvin (1944-)*
  
• Tony Williams (1945-1997)
  
• Ted Reed (1948-1987)

(*Starred drummers are still with us at the time of writing)

To learn more about the history of drummers and drumming, Daniel Glass and Kelli Tubbs have put out some incredible videos and books. We’re on an amazing journey and there’s so much to know!

Onward and upward,

Dom Famularo

I come from a little village on Long Island. When I told people at the age of 12 or 14 that I wanted to travel the world and play drums, they would laugh at me. They’d say listen, kid, it’s not gonna happen. Just do your thing and get a job at the post office and play drums on the weekends. I had to re-evaluate what I believed in, and my passion, and my desire to do it. 

Now that I’m much older, as I’m traveling the world doing what I love, I get a little concerned and hope that what I’m doing is really working. That I hope people are feeling the results of my effort. 

I keep questioning myself: I hope I’m doing this right.

As much positive feedback as I get coming back to me, I hope there isn’t someone out there saying, “Man, that guy Famularo screwed me up.”

I keep questioning myself: I hope I’m doing this right.

When I was younger, on top of having a stammer, I couldn’t see well. When you’re eight years old and you’re wearing thick glasses, you can’t play a lot of sports. I thought I was good at basketball, but I didn’t make the team because when my glasses were knocked off I couldn’t see. It made me dizzy. I wasn’t even that good at school. I was so hyper and unfocused that I probably would have been a poster boy for what we know today as ADHD. I probably would’ve been on every drug in the world. 

But music was my drug. It was the antidote to my challenges. The more I learned the discipline and patience of music, and the more I slowed things down so I could better understand, I could listen and focus better. And when someone spoke I could not only hear the words, but I was actively feeling what they were saying. This became so exciting. Music largely saved me from where I was and helped me become who I am right now.

Music became the crutch that held me up. I realized that a crutch is not a bad thing – it’s a support object that holds you upright so that you can continue going on.

As I get older and closer to the end, whenever that end is, I start to think back and say, “Am I doing the best I can do? Am I seeing the most out of this life?” It’s not about me. It’s about the message that I am able to share, to lift other people. That is totally what this is about.

I hope I am able to do some good in my lifetime, so when I’m gone and someone mentions my name, they can say, “That guy helped me out a little bit. What he said gave me comfort and joy and made my life better.”

Music was my drug. It was the antidote to my challenges.

I’m sixty-six years young and I am traveling the world at a very intense pace, living my passion: playing drums, teaching drums, writing drum method books (which take me five to seven years to put together), and now writing motivational books.

In The Cycle Of Self Empowerment, I came up with many original quotes based on what was happening in my life. They inspired me like I was composing a song. I’d write down all of these ideas.

One was “the grass is always greenest under your feet.”

We think I want to have this and that, I want to have that car, live in a nicer house. The material stuff. I had a car for a long time – a Volvo 240 GL. It was kind of a box-shaped car and I bought it brand new in 1989. They said because this was an all steel block engine it would give me a million miles of running. 

It was a fantastic car. But after 31 years, I wasn’t really using it. I finally took it off the road and decided to sell it. It still ran well and didn’t have too many miles on it. Several people who expressed interest said they were looking for a second car to run into the ground. I knew they weren’t the right person for the car. 

A young kid came to me – he was 18 years old – and said, “I’m really into Volvos. I’d like to fix this up and get it back to like new. I own another Volvo like this, and I’d like to bring this car back to life, the way it was when you bought it.” He was so passionate and so into it. “Plus, I’m a mechanic and this older car will help me to learn my craft better.”

I said, “You know…you got the car. I really want you to have it.” And then I lowered the price. He was so excited and emotional about it. He said, “Boy, this is amazing.” 

“If you’re into cars, that’s what I was looking for,” I told him.

“I’m into cars and music,” he said.

“Oh really? Do you play an instrument?” I asked.

“I play the drums.”

“Are you serious? Do you know what I do?”

“No, your name was in the paper.”

I went to the nearby computer and pulled up my information. The kid went crazy. “Wow! You’re doing all this? I had no idea!”

“You know something?” I replied. “This was meant to be.”

He asked me, “Do you love the car?”

I said, “I do not love anything unless it can love me back. It’s just a car. I had great memories and great joy in this car, and now it’s passed on to you for you to have those great memories and great joy.”

As he drove away, he kind of waved and paused, and said, “Thank you so much.”

We have great things in our life that are right in front of us. To seek the opportunity in the moment, the value of that which is in front of us, we have to have the maturity to notice it. 

That’s why owning the moment and living in the now is so important: I only worry about now. I only worry about the grass that is under my feet now. And I learned to enjoy it and be thankful for it. When I take that next step on that lawn of life, there’ll be more grass under my feet and I’ll enjoy it at that moment. So if we can have that magic of that experience and feeling and take it day by day…that’s going to equate to an absolutely beautiful life.

The balance of music in my life still inspires me to this day. This is really a wonderful gift. I need to make sure I understand the gift and that the grass is absolutely beautiful when I just pick up my foot and look down.

