NOW AVAILABLE: 2019 Book of the Blog

OK, the 2019 CRUISE SHIP DRUMMER! Book of the Blog is now available for purchase.

This handsome 131 page volume includes all of the downloadable materials, transcriptions, and practice methods posted on the site in 2019.

The major subjects include:
• Hemiola Funk Series
• Max Roach quasi-rubadub pages
• Various harmonic coordination-based methods
• Multiple ways of playing Three Camps
• Special syncopation exercises
• A number of EZ pages and methods suitable for players of all levels
• 17 quality, playable jazz transcriptions
• A lot more!

Order today!


See the complete table of contents after the break:

NOW AVAILABLE: 2018 Book of the Blog / Syncopation in 3/4

The 2018 CRUISE SHIP DRUMMER! Book of the Blog is now available to order.

It includes all of the downloadable exercises and trancriptions posted on the site in 2018, as well as some grooves o' the day and practice methods that did not have a downloadable pdf.

Way too much in this book to summarize. There are sections on snare drum, rock & funk, jazz, and Latin. With a robust section on the Mel Lewis rub-a-dub thing we've been developing lately. Also several EZ syncopation practice methods, evolution of Songo grooves, pages o' coordination in 3/4 and 12/8, and much more.


$14.95 - 132 pages


Also now available - get both books and save on shipping:
 

SYNCOPATION in 3/4 
Expanded print edition.

Reading exercises in 3/4 in the style of Progressive Steps to Syncopation. If you follow this site you know that I think the methods associated with that book are the best, fastest way for drummers to learn professional vocabulary, reading, and improvising. You're gonna want this one.

This book has chapters on quarter notes, linear quarter notes, 8th notes, 8th rests, 8ths with ties, one-line syncopation exercises, and full page syncopation exercises. Each chapter includes one line exercises, a 20 bar exercise, and a 32 bar exercise.

Print edition is formatted like Ted Reed's original book in four-measure phrases, and has eight newly composed full-length syncopation exercises, plus a some additional exercises not in the e-book.

$10.95 - 38 pages

UPDATE: I forgot to mention, all of my other books are discounted 15% during the month of January. A great time to get the whole library happening...

NOW AVAILABLE: 2017 Book of the Blog

OK gang, the 2017 Book of the Blog is now available for purchase!

It includes all of the downloadable practice materials posted on the site in 2017, plus the grooves o' the day, plus selected practice methods for use with the books Syncopation and Stick Control— and transcriptions of Steve Gadd, Jack Dejohnette, Tony Williams, Terry Bozzio, Roy Haynes, Billy Higgins, Art Blakey, Ben Riley, and others— all handsomely bound and ready for practice room abuse.

There are robust sections on jazz comping, funk, linear drumming, and a broad category described as waltz, triplet, and 6 feels.

Level: intermediate to pro. 90 pages. $14.95

BONUS: All of my other print books are 15% off until whenever I feel like changing it. End of January? Who knows? Order now!

The table of contents of the 2017 book is posted after the break— hit read more:

2016 Book of the Blog NOW AVAILABLE for purchase!

OK, gang, the 2016 Book of the Blog is now available for purchase!

It's 119 pages of pure drum-practicing goodness: all of the downloadable exercises posted on the site last year, plus all of the Reed/Stone practice methods which didn't have an actual pdf download, all handsomely bound in this practice room-ready volume.

Includes: 

— BIG unit on funk! Hit these materials quick to get ready for the release of FUNK CONTROL later in '17.

— Lots of odd meter exercises.

— Transcriptions of Vinnie Colaiuta, Elvin Jones, Billy Higgins, Jeff Porcaro, Airto, Ndugu Leon Chancler, James Black, John Guerin, Joe Chambers, more!

— Practice systems for all levels of players: linear funk with Dahlgren & Fine, New Orleans street beat developers, several EZ funk/rock methods, fluency in 12/8, EZ Tony Williams-like method, uptempo jazz Stone method.

— More Afro 6/8 and 12/8 pages o' coordination, which you've come to know and love. I want my readers to be able to smoke everyone in the world on this extremely fun and rewarding area of drumming.

BONUS: All of our previous book releases will be 15% off until whatever old time I feel like bumping them back up to the regular price. If there are any gaps in your CSD! library, now's the time to buy!

ORDER TODAY!

NOW AVAILABLE: 2015 Book of the Blog

2015 Book of the Blog

UPDATE: I'm going to keep this pinned to the top of the blog a little while longer, so scroll down for new posts. 

The 2015 Book of the Blog is now available! It's 102 pages of intermediate-to-professional level practice materials from the blog in 2015, printed up in a single handsome volume. If you're a follower of the blog, yer gonna want it...

Highlights and the complete table contents are listed after the break:

2014 Book of the Blog now available!

2014 Book of the Blog

Scroll down for new posts— I'll keep this pinned near the top of the blog for a few days.

All right, continuing our frenzy of new product, the 2014 Book of the Blog is now available for purchase. 80 pages of intermediate-to-very-challenging stuff. There are robust sections on the jazz waltz and Afro-Cuban drumming; and a nice collection of snare drum exercises that have been on my stand for several weeks now. Transcriptions of the drumming of Tony Williams, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Ed Blackwell, Dannie Richmond, Ringo Starr, Funkadelic, and 70s studio greats Rick Marotta and John Guerin, and more!

It's such an excellent companion to the 2013 Book of the Blog, I'm going to go ahead and discount that book 20% to encourage you buy them both. I don't know how long I'll leave that up, so git it now, if you're gonna...

And also: the print version of our e-book, Playing Samba and Bossa Nova, is now ready to purchase. It's a svelte little 30-page manual with all the basic information you need to begin playing this style with people, and to continue your education with that music. It's basically everything else you wanted to know after somebody showed you a bossa nova beat, and you didn't know what else you were supposed to do with it. “OK, fine, I can play the beat— now what?” Well, here...

There is of course the Kindle version available, too, if you swing that way. Viewable on Kindle, and on other devices using the free Kindle app.

Book review!

Hey, there's a nice little review— my first book review ever, actually— of the 2013 Book of the Blog at Joe The Drummer's place:

“There is a theme of the 3:2 polyrhythm running through the book and the highlight, for me, is the Afro-Cuban/Brazilian section which is bursting with coordination exercises to develop playing in 6/8. I have a need to develop my Songos, Mozambiques and Guaguancos too so I think I’ll be spending a lot of time in this section in particular. 

Todd’s exercises are always very methodically written with a view to covering the subject at hand comprehensively but efficiently. One of his favourite things is interpreting reading exercises from Reed’s Syncopation and by learning the different ways to use Reed (or similar reading texts) we are given a framework for developing our own interpretations of any material we’re working on. 

The Cruise Ship Drummer Book of The Blog – 2013 is a wonderful compendium of stuff that could keep enthusiastic drummers busy for years and is a great example of how self-publishing creates opportunities for talented and well educated people to make their contribution to the world of music education.”

 He's right about the 3:2 thing— more and more I think that's the African gene that, without which I think we'd all be just boom-chucking our lives away...

Joe is a blogger himself, with a lot of good stuff I haven't seen anywhere else— I highly recommend digging through his archives, and making the blog a regular stop.

2013 Book of the Blog now available!

Now I remember why it takes me so long to do these things; it's a lot of work, even when 98% of the content is already written. But! The 2013 Book of the Blog is finished, and now available for purchase.

It's 122 pages long, and includes all of last year's downloads, including a very robust set of Pages o' Coordination, in 3/4, 6/8, 5/4, and more; transcriptions of Elvin Jones, Tony Williams, Frankie Dunlop, Philly Joe Jones, Al Jackson, and others; and just a ton of other good stuff dealing with odd meters, polyrhythms, metric modulation, jazz, funk, Afro-Cuban, and Brazilian drumming. It's a prodigious volume of stuff that should keep you (and your students) busy for a long time.

Now, it's true, you could just download them and print them yourself, but where's the fun in that? It will probably cost more than the book in just printer ink, and you won't have this sweet-looking book on your stand. Plus, purchasing the book supports the blog, and helps us continue doing what we do. Be a participant— get your copy today.

By the way, the original, 2011 BOTB is now discounted 15%— get it along with the new book, and save on shipping.

Blog sale: 20% off transcriptions book

Who knows for how long— days, not weeks.

12/10/12 update: The new book is now, at long last, available to order. You can still get the transcriptions book at a 10% discount.

I'm feverishly working on my new book of 100 transcribed grooves in various styles, and until I get it finished I'm offering a 20% discount on the 2011 Book of the Blog — Vol. 1: Transcriptions. The sale will end as soon as I have the new book ready to order, which should be in a matter of days.

The grooves book will consist of about 30% Grooves of the Day from the blog, and 70% new, un-posted stuff. 

Sooo: If you'd like to get ~135 pages of transcriptions of the drumming of Elvin Jones, Jack Dejohnette, Vinnie Colaiuta, Roy Haynes, James Gadson, Zigaboo Modeliste, Tony Williams, Paul Motian, and many more, for under 12 bucks, hit that link, or the one in the sidebar.

It makes a great gift, by the way.

That was fast

I received my Book of the Blog order yesterday- remarkably fast turnaround from "thing on my computer" to "real paper book", considering I only completed it and placed my order on Monday. Lulu.com makes a nice quality product, too. So far I've found it to be mostly free of giant screwups on my part, except that on the back cover Ndugu Leon Chancler is named Ndugu Leon Taylor, and Art Taylor's name is missing altogether- the result of a cutting and pasting mishap. Something for me to fix in the revised edition...

Anyway, thanks to everyone who has ordered- if you haven't yet, you can still avoid the humiliation of being the last kid on your block to get yours by ordering today! It's 139 pages of transcriptions from 2011, including substantial pieces by Vinnie Colauita, Elvin Jones, Jack Dejohnette, Tony Williams, Zigaboo Modeliste, and a whole lot more.

Now available: Book of the Blog 2011 - Vol. 1: Transcriptions

UPDATE: I'm keeping this at the top of the blog this week- scroll down for new stuff.

OK, it took me longer than I had hoped to wrap this up, but it's  finally ready to order, professionally printed and bound from Lulu.com. This very fat first volume of stuff from 2011 includes all of my original transcriptions posted during our first year as a dedicated drumming blog. Volume 2 will contain the technical pieces- now that I've done one of these, it will hopefully be much faster coming together.

Included are transcriptions of the playing of Elvin Jones, Jack Dejohnette, Vinnie Colaiuta (epic!), Zigaboo Modeliste, Tony Williams, James Gadson, Philly Joe Jones, Frankie Dunlop, Ringo Starr, Paul Motian, Max Roach, and a whole lot more.

They're bargain-priced at $14.95 for 139 fully-packed pages, so, ah, "order your copy today!"