Creating Beats With 86-Year-Old Drum Exercises

Looking for a new and fun way to apply some of the world’s most popular drumming exercises on the kit?

Stick Control by George Lawrence Stone is one of the most legendary drum books out there. If you’ve ever had a drum teacher, they’ve either mentioned it or inadvertently shown you exercises from it. Millions (probably) of teachers and students have flipped through its pages since it was first published in 1935. It’s the book that gets handed down from generation to generation.

If you haven’t heard of it until now, there’s no time like the present to get acquainted!

0:00 - Introduction
In this 7-minute lesson, Ryan Van Poederooyen from the band iMonolith (formerly of Devin Townsend Project) will show you how he uses tried-and-true exercises in Stick Control to come up with new beats and ideas on the drum set while practicing coordination.

To translate snare exercises into drum set exercises, all you have to do is play the bass drum where the exercise says right hand, and play the snare drum where the exercise says left hand. Then add a cymbal over top.

Step 1: 0:45 - Get comfortable
The very first rudiment in Stick Control is alternating right hand/left hand. On the kit, you’ll alternate right hand/left foot, and add 8th notes on the hi-hats with your right hand.

Ryan also loves to play exercises #6, #8, and #24 on the drums. Start at 60 BPM and work your way up (he suggests to his students that they not move on to the next page until they get to 150 BPM).

You can practice these over songs, too!

Step 2: 2:21 - Move to quarter notes on the ride

Next, try it with quarter notes on the ride. Since you’ll be playing to a click, you’ll know that you’re on time because each ride hit will line up the click.

Step 3: 3:46 - Improvise drum fills

To connect these two exercises together, play 8th notes on the hi-hat for the first pattern. Then improvise a one-bar fill as you transition into quarter notes on the ride. After a few bars, throw in another drum fill and move back to 8th notes on the hi-hats.

5:56 - Adapting various rudiments

What other rudiments from Stick Control do you think would sound awesome on the kit?

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