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In 2018 I made a video called "Are Rudiments Still Relevant in 2018", and I figured it was time for a refresh.
I've softened somewhat on rudiments over the years.
If you caught me 2012/2013, I was literally pissed off about the "lie we'd all been told": "Practice your rudiments, then you'll be great."
I've made countless videos about how Anthony Lee, Mark G, Sean Wright, and others finally convinced me that that was dead-wrong, and that the real differences between great drummers and the rest of us were the three things I tout endlessly throughout my marketing materials and videos: time, cleanliness, and improvisational flow.
Years later, when I watch Instagram ads, and see people "forcing it", trying to create a scandal or controversy ("the rudiment secret THEY DON'T WANT YOU TO KNOW"), I count myself lucky to have been gifted a real scandal by the universe: everybody who became great does 3 big things right that mediocre drummers don't do, and nobody's talking about it.
Now, some other people are. Guilinana. Benny Greb. Anika. I think as the internet has started to play a larger role in drummers coming to prominence, the drum conversation has gotten "smarter".
A Benny Greb can observe what his mentors were telling him, figure out his own path to proficiency, then comment on the difference between the conventional wisdom and what he observed firsthand. I've called this "meta lessons" before.
As such, we're closer and closer to the efficient frontier when it comes to learning the drums. And since we're no longer trying to get from 45th percentile to 85th, but rather 85th to 95th, the space is once again ripe for a discussion of the humble rudiment.
And I do mean Humble, because this week's video has fewer views than any I've released since probably 2018. Did we bring about the world we fought for? One in which rudiments have reduced importance?
Well, it's time to swing the pendulum back the other way.
In this week's lesson, 4 rudiment "hacks", to utilize the full kit instead of the pad, view rudiments in a novel way to spark faster learning, and generally to make them more fun.
Please enjoy.