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There are hundreds, or maybe even thousands of drum books available nowadays. Some of these are much more useful than others. With all the books available, it’s hard to know where to begin.
Here are a few of my drum book recommendations.
Stick Control by George Lawrence Stone
This book was written to give drummers better control of the sticks. It’s one of the first books my instructor recommended to me. If you follow the directions in the book, and practice 15 minutes to an hour a day, you’ll see a big improvement in your control and speed, no matter what kind of music you play. This is a great book for beginners as well as advanced students.
In addition, this is a great book for development on the drum-set. The possibilities for using this book on the drum-set are limited only by your imagination. For instance, you can play most of the book with a double bass rather than with your hands.
Personally I use the first few pages to keep in shape. I usually practice this book at the drum-set, sometimes with Songo or Samba bass ostinatos, or maybe a shuffle on my bass drum. This way I keep my feet in shape along with my hands.
Master Studies by Joe Morello
This is primarily a book for intermediate to advanced players. Joe Morello was a student of George Lawrence Stone. The book was inspired by things he learned from Stone, so it’s basically an extension of Stick Control. It’s primarily designed to develop your hand technique, but their are many things you can do on the drum-set with this book as well.
I probably spent more time practicing out of this book than any other. This one helped my hand development more than anything else I practiced. For years, I kept track of exactly how fast I could play certain exercises in this book. That way I could see my progress.
Sticking Patterns by Gary Chaffee
Gary Chaffee was Steve Smith, of Journey’s teacher. This is definitely a book for advanced students. Very challenging!
This is the book that introduced me to the concept of compound stickings, a very modern way of getting around the drum-set. Learning about the concept of compound stickings is definitely worth the price of the book. It changed my way of playing completely at the time I was introduced to the concept.
He has a great explanation in the beginning of the book on basic Moeller techniques. It’s also is great book for learning to apply Moeller stickings to very usable patterns, things you can use on the drum-set for soloing, etc.
Speaking of soloing, this book really developed my ability to solo over various ostinatos.
Another thing I like about this book is the fact that he has quite a bit of material in time signatures other than 4/4.
Progressive Steps to Syncopation for the Modern Drummer by Ted Reed
This book was originally written to help improve drummer’s reading. This is a book that can be practiced in an almost infinite number of ways though, limited only by your imagination. There are many articles and videos on the internet about various ways to practice this book if you just do a search. You can also invent your own.
I keep finding more ways of practicing with this book, so I’m never bored. I use it to continue to develop my independence. I play various ostinatos with my right hand, or sometimes left just to challenge myself. With the other hand I play the solo line, and then maybe a Songo or Samba pattern with the bass. That’s one way of practicing with this book, but there are many others.
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