Dom Famularo

Drum books still have a very important role to play in drum education, even with all of the videos you can find on YouTube and Drumeo.

While there are many out there, certain books have stood the test of time and still help thousands of players improve their drumming. They’ve become famous for a reason: they work!

Getting familiar with at least one of these books will open up your mind about playing drums.

Stick Control

By George Lawrence Stone (1935)

The world’s #1 hand technique book will give you a ton of ideas for controlling your sticks. The world’s greatest drummers have gone through Stick Control, and continue to go through it to this day!

Advanced Techniques For The Modern Drummer

By Jim Chapin (1948)

After 70 years, this is still the #1 selling drum set book in the world. While this book was written to promote independence in jazz drumming, it’s useful for anyone, including rock musicians (even John Bonham loved it).

Syncopation For The Modern Drummer

By Ted Reed (1959)

This is the top beginner reading book, and it includes a variety of patterns and exercises that can be adapted to the drum set in many ways. Once you work through this one, you’ll be able to open up any other book, read it, and borrow as many ideas as you can.

Accents And Rebounds

By George Lawrence Stone (1960)

While Stick Control teaches you sticking, Accents And Rebounds teaches you how to add movement to patterns. You’ll learn to understand the bigger picture of how to move around the drum set – from toms to cymbals – and improve your hand technique in the process.

New Breed

By Gary Chester (1985)

This book shines a light on the drum set as split into two sides – the right and the left – and will help you better understand independence, right-handed playing, and left-handed playing. Using 39 different systems, you’ll work on exercises such as having three of your appendages playing a steady pattern while the fourth is ‘reading’ what’s on the page. It’s a great book for independence, and is especially useful for rock drumming.

If you get at least one idea from a book that opens up your playing, it’s worth it. As Dom says in this video, all of your heroes – past and present, jazz or heavy metal – have been through these books, and these five are a great place to start.

The knowledge they contain will allow you to grow as a drummer and share your talents with the world.

The future is in our feet!

There’s so much we can do with feet as an extension of our hands. Think of it this way: whatever you do with your hands, you should try to do with your feet. This is one way to get control and express creativity in ways you might not have imagined.

Not everything is about speed, but if you could have the ability to play fast when you need to, wouldn’t you want to work toward it?

In this video, we go over a pattern from the book Stick Control (page 5, exercise 11). With your heels down, play one note on the right foot (on the bass drum) followed by three on the left (on the hi-hat). If your left foot is weaker, this might be tough at first. Find a tempo where you can play it, but where you have to work for it. Slow it down if you need to. “Tension is the enemy of movement”, and you don’t want to feel tense or tight while developing strength. Once you’re comfortable playing the pattern heel down, work on it with your heels up.

When working on double bass patterns and speed – or practicing drums in general – pay close attention to your posture. How high do you sit on your seat? How close are you to the drums? Make sure you have good balance and that you aren’t straining or reaching. If you’re slouching, you’re in a position of tension. Sit up and tuck in your lower back so your lungs can fully expand to get the air they need to give you the energy you need.

Now bring these patterns to your bass drum pedals, and try them both heel down and heel up. By improving your control, power and articulation, these exercises will eventually get you to a place of speed.

Try a call-and-answer phrase, like a flam or roll pattern. Play it on the snare drum, then repeat it with your feet. Again, take it slow if you need to, but push yourself.

Your arms and legs are part of the same unit. Don’t forget to work on all of it!

Watch the happiest drummer in the world – aka the one and only Dom Famularo – play “Eye of the Tiger”. Survivor’s 1982 hit is best known as the theme song of Rocky III. Are you ready to rise up to the challenge of your rivals?

Make sure you watch to the end, where Dom has an inspirational message for you!

About Dom:
Dom Famularo is a drummer, author, and motivational speaker who’s arguably the most influential educator in the drumming community. He’s traveled the globe for the past 40 years holding masterclasses and clinics, and has been one of drumming’s most sought-after private instructors from his fans around the world. Dom has been tutored by legendary greats, including Joe Morello, Jim Chapin, Al Miller, Charlie Perry, Colin Bailey, and Shelly Manne, among many others. He has recorded and/or performed with artists such as the Buddy Rich Big Band, B.B. King, Lionel Hampton, Chuck Leavell (Rolling Stones), and “T” Lavitz (The Dixie Dregs), and has shared the stage with other drumming giants such as Dave Weckl, Steve Gadd, Vinnie Colaiuta, Simon Phillips, Billy Cobham, Bernard Purdie, and Chad Smith.

Dom plays:
Mapex Drums
Sabian Cymbals
Evans Drumheads
Promark Drumsticks

Follow Dom:
Instagram
Twitter
Facebook
Website

Want to make your playing more exciting?

It’s the two-for-one special! In this quick 5-minute lesson, Dom Famularo describes what it means to ‘swipe the cymbals’, how to do it, and how you can incorporate it into your playing.

This cool technique uses the low Moeller stroke to flick the stick up, striking a cymbal from below, before coming back down to strike it again on top. It’s a great way to get a quick double hit with one motion.

Try it on a splash, crash, or hi-hats. When you accentuate the two hits with the bass drum, you – in Dom’s words – “give it the punch it was meant to have!”

The more you experiment with cymbal swiping, the more new opportunities you’ll discover. Whether it means changing your setup or trying new grooves, this is one way to add real character to your drumming.
 

 

Dom plays:
Mapex Drums
Sabian Cymbals
Evans Drumheads
Promark Drumsticks

Follow Dom:
Instagram
Twitter
Facebook
Website

“Wisdom is a combination of knowledge and experience. Knowledge alone does not give wisdom. Knowledge is the information. Putting that information into action is what experience is.”

Dom Famularo is arguably one of the most enthusiastic and inspirational drum teachers in the world. He’s taught close to 1 million students from over 60 countries in his 48 year teaching career, so ‘Drumming’s Global Ambassador’ came to Drumeo to continue spreading the gospel.

Drummers are constantly learning, and some of the world’s greatest players are still students themselves. In this half hour-long live lesson, Dom talks about how to be a good student, how to choose the right teacher and ask them the right questions, plus how to get the most out of your practice time. You’ll learn the importance of identifying your goals, how to create a plan, and where you might fall in the hierarchy of learning.

It’s amazing how much you can grow with the right mentality and enough hard work. “Discipline has to come from within,” he says, and emphasizes how you can also inspire others by working on your craft.

Dom even drops a huge bomb at the end of the lesson: he tells you exactly how you can become a better drummer in just one month by following a routine.

If you want to get motivated to keep learning, to pick up the drums again after a break, or to start playing for the first time, you don’t want to miss this video!

Here are Dom Famularo’s 8 tips to become a better drum student:

1. Know the four ways of learning
2. Prepare for the teacher’s questions
3. Understand what music means for you
4. Understand the importance of constant learning
5. Identify your goals
6. Know if you’re in it for the art or the sport
7. Set a practice schedule that will deliver results
8. Commit to a level of discipline

Lesson Index:
0:00 – SONG: “One For Jeff” by Dom Famularo
2:57 – Introduction
3:14 – The four ways of learning
5:51 – Prepare for the teacher’s questions
11:15 – Isolate your goals
14:09 – Understand what it means to be a constant learner
16:10 – Understand what music means to you
18:03 – How to find a teacher
23:53 – How to set a practice schedule
26:47 – Commit to a level of discipline
32:33 – SONG: “New York City” by Dom Famularo

About Dom:
Dom Famularo is a drummer, author, and motivational speaker who’s arguably the most influential educator in the drumming community. He’s traveled the globe for the past 40 years holding masterclasses and clinics, and has been one of drumming’s most sought-after private instructors from his fans around the world. Dom has been tutored by legendary greats, including Joe Morello, Jim Chapin, Al Miller, Charlie Perry, Colin Bailey, and Shelly Manne, among many others. He has recorded and/or performed with artists such as the Buddy Rich Big Band, B.B. King, Lionel Hampton, Chuck Leavell (Rolling Stones), and “T” Lavitz (The Dixie Dregs), and has shared the stage with other drumming giants such as Dave Weckl, Steve Gadd, Vinnie Colaiuta, Simon Phillips, Billy Cobham, Bernard Purdie, and Chad Smith.

Dom plays:
Mapex Drums
Sabian Cymbals
Evans Drumheads
Promark Drumsticks

Follow Dom:
Instagram
Twitter
Facebook
Website

The more drum techniques you know how to do properly on the kit, the broader your palette of options will be and ability to play what you want, when you want to. But what are the must-know techniques that today’s drummers should focus on? Dom Famularo is here to help trim the fat and focus on the most important and practical techniques you should be utilizing if you’re a drummer in the 21st century.

Lesson Index:
0:00 – Drum solo
4:40 – Introduction
7:16 – Kit breakdown
10:42 – GIVEAWAY details!
13:26 – Lesson overview
14:46 – The natural grip
20:00 – What grips should you practice?
30:10 – Billy Gladstone
39:46 – George Lawrence Stone
44:25 – Sanford Moeller
52:00 – Drum solo
54:29 – Dom’s Buddy Rich story
1:01:44 – Drum solo

About Dom:
Dom Famularo is a drummer, author, and motivational speaker who’s arguably the most influential educator in the drumming community. He’s traveled the globe for the past 40 years holding masterclasses and clinics, and has been one of drumming’s most sought-after private instructors from his fans around the world. Dom has been tutored by legendary greats, including Joe Morello, Jim Chapin, Al Miller, Charlie Perry, Colin Bailey, and Shelly Manne, among many others. He has recorded and/or performed with artists such as the Buddy Rich Big Band, B.B. King, Lionel Hampton, Chuck Leavell (Rolling Stones), and “T” Lavitz (The Dixie Dregs), and has shared the stage with other drumming giants such as Dave Weckl, Steve Gadd, Vinnie Colaiuta, Simon Phillips, Billy Cobham, Bernard Purdie, and Chad Smith.