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⚡ Quick Hits
🔪 Inside Abe Cunningham's slippery groove on Deftones' Knife Prty
@Imad Coulibaly
Abe Cunningham's drum parts on Deftones' "Knife Prty" get the full cover treatment from Boston session drummer Imad Coulibaly, who calls it one of his top three Deftones tracks. The reel digs into the creative details that give the song its slippery groove, with a drums-only pass on the second slide for anyone wanting to study the pocket up close.
👻 the 3 dimensions that separate pros from kit-hoppers
@CARLIN MUCCULAR
Carlin Muccular breaks learning a song into three dimensions: pattern, feel, and dynamics. His point in this reel is that feel and dynamics are inseparable, and the ghost notes, accents, and rests are what separate a pro from someone who can just hop on the kit. A useful nudge for anyone still chasing groove over raw execution.
🎯 Portnoy plays the Neil Peart parts that shaped him (1 min)
Mike Portnoy breaks down the Neil Peart parts that shaped him, moving behind the kit to demonstrate signature Rush moments from his childhood hero. The Loudwire sit-down has pulled over 777,000 views, with Portnoy talking through Peart's influence as both a fan and a student of the craft. It's equal parts tribute and masterclass from one prog titan to another.
🌊 Deep Dives
🎸 Neil Young's Steve Jordan on 50 years of groove, from Chuck Berry to the Stones (90 min)
Steve Jordan sits down with Drumeo for a career-spanning session that moves from The Blues Brothers' "Messin' With The Kid" through Neil Young, The Pretenders, Chuck Berry, Keith Richards, John Mayer, and his current chair with The Rolling Stones. Across 14 performances and nearly 90 minutes, he breaks down groove, feel, and in-the-moment decisions, including the story behind "Vultures" and honoring Charlie Watts. It's a masterclass in serving the song without losing your voice.
🎛️ Mike Portnoy's 8.6M-view "impossible" solo still humbles prog drummers (6 min)
Mike Portnoy turned another year older yesterday, and there's no better way to mark it than revisiting this clinic clip that has racked up over 8.6 million views. Billed as an "impossible drum solo," it's a masterclass in the polyrhythmic chops and odd-time fluency that made Portnoy a prog drumming icon. Worth sitting with from start to finish.
🎸 Ash Soan (Seal, Van Morrison, Bryan Adams, John Mayer) and Ariel Posen lock in for four originals
Ash Soan and guitarist Ariel Posen tear through four original tunes in this 27-minute Musora Live session, trading the kind of telepathic interplay that only comes from players who listen harder than they play. Between performances of "Grizzle Cheeks," "5wag," and "Sticky Fingers," Soan unpacks why groove outranks chops and how limitations can sharpen creativity. A worthwhile sit for anyone chasing feel over flash.
🎓 Practice & Skills
🔄 Carlin Muccular's quick chop — flip it and own it
@CARLIN MUCCULAR
Carlin Muccular drops a quick chop in this Instagram reel and challenges you to flip it and make it your own. The two-time Grammy nominated drummer and educator keeps it accessible, the kind of idea you can loop at the kit in ten minutes and start permutating across the beat. Reverse the sticking, displace it, voice it around the toms, and see what shakes out.
💥 Jeff Randall: where your crash should actually land
Jeff Randall's latest Short tackles a detail most drummers fumble: where the crash actually lands when resolving a fill. In two minutes, he breaks down how to line up your final hit with the downbeat so the transition feels decisive instead of rushed or late. A quick, practical watch before your next practice session.
🛒 Gear Picks
👂 Can you tell K Dark, K Custom and K Light apart?
@Zildjian Company
Zildjian is running a blindfold challenge pitting three K family cymbals head to head: K Dark on top, K Custom in the middle, and K Light on the bottom. The clip asks whether your ears can actually tell these darker, hand hammered lines apart, a fun gut check for anyone shopping rides and crashes. A quick, useful listen before your next cymbal purchase.
🎒 On Sale: Paiste Cymbal Accessories Professional Black Cymbal Bag 22-inch (Amazon)
Paiste's Professional 22-inch Cymbal Bag is built for players who treat their brass like an investment, with vinyl internal dividers to keep metal off metal, a rounded front pouch for hats up to 16 inches, and both backpack straps and a single shoulder strap. At $99 (down from $124), it is a fair price for a bag reviewers consistently call heavily padded and road-ready.
🚗 The $7 cymbal that clips to your air vent
The Car Crash Cymbal clips onto your air vent and turns red lights into drum solos. It is a palm-sized novelty, not a mini Zildjian, but reviewers confirm the ding is surprisingly clear and the adjustable hook fits most vents. A cheap, goofy gift for the drummer who already air-drums through traffic anyway.
🌎 From The Community
⛪ Foo Fighters squeeze into an 80-seat church in Dingle
Foo Fighters crammed into the 80-seater St James' Church in Dingle for Other Voices, turning the tiny chapel into what the show's billing rightly called the world's smallest stadium. "Of All People" in that room is a study in restraint, with the kit pulled way back from arena mode and every cymbal choice suddenly audible. Worth a watch for anyone curious how a stadium band recalibrates for 80 pairs of ears.
🎛️ Celebrating Portnoy: Dream Theatre's Instrumedley
Mike Portnoy powers through Dream Theater's Instrumedley, a marathon stitching together the band's most technically demanding passages into one relentless showcase. Portnoy's command of odd meters, rapid fire double kick, and orchestrated fills remains a blueprint for modern progressive drumming, and this performance distills why he reshaped the genre. Essential viewing for anyone chasing fluency in complex time.
That's it for today! Thank you for carving out time to read! This community means a lot to me, and I'm grateful you're here. 🙏
If you have feedback, a story, or something you'd love to see in the newsletter, just reply to this email. I read every message and respond to each one.
Happy drumming,
Matteo