Groove Freedom App

[Cymbalfeltfetishist]

Actually, thats a good point. We all have our gripes.

[chris perra]

If I had never heard of MJ,.. Or Chaffe.. I would think this is great. It actually is pretty cool. There are plenty of drummers out there that could use this tool even if they are already using Chaffee's books. Production wise I'd rather watch the MJ vids. the Chaffee stuff is pretty blah.. They both have stiff as F&*k feel .... But that's not the point. Great players with take the information and do great things with it. It's a new world these days many people learn from the net.

Too bad I have heard of MJ, too bad Blushda-Gate happened. I think that's why most HOD 'rs dislike him so much. I don't think it's his lessons or "success" people have a problem with. It's his methods and motivation marketing wise.. Good videos, not so good person during Blusdha-Gate.

We should get Blusdha-Gate tshirts haha

[chris perra]

Actually I watched more of the Chaffee video he sounds great.. Hate the bass drum sound but great feel and accents.. And the MJ stuff isn't bad.. It's easy to judge people demoing an idea and expect it to be the same level as a real performance. Because the video you watch before or after can be that.

[Julián Fernández]

A couple of my favorite Blushda-gate bits:

"Your cute, lol."
"Let me know when you reach millions old man"
"..Knowing that you'll be up all knight..."

and Steve´s response: http://tinyurl.com/6f5l4rg !!!

That thread should be a sticky! Jajaj

[bensdrums]

My main issue with Mike Johnston and guys that offer similar online videos is I don't hear them playing a lot of music. Mike seems like a fine drummer, but for me, I'm more interested in hearing how a drummer interacts with music and in particular, other musicians. To me, there's more to be learned from hearing/seeing a drummer interpret and/or respond to a piece of music and communicate with other musicians. That is what inspires me and helps me learn to interact with music and musicians in real time, which in turn informs what kind of musical situations I might like to seek out for myself, and the experience of those musical situations then informs what I need to practice and the technical things I need to work out to better and more easily express myself in those situations. Long story short, beyond a certain level of competency (and most of the stuff I see Mike teaching seems to assume a moderate level of competency), the music should influence the technical pursuits, imo.

The thing with all these online teacher guys lately isn't really that they aren't great players or that they don't have value; to me it's that they're teaching these things to players who often don't understand or even have the contextual background to apply them, and there's not really a mention of, "hey, it's pretty important you go check out [this guy] on [this record] or with [these guys], he's using this thing I'm teaching you to do in a really musical or creative way" or, "listen to this tune or idea, here's how you could phrase this lick or apply it." So what you end up with is generation of players that essentially aspire to chopping out on YouTube with a backing track of chords that lends itself to drum blowing. There's no sense that the whole idea of playing drums is to play music and interact in a meaningful way and hopefully make something that people respond to or get something out of.

[Julián Fernández]

I think we drummers -as a community- are the only ones open to take advice from a guy that doens´t even play in a friking band. Let alone having a decent discography or a solid resume.
It just floors me. Many top pros offer online lessons (from Louie and Frank to Cliff and Sean Rickman) and for some reason, people prefer to pay this guy for lessons? I´m clueless really.
As a side note, I think MJ, Cobus and guys like that incentivize G.A.S among youngsters and -as bendrums said- provide stuff without a context. But again, the guy doesn´t play music with musicians in real life!!!! Am I the only that find that hilarious?!

[Paul Marangoni]

But again, the guy doesn´t play music with musicians in real life!!!! Am I the only that find that hilarious?!

Can you say Dom Famularo? He pioneered being a clinician/solo artist without any background as a sideman.

With fewer and fewer opportunities to regularly perform in band situations, this is going to be the new normal; People playing along to tracks, or just playing solo, with a live gig thrown in now and then sporadically. Making a living purely as an instrumentalist or sideman is simply not an option anymore. It has to be augmented with other sources of income.

[Jim Richman]

A lot of his students do the same thing he does, playing by yourself. Mj is doing a service for a lot of kids and adults. He is the first one to tell someone that another drummer is amazing. I do not think his lessons hurt anyone. As far as drum blowing, some people live for that, and that's what they want to do. They could care less about playing simple and musical. Most people taking these kinda lessons just want to play shred licks and impress themselves.

[langmick]

It's easier to wank away than it is to engage with other players and get on stage at a local pub, it exposes you to criticism. It is a level harder to take the responsibility for putting on a show. That's where the rubber meets the road.

I find that so much more challenging and rewarding than solipsistic wanking, which is mostly boring as hell. Perhaps Mike has how to put the show on as a future learning experience. He does a good job with his production.

[Julián Fernández]

The whole clinic is great... I really like Victor. In sync with langmick, check this particular bit: https://youtu.be/eL6zYO84RxY?t=1153