- Hey there, I'm Jason Sutter at Drumeo
and I'm here with five tips to improve your brush playing.
The first tip I have is when I'm practicing,
I try to and I recommend this to all players,
is to be able to play, to reverse your strokes.
So if you're playing everything clockwise,
be able to play everything counter-clockwise.
And this is great to practice because
a lot of younger brush players always say,
how do I get back into a pattern
if I go to say play an accent or some sort of a passage.
So what I mean by that is say if you
were playing a stroke.
(plays rhythm)
One, two, a three, four, one.
Be able to reverse it
(plays rhythm)
One, two, a three, four, a one.
Notice that with my right hand, I'm able to play, or
(plays rhythm)
Either way, depending. So if I'm playing something...
(plays rhythm)
You can see how I just reversed it there.
In sweep strokes, if I was playing everything clockwise,
so say everything was going this way.
(plays rhythm)
One.
Be able to play...
(plays rhythm)
Out, so instead of all playing in...
(plays rhythm)
I'm now playing everything out.
(plays rhythm)
Make sense?
That's a great technique.
A great idea to improve your playing,
is always practice being able to play the reverse
of whatever pattern you're comfortable with.
The second tip I have, deals with fluidity,
and getting a real fluid sound, because
brushes should sound very relaxed,
and very full and flowing.
I try to relate it to water.
I try to imagine running water,
and actually, a great practice is, in a swimming pool,
you can actually practice this.
And I found the best way to get the most,
biggest, fullest sound out of a brush pattern
when you're sweeping, is playing,
is leading with the bat with your wrists.
So, your wrist is always coming first,
and is always leaving first.
So, it's coming up, and leaving.
And so, I imagine, say if I was looking down,
and if I was in a swimming pool,
my wrists are moving like this, if that makes sense.
So, you can practice this actually, in the bathtub,
or a swimming pool.
If you're in a swimming pool, check it out.
Just let the water pull your hands, if you're relaxed,
and you'll automatically get this motion.
And I try to apply that when I'm playing.
And I feel like that leaves the brush
on the head the longest, by leading with the wrists.
So check it out. I'm leading with my wrists,
and I'm leading with my wrists.
So, the sweep pattern.
(plays rhythm)
I'm always leading left hand.
(playing rhythm)
So it's that motion with the brush
where I'm always leading with the wrists.
That makes sense?
So that's another great technique for fluidity.
That's my tip number two.
Tip number three is pretty simple.
When I'm practicing, when I was younger,
especially when I was first getting into brushes,
I would wake up every day, at University of North Texas,
and I would go to my practice room,
and I'd go there first thing in the morning,
because brushes are kind of meditative to me.
They're kind of a way to clear my head.
And hopefully they could be for you, too.
It's almost like Tai Chi with sound.
Which is kind of an interesting way to look at it.
And I would go to my practice room, and I would practice
brushes for an hour with the lights off.
And I found that if I did that,
I could really start to focus and kind of almost meditate
on the sound and make it as fluid as possible.
So I'm gonna show you an example of what I'm talking about.
And this is super simple, but it's a great way to
really hone in on getting that really sweet,
fluid sound in a ballad.
(plays rhythm)
Cool?
That's tip number three, practice in the dark.
For tip number four, super simple one man.
Just get a, I always get asked,
what's a great way to start playing along?
And I think as any good young player,
you should start playing along with a great jazz record.
I found a great record, I think that worked for me
around this time when I was in college,
was a great record called "Kind of Blue," by Miles Davis,
with the great Jimmy Cobb on drums.
And that record to me, the tempos are all medium tempos.
So it's a great kind of starter record to kind of work on.
Tap strokes, sweep strokes, and its a great way to
kinda just get into it.
So, I highly recommend getting a copy of
Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue."
Turn out the lights, and light a candle,
some incense, vibe out,
and get into it, have some fun with it.
For tip number five, I basically, what I do,
and what I'm doing here in front of you today,
although I have two drums, is, I recommend,
something I kind of took as a challenge
as a young player in college as well,
and still do it to this day,
is show up at the gig, with just the snare drum.
Practice just getting your, honing your breath skills
on just one drum.
On just the snare drum.
No high hat for two and four,
no bass drum for accents, no cymbals.
Nothing except the snare drum,
so that you can really become one with this instrument,
and a pair of brushes.
And so, to me, that was really important,
because it kind of forced me to be creative.
It forced me to be able to learn how
to play a bossa nova at all tempos.
It forced me to be able to play Latin music,
or odd meters, or back beats with just one drum.
It was also partly out of necessity,
because it was easier to show up at a dude's dorm room
with just a snare drum and a stand.
But definitely something I'd recommend
to any young brush players,
or if you've been playing brushes for a long time.
Maybe just strip the kit away,
and just get to know your drum and your brushes.
And kinda have fun with it.
Experiment maybe turning your snares on, and off.
(plays drum)
Have a tenor.
(plays rhythm)
And as well as on or...
(plays rhythm)
or experiment using both of them.
I hope you enjoyed those five tips.
And if you did, you can go to Drumeo.com,
and check out a full lesson on
finding your voice with brushes.
I'm gonna play you guys out, hope you enjoyed that.