Channeling Chapin

Jim Chapin had passion for the drums and for sharing his many years of drumming with whomever was in earshot of his sticks and pad. The history of Mr. Chapin has been well documented. We know of his early roots, his studies with the great Sanford Moeller and the fact that he wrote Advanced Techniques for the Modern Drummer, Volume I, Coordinated Independence as Applied to Jazz and Be-Bop, arguably the most important drum set text ever produced and known among drummers as simply “The Chapin Book”. A cursory look on YouTube will yield videos of Jim demonstrating his impeccable technique and also, most importantly, his fire, his drive and his absolute love for drums and drumming. For those of us who were fortunate enough to know Jim, being surrounded by the “Chapin magic” was an awesome experience, because he was, above all, a beautiful human being.

Practicing

How many times have you heard it? : Practice Slowly. As much as you've heard these words of wisdom, how often do you actually practice at slow tempos?

Some CD Recommendations

 Here's a list I put together a few years ago in which you can find some really good Afro-Caribbean music. Although there are myriad releases since this list was first assembled, any of these recordings will serve you quite well in your quest for learning and enjoying “latin” music.

How to Choose a Cowbell

Really, is it that difficult to choose a cowbell? Well, it depends on what you want to use it for. For many of the gigs that I do which require different cowbell sounds, I may use three bells.

Drum Heads

I've always used Remo heads. Snare batter head has, pretty much, always been a coated Ambassador head with a clear Diplomat on the bottom.