MENDOZA!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bro that was the DOPEST Drum off performance i've ever seen in my life. YOU ABSOLUTELY KILLED IT!!!!!!!
That performance is a game changer for me. Incredible bro. I am so proud of ya man.
Question, what did you specifically do to help you attain your 4way independance on the drums?..and Which drummer do you study the most?
dnewman@concordDallas.org hit me up please.
I worked on a few things. First, I worked on playing whatever groove I knew putting the hi-hat part on the ride cymbal (or x-hat if available) and getting my left foot moving in quarters, eighths, off beats, "e's and a's," etc. Once I kind of got that down, I picked up Gary Chester's book New Breed and that was a game changer for me. If you're not familiar with New Breed here's the basic concept: (1) You memorize a system that's written (later on I came up with my own), (2) You read the "reading exercises" (which are long and add an extra level of concentration), (3) Assign the remaining limb that is not playing to the reading exercise. (4) You're suppose to sing the part while you play it as well, which technically will be 5 way independence. That's how I started my journey. After that I got exposed to Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez and it was all over for me LOL.
I got hold of his book and he introduces the clave in 2 and in 6. You go through each permutation limb by limb. So for example, the first thing you do is learn the clave on the left hand and play the exercise(melody) on your right hand. Once you go through that, you go through it will your right hand playing the clave on the right hand and left hand playing the melody (exercise). Then you start adding the hi hat to the mix while doing the same thing. What's crazy is even though you've played the exercises plenty of times, as soon as you add a limb, your brain doesn't function normally or make the connection and your coordination will get thrown off.
Remember that independence not only deals with coordination. It is important to understand that independence is also an aural aspect. You need to be able to hear ALL the parts at the same time to make sense of the coordination. Finally be PATIENT!!!!!! It's a long process, but very rewarding. It's like learning to read. You learn the letters first and then you start to combine those letters to make words, words then become sentences, and sentence become paragraphs. Then after all is said and done you can tell a story. So patience is key! Take care and God Bless.
Carlito
jmensticks@hotmail.comp.s. if you ever have any questions hit me up on my email address. I will get back you as soon as I can.
