All of these artists have at one point used a specific rhythm pattern that is so identifiable you would recognise it even if you have never heard the original title song.
​
At just 6 seconds long it is the most sampled rhythm in the history of drums.

The Winstons, below, were an American funk and soul band who were not very well known, (their drummer G.C. Coleman even more so) and they released a song in 1960 titled ‘Amen Brother’, listen below! Little did they know that a sample derived from the drum solo in this track would become the ‘Amen Break’ - the most sampled rhythm in the history of drums.

The Amen Break is a loop of 4 bars that was popularised by the drum sample album ‘Ultimate Break and Beats’ released in 1986 for the DJ population. Since the sample was created it has become a prominent feature in mainstream music, featuring in a host of famous songs such as; Oasis - ‘D’You Know What I Mean?’, Nine Inch Nails - ‘The Perfect Drug’, Slipknot - ‘Eyeless’ and Björk - ‘Crystalline’.

Blog post by Planet drum teacher, Sebastien Solsona

to be asked to supply the Planet Drum Studio with our Practice Drum Pads. Planet drum joins a long list of teaching studios in the UK that use our products. We have been manufacturing practice pads since 1973 and have supplied top drummers and teachers with our pads for over 40 years.

We use a special drum feel rubber which is very quiet and doesn't wear out. That's why every year schools and studios research other pads that are on the market but always come back for ours.They know our pads will give a lifetime of use. In fact it was only last week I saw one of our original pads that's over 30 years old and still being used on a daily basis.

We offer a full range of pads to include Button Pad/Mini Pad/Brush Pad/Snare Pad/Dual Knee Pad/Pads on stands and our highly successful full practice kits. We can simulate any drum kit arrangement into a practice kit format so you can practice drums at any time. No electronics to go wrong. No headphones.

Next time you are at Planet Drum check out our practice pads. It could be the best investment you will make in your drumming career.

For special prices, reference 'Planet drum' and contact me direct on wsanders@hotmail.co.uk Tel Mob: 07778 288783 or see our full range at:

www.practicedrumkits.co.uk

even if the rhythm is so abstract the drummer is the only dancer in the room.
While there are some instances where being the only dancer in the room makes (sort of) sense, free improv, ambient, or introducing rhythms that are exotic and whose kinetic potential takes time for the audience to understand, rhythm is at its most powerful when it is able to infect a room with a pulse that compels you to move.
​
Notwithstanding the inertia-dictating set-up of most jazz venues today, jazz was created as dance music, not as music for chin-stroking-intellectuals, unwilling to even move to tap their feet.
As dance and music evolved from jazz into a myriad of styles, those who were firmly stuck to their seats took refuge in an academic approach to listening that froze their bodies even further.

It seems that some people have taken Beckett's line as confirmation that it's impossible to do both at the same time, a perfect excuse to not move and look down on dance music as self-evidently 'thoughtless'.
However, thought drives action, and in her book Unthought, Katherine Hayles describes how certain impulses bypass the mind to work directly on the body. Rhythm is one such impulse and can go straight from the source to your body. A stubborn insistence on filtering rhythm through the mind before it's allowed to twitch your muscles merely breaks the direct link between reality and experience; the synergy between performer and audience.
​
The result of such broken synergy is often a room full of people gasping to understand what is happening on a stage where a band is too busy playing to themselves to notice they have an audience.

A big step, a big change, to the coast.
 
It’s something I always wanted to do. We all talk about change and it takes some effort to realise it. But if you are prepared to jump in, and with a bit of luck, you pop out the other side you are afloat, and the tide is with you. The end of the road. The beginning of a new chapter. This is the sea.
 
It's big, and it constantly shifts, the rhythm of the tide is constant. It’s flat when there is no wind. Just a massive heavy slab of blue. Its colour palette changes with the sky, like a Turner. On dull days the weight of sky over sea is almost physical. Like the under belly of a giant grey aircraft, just over head. Clouds become sculptural, when a storm approaches from the Channel. The tide still rolls, but rolls harder. Its the same, but different every time. That's why we stop and stare. Thats why WE play drums.

​Playing the drums has always been constant to me. It comes naturally. I always knew that. Rhythm. It was only a matter of time before I realized I should take lessons. To make that big step, to better yourself, to create change and develop creativity - put yourself into the NON Comfort zone. Its a gamble. But it just might pay off - so make it work. Be committed.

Eventually, the tide is with you. Paddle at first, warm up your feet, take the next step. Lessons are like the first wave, “boy that took me by surprise”, “here comes another,’ but hey I was prepared this time. Be inspired, watch the pros do it. I went to a drum clinic years ago on the South Bank - and then a photographic exhibition. That day changed my musical direction, the tide turned. I listened to new genres of music and discovered new ways of playing. I also took pictures in a different way too.
I’ve played live many times, recorded, jammed, rehearsed…. but the Grades are like the jumping of the pier. How deep will I go this time ?

They are designed to take you a step further, push the boat out, and stretch your horizon so that technique and skill become finely tuned. Reading music is your map, your chart.
 
Navigate it properly, learn it, and you will be able to interpret music in a different way. Your tutor is the lighthouse, and the tide is with you. There is only one vessel out tonight, it’s you. Take on the sea.

Mike Redpath - Performer and Planet drum student.
Check Mike's drum channel here.