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Todd Strait: Tips On Playing Fast Tempos

    Here’s an instructional video from Todd Strait on playing fast tempos on the drums. Todd is a former Kansas City drummer who now lives in Portland, OR. Todd has played with several famous jazz musicians, including Karrin Allyson, Eldar Djangirov, Marian McPartland, Barney Kessel, Tal Farlow and Woody Herman. Obviously Todd is a really great drummer, and really knows what he’s talking about.

    “The faster you play the slower you need to think. If you can stay relaxed in your mind and in your body you’ve got a great chance of playing fast tempos for a long time.” Todd Strait

    Just a few points I’d like to add:

    • To play extremely fast jazz tempos as Strait is doing in the video, it helps to use very small, light-weight drumsticks. I personally recommend Vic Firth SD4 Combo American Custom Maple Wood Tip Drumsticks. Theses are the sticks I use for jazz drumming.
    • It also helps to use a large, heavy ride cymbal, because you get more bounce off it.
    • A big part of being able to play fast tempos on the drum-set comes down to excellent stick technique. This is usually best developed away from the drum-set, on a practice pad or snare drum.

    For more information on Todd Strait, go to http://toddstraitdrums.com/.

     
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