The wait is over! I finally have a new drum video up on YouTube! I know it has been several months, guys, but I hope the wait is worth it.

Tommy Igoe’s “Groove Essentials” book/CD/DVD combos from Vic Firth and Hudson Music have been helping drummers all over the world find their groove for years now. As an educator, I am constantly being asked what books or CDs/DVDs I would recommend; the Groove Essentials and Groove Essentials 2.0 packages always jump into the top of my mind, and for a few good reasons:

1) THERE IS A WIDE VARIETY OF STYLES TO PLAY.

If your goal is to be a great all-around drummer that can play in just about every genre there is, then this series will help get you to where you want to be.

2) TOMMY IS STRAIGHTFORWARD AND TELLS IT LIKE IT IS.

No fluff here – only great stories, history, background information, and more throughout each book. You learn to play the grooves, but you also learn about the grooves and where/when to use them, which I think is as important as knowing how to play them.

3) THE CD PLAY-ALONG TRACKS ARE WORTH THE PRICE ALONE!

For me, it’s fun to keep my sightreading chops up and just open up to any page, throw on the associated track, and go to town. The players on the CD and DVD are great, and you really feel like you’re playing live sometimes. No chintzy MIDI tracks here, kids – just high-quality MP3s.

Enough shilling for Tommy Igoe and company – heck, they don’t need my help selling that stuff. ;)

So, the backing track used here is a really soulful, tight gospel feel that immediately jumped out at me last Saturday as I was toying with my new recording gear and looking for a test track to play along with (and make a quick test video out of). The video turned out good enough that I thought I’d throw it up on YouTube just to whet your drum appetites a little bit for what’s to come on my channel.

Here is the video, freshly uploaded just moments ago:

I am still dialing in the gear (you can hear slight overmodulation of the drums and cymbals in some spots), so please bear with me – these videos will just get better and better over time as I learn and tweak this stuff. Also, this isn’t the best I’ve played this track, so if the fills or solo work is a little shoddy, please forgive that, too – like I said, this is mostly a test video to see how everything comes out once it’s compiled together.

Hope you enjoy this – if so, tell me about it below! Do you want more Groove Essentials videos? More covers? More lessons? I’d love to hear from you! :D