Hello again. You find me once more in Australia. Mt Gambia to be precise.  We have been out here since January 29th and have 3 shows left. By the time we board the plane home on March 13th in Melbourne, we would have done 31 shows over 6 weeks! There have been a few very long days where we have driven 5-6 hrs then done a show, gone to bed, got up 6hrs later and started again. On Saturday 11th March, we leave Mt Gambia at 7am and drive 5hrs to Melbourne (there is also a time change of 30 mins forward) hopefully arriving at the Crown Casino at 1pm. The van and people carrier, once through Casino security, will be parked up. For us the band, it means a few hours in Melbourne before a 4.30pm sound check. Food then show at 7.30pm. Right after the show, band and road crew have a 3hr drive to the hotel at Wedderburn. Get a few hours sleep before we leave for our afternoon show in Mildura! Australia is a very large country and if you want to cover it all in 6 weeks, you have to drive long distances, but it is worth it, with nearly every show sold out. It feels like more than 5.5 weeks since we touched down in Perth and being away from home does take its toll so it’s very important to know when a band member needs their space. It can be hard when you are stuck in a people carrier for 5hrs, but you learn to give them space. This is proper touring, sometimes staying in Motels, but most of the time it is 4 or 5 star hotels and this year, we flew Business class, which is a mighty step up from economy I can tell you. On February 26th I celebrated my 7th year anniversary in The Searchers. It was a quiet affair with a 4hr drive and show, but an achievement none the less. I am now the 3rd longest drummer in the bands, soon to be, 55 years! When we return, we have a few days off before we start on our Spring tour at Redditch on March 18th. March is quiet with just 6 shows, but in April, May and June it really gets busy and in July, I’m getting married! But this is the crazy schedule of The Searchers and we wouldn’t change it.

A tribute video to Will Kennedy and the Yellow Jackets. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyPJPu0kLyw[/embed]

Welcome to a slightly different series of lessons.  In this lesson I will be showing you a really good exercise for increasing your accuracy with 16th note bass drums.  1a) Ok, so I know when you see this you might dismiss it and not even bother playing it, but please do.  Put a click on, something slow like 60 and play through it, focusing on playing perfectly in time and counting as you go. 1b) Now we add the backbeat on “2” and “4”.  Try and continue to count and really focus on nailing the click. 2a) Now on to the 16th notes.  Keep the click going and make sure you are counting.  As you play this, also take care to make sure the bass drum is exactly in the gap and you are not swinging the bass drum.  If you are counting the full 16ths this should happen naturally. 2b) As with 1, we add the backbeat in the second part of 2.  Make sure you focus on keeping the hihat smooth and uninterrupted.  Many students want to put the hihat on the “e” of 2 and 4 because your brain is used to following a snare with a hihat. 3) In this example we switch between 1b and 2b.  Try and focus on the hands part as this is the same for both bars.  We are simply shifting the bass drum along a 16th.  Also take car when looping the two bars as you get two 16th note bass drums back to back. 4) This is a shortened version of 3.  Instead of switching every bar, we change it up every 1/4 note.  Not only is this a good exercise, it’s a cool sounding groove as well. Hope you had some fun with those and it makes some of the recent bass drum heavy exercises a little easier. Out of all of them, number 3 is the one to focus on.  It will really help you to increase the tempo and accuracy of your bass drums.