4-Way Coordination: A Method Book for the Development of Complete Independence on the Drum Set
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Book Summary Information
Brand: AlfredCompiler: Marvin Dahlgren
Compiler: Elliot Fin
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1999-07
ISBN: 0769233708
Number of pages: 56
Model: 00-HAB00019
Publisher: Warner Bros Pubns
Product features:
- Book Pages: 56
- By Marvin Dahlgren and Elliot Fine
- Format Book
Book Reviews of 4-Way Coordination: A Method Book for the Development of Complete Independence on the Drum Set
Book Review: Masterpiece in its intentions not its execution
Summary: 5 Stars
but it still warrants 5 stars or 20 stars
I'll explain what I mean.
When you consider how most of us learn how to drum, (let's assume that we're all right handed to simplify this discussion), we learn to keep time with the right hand and to then have a very dominant right hand, and largely a weak left hand that can never lead. As for the feet, forget it. If you're a self-taught pop/rock drummer, you just memorise a few key patterns with your right foot and your left foot tries to raise the hi-hat to make an exciting sound (for most of us the left foot is basically useless).
So this books sets out with a program to give every limb a chance to develop. Someone here was complaining that it had no grooves, or that it was boring, or whatever. Even the patterns on first page of actual examples, are impossible to do the first few times, until you get your 'head' around them.
The main idea of this book is to develop all the useful permuations of Right hand/Left Hand/Right Foot/Left foot that you would just never even think of doing if you just happened to either be playing the drums or accompanying some musicians. And with good reason. You have to work very hard indeed to embed these patterns. Once you do, you find that your whole previous emphasis on leading with your strong right hand and just playing the bass drum patterns for the beats you knew and having a weak left hand and a non-existent left foot just ends. And the first set of exercises are all sequential limbs playing (never two things at once). After that it's one hand and one foot at any one time and finally any combination of up to 4 things (the most demanding)
The whole drum kit opens up to you bilaterally (left and right and also , hands and feet).
It just adds intelligence to your feet and the excercises become more and more elaborate (but always doable slowly) and it becomes basically a test of whether you put the hours in.
If you do, you will be very handsomely rewarded behind the kit.
Many people have compared Thomas Lang to this, I haven't seen his books, I've seen him play and although he's a supremely talented drummer and musician, I find he doesn't do anything for me. His books though may well worth be checking out!
This is more of a 'old testament' of hand and feet independence than any kind of modern take on anything and already a couple of people have mentioned that Tool's drummer and Bernard Purdie were great fans. My own guess is that this book is the secret behind many a talented drummer that we've all come to admire, maybe they weren't too keen to share their 'trade secrets'.
Like other people my advice on how to practice is ignore the metronome markings. Get a metronome play it very slowly indeed and aim for even-ness and conviction behind whatever pattern you are doing. If you can play something slowly and well eventually you'll be able to play it fast and well. But first...you have to be able to play it at all at an even tempo!
On an amusing aside...I used to get annoyed when people kept me waiting but these days, I never mind how long I wait, as any time I gain, I can use to practice the patterns from this book that I can remember, I get so absorbed, that I'm almost sorry when my friend(s) turn up.
One final thing, this is just one weapon in the arsenal of the thinking drummer, this book has nothing really to say about rudiments, accents, press rolls, manual dexterity, it's really about re-wiring your brain and totally integrating your hands and feet so that when you come to improvise you have many more inner resources to draw from as you feel your way to undreamed of chops...I'm profoundly grateful this book exists, it has transformed my enjoyment of drumming and therefore my life.
now the execution.
this book is horrible in its explanations which could not be more terse or cryptic. it's as if all the effort of figuring out the patterns left them exhausted and they couldn't be bothered to write anything vaguely approaching the pedagogic, or they had a limited budget, or they thought you'd always have a teacher with you.
But...it is nearly 50 years old and for the sheer content of its hands/feet interplay sequences and patterns, it's a total classic.
Stick with it! honest.
More 4-Way Coordination: A Method Book for the Development of Complete Independence on the Drum Set reviews:
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Summary of 4-Way Coordination: A Method Book for the Development of Complete Independence on the Drum Set
A method book for the development of complete independence on the drumset.Instruments & Performers Books
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