Today I met Peter Erskine at a drum clinic. He is a great drummer, and I learned a lot of things by watching and listening to him. One of the things he said was to count the spaces and gaps in between the beats to help you keep time. He also said that playing with other musicians is a good way to improve your drumming.

Thanks Peter, I enjoyed your lesson.

Flickr Tags: “Matthew Mason”

Today is the last full day of the course. I’ve really enjoyed the course and I have learnt a lot too. Today we have been practicing an 8 bar solo, which we get to do at the student concert tonight.

This is a photo of me and Pete Riley. I’ve learnt a lot from his clinics too, he’s also a really cool drummer. He started playing drums when he was 15, and has played with loads of cool musicians all over the world. All the tutors and helpers have been fantastic. Thanks Rhythm.

I’ve got a concert later and I’ll let you know how it went.

Later that day…

The concert was great fun, especially watching all the drummers do their 8 bar solo.
It was nice that so many people, including drummers, came up and said well done to me after… thanks everyone for a fantastic week at Bath Rhythm course 2007

Matt

Flickr Tags: “Matthew Mason”

Today Dan Foord did a drum clinic for us. Dan drums for the band SIKTH. He is a really cool guy and has developed his own style of drumming. He also plans his drum parts very carefully, and doesn’t want to drum the same as everyone else.

I also worked on my double kicks and fills today. Spent an hour in the practice room, the first time I’ve been able to get on a practice kit. I had to get on it at 8:30 while everyone else was having breakfast! Don’t worry, I had already eaten my breakfast!

Flickr Tags: “Matthew Mason”

Today I had two workshops in the morning. One was with Pete Riley and the other with James Hester on Jazz. I also had a lesson from Colin Woolway in the afternoon, where he asked me to play some fills and work on a solo. I really enjoyed it.

This afternoon we also had a clinic run by Simon Edgoose, who does lots of electronic drumming. It was was very interesting to learn all about the history of electronic drumming and sampling and I learnt a lot.

I’m really enjoying the course.

Flickr Tags: “Matthew Mason”

Today I met Adrian Erlandsson, ex drummer of Cradle of Filth and now drummer for Nemhain. He did a drum clinic today, and was brilliant! He is also a very cool guy.

He is from Sweden and started playing drums at the age of 11 after listening to Back in Black by ACDC.

Here is Adrian’s kit.

Flickr Tags: “Matthew Mason”

This morning I went to two workshops. My first workshop was with Pete Riley. We worked on using ghost notes in a shuffle groove. Then after that I had Colin Woolway and we worked on using double pedal and reading a jazz piece.

In the afternoon Jo Jo Mayer did a drum clinic. He was brilliant! He showed how he got to use an acoustic kit to produce a kind of electronic break beat sound. Really good.

Flickr Tags: “Matthew Mason”

This morning I had two workshops. The first was with Colin Woolway, he does the “Drumsense” course books. The second session was with Pete Riley. I really enjoyed them both.

Then I had lunch and after that I sat outside on the bench.

After lunch I went to the Billy Cobham Clinic . He is a fantastic drummer and I learned a lot from his playing and from questions he answered from the audience. He started playing drums when he was 3 years old. I had my first kit when I was three and have been playing since then.

One thing Billy Cobham said which I liked was that “Drums don’t always have to be played loud or fast, but with heart”

Flickr Tags: “Matthew Mason”