Rock & Roll 101

March 9th, 2020

Today is Leah's last lesson - just couldn't get her to practice at home. :) We just decided to play through a bunch of songs that we'd been working on, or songs that were fun to play.

Hopefully she can come back sometime! She's a lot of fun to teach!

March 2nd, 2020

Leah said she forgot to practice this week.

We went over Uptown Funk - she hadn't really worked out the problems we were having with the song, but we moved on - no sense kicking a dead horse.

We added a new one by Imagine Dragons called Demons:
https://youtu.be/t9nziN5KKCM

This is challenging, but within her abilities - especially of she practices! ;-)

February 24th, 2020

Leah had Hungry Like a Wolf down pretty good - so we have left it for now, and focused on Uptown Funk. She'd forgotten to work on this one, so we went over it three or four times, working out some of the details again.

Please don't forget to work on it!
https://youtu.be/7Ya2U8XN_Zw

February 10th, 2020

Hungry Like a Wolf might have been a bit better - the tom triplets in it, as well as the section with just the highhat was a little off. She needs to work on it.

She said she forgot to practice Uptown Funk, but she did a pretty good job of faking it - I kind of find it hard to believe she forgot to practice it, as it really wasn't bad.

A couple of things:
1. Don't forget where the hihat opens, as that's part of what gives it a distinct sound.
2. Also, the kick stays on quarters through out.

February 3rd, 2020

We went over Old Town Road and Hungry Like a Wolf.

They both were a little lacking in the practicing category. I asked her to keep improving Hungry Like a Wolf.

We added Uptown Funk, talking through and playing through the details in the song.

January 27th, 2020

Leah played through Circles and Old Town Road for me, and then we added a new song, Hungry Like a Wolf.

Here's the drum video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rg2iZ5yDwkw

Match your drum fills with this guy, so that the toms and crashes are all the same.

January 20th, 2020

Leah said she'd practiced a lot this week, and she certainly did seen to be fairly well prepared.

She'd left the kick out of Memories, so I'd like her to keep working on that and get it back in.

We also reviewed Old Town Road, and she did well on this.

We added "Circles"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RgK5SeZOBY

January 13th, 2020

Leah played through Memories for me - she did fairly well on it, but it didn't' seem like she'd improved much from last week... she said she didn't practice very much.

To keep forward momentum, we added a new song by Billy Ray Cyrus / Lil Nas called Old Town Road:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_y8G7jwG2NA

We slowed it down to 75% to be able to execute it - I hope she puts some practice time in this week :)

January 6th, 2020

We played over the Christmas song, and except for the big fill, Leah did a pretty decent job on it.

We then added Maroon 5, Memories:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4c9mkCQFatE

This required us to learn how to do drum rolls, or "buzzes" - bouncing the stick and alternating between them to create a constant sound.

After you've got that, don't forget to add the kick into this song.

December 30th, 2019

December 23rd, 2019

I missed Leah tonight.

December 16th, 2019

Leah is doing well - but I could tell she didn't really know this week's song. She's so enthusiastic and happy when she's here, she's a pleasure to teach! I hope she can put just a bit more time into things at home, to at least get to know the song well enough to know where the fills are.

This sounds like I'm upset, and I'm totally NOT. I just see so much potential here, and would love it if she tried a wee bit harder! :)

December 9th, 2019

We reviewed the past 5 songs or so, and then added All I Want for Christmas Is You:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjbe31uKNew

This has some crazy fills, but she can do it! ;-)

December 2nd, 2019

We reviewed Closer and Sugar, and she's really done well this week!

After that, we added a new song, One Call Away by Charlie Puth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwSqwPSMi7E

It has a ghost snare in it, which is a challenge, but work on figuring it out. If you want, you can slow the video down to help.

November 25th, 2019

Leah said she really hadn't practiced Sugar by Maroon 5, so we went over it again, and worked out the way to could the snare (as mentioned in last week's notes), and added the high hat.

We got it up to 100% speed, and she was able to add crashes, and even two flams on snare before a crash at one spot.

There are other fills throughout the song that I'd like her to learn by watching the video on her tablet / phone, and playing along with it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFe0G-38mYs

November 18th, 2019

We worked on Another One Bites the Dust, and especially the fill on the snare, which she got quite good by the end.

We then went over Closer by the Chainsmokers - the drum snare fills she is having some trouble doing them cleanly - I'd like her to work on it another week to neaten it up.

We then added a new song by Maroon 5, called Sugar:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFe0G-38mYs

It's a little hard to grasp the beat with the kick on the and of 2 - so think of it as 123, 12345

With kick on 1s and snare on 3, then 4.

Hi hat on every beat.

November 11th, 2019

Leah said she practiced tons this week, and I could tell. She especially felt pretty comfortable with Bites the Dust... she said she forgot about the Chainsmokers, Closer - so I'd like her to work on that one for another week.

We also worked on a simple drum fill beat where she plays with eighth beats on that hat, but this beat:

Kick Snare Kick Snare Kick Snare Tom(snare)Tom

Do a "flam" on the snare part of the fill.

November 4th, 2019

Leah said she couldn't find the songs to practice - perhaps you can share the videos I email with her, so that she has them to work with?

We started fresh with Another One Bites the Dust, and she really picks it up fast... I'd love to hear how good she could be if she practiced, and knew where all the fills were etc.

After 15 minutes of Bites the Dust, we reviewed Back in Black and Seven Nation Army.

I didn't add any new song this week, since I hope that she can put some time into Another One Bites the Dust first.

We ended with The Chainsmokers, Closer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ae7bs1cxMjA

October 28th, 2019

Leah said she didn't practice much this week, but I was impressed with how well she did on the review, first of Back in Black, and then Seven Nation Army. Imagine if she practiced!! :D

After review those two songs, we went back to You Shook Me All Night Long.

She was having a hard time remember you shook me, so we added ANother One Bites the Dust:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7ZRpdJ5VcI

This has a video of the drummer, making it easier to remember between lessons.

October 21st, 2019

We started with Seven Nation Army - she said she hadn't really practiced this one this week, so we'll try it again next week... she's a quick learner, but it's not perfect yet, so by next Monday it should be amazing.

We then went over Back In Black again for review.

After that we added a new song, You Shook Me All Night Long:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lo2qQmj0_h4

October 7th, 2019

So we went through Back in Black a few times, and focused on the crash part that she was having trouble with. She said only practiced once this week - it would be better if she played at least once a day for 5 minutes even.

No lessons next week, so work on two songs until next lesson:

We added a new song, called Seven Nation Army.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3qy8H6-5WY

September 30th, 2019

Leah is really a natural drummer. I'm quite impressed with her ability to play without much effort, but I don't want her to coast. I want her to really work at it.

She needs to get her drum set fixed so she can practice.

We're learning Back in Black by AC DC'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kiq9HDUkNxg

This youtube video is a little boy playing, she should practice with him.

Good job!

September 23rd, 2019

We learned the names of the drums. Kick snare high tom, mid tom, floor tom, hihat, crash, ride

We learned the basic quarter note beat. 1 2 3 4

1 and 3 are kick
2 and 4 are snare
the hihat is on every beat.

Play it with a crash every eight beats.

September 16th, 2019

We learned the names of the parts of the guitar:

neck, body, head, pegs/machine heads, frets, hole, bridge, and nut.

We learned where to put the fingers, close to the frets, for G, A, and E minor.

We worked on playing the chords from the knee, in less than 10 seconds. The closer she can get to 1 second per chord, the easier it will be later.

At this stage, practice at least 5 minutes per day to get the chord fingerings in 1 second or as close to that as possible